Taylor Swift’s Guide to Channel Alchemy: Turning Alignment into Acceleration

I see four ways to take your collaboration from “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” to “You Belong With Me” — aligning strategy, data, and customer value to unlock more revenue.

Most VARs struggle to differentiate because they sell the same core products as dozens of others. One way to overcome this is to capitalize on each industry’s belief that they’re different by creating campaign content, target account lists, and success stories that speak directly to them. Themes like “cybersecurity for mid-market healthcare” or “AI-powered retail analytics” will help your partnership stand apart from the rest of the pack.

VARs often leave marketing development funds (MDF) unused because the process feels cumbersome and bureaucratic. As a CMO, the partners we worked most closely with and thus found the most success with were those who did two things: made their co-marketing funds programs simple AND made room for true co-branded opportunities for both my organization and theirs.

3. Build enablement that drives business outcomes, not just product knowledge

Too often, partner training emphasizes product features instead of the business impact those features create. The most effective account executives shift the conversation from what the technology does to what it delivers — the measurable results and advantages their customers will realize. When you position your solution as an integral part of the customer’s business model, you go from being a vendor to a valued partner — and that makes future collaboration a natural next step.

4. Share data and insights to fuel smarter joint selling

No one can market effectively without clarity on where the real opportunities lie. When VARs and OEMs share insights — from demand patterns and target verticals to product usage and competitive shifts — they turn isolated data into collective intelligence. A shared data ecosystem fuels smarter decisions, faster execution, and the ability to act on genuine market signals rather than assumptions.

In the end, great partnerships, like great albums, are built on evolution, not repetition. When OEMs and VARs co-create strategy, simplify collaboration, and share the data that drives smarter decisions, they find their rhythm — and their revenue. That’s channel alchemy: taking what works, remixing it for today’s market, and making the whole partnership shimmer.