Coterie Marketing held its inaugural Partner Marketing Connect event in Johannesburg last week, bringing together a passionate community of marketing professionals across South Africa’s channel and technology ecosystem. At the centre of the discussion was newly released research highlighting the opportunities and urgent challenges facing partner marketers in 2025 and beyond.

The 2025 Partner Marketing Skills Report, with findings from Sapio Research and Coterie Marketing’s Connect community, offers a detailed look at partner marketing trends, skills and investment patterns. It reveals a profession navigating increased expectations, rising complexity and the need to evolve from tactical execution to strategic influence.

The expanding role of the partner marketer

The research and community discussions spotlighted a critical reality for partner marketers in South Africa: they are increasingly required to wear multiple hats. Many are expected to cover not only partner marketing but elements of field marketing, alliances, enablement and campaign execution – often without the dedicated resources or recognition their broadening scope deserves.

This expanded remit places even greater pressure on individual marketers to be both creative and commercially savvy, with the Johannesburg event reinforcing the need to invest in high-value strategic marketing skills that can drive partner growth and executive impact.

Budgets climb but training lags behind

Encouragingly, 84% of South African partner marketers reported a rise in marketing budgets over the past year, with a dominant 59% of respondents with increasing budgets directing that additional spend to advertising, far outpacing investment in martech (just 2%) and skills development (averaging 20% of budgets).

Despite growing financial support, only 55% believe enough is being spent on developing partner marketing skills – leaving many underprepared for the demands of modern ecosystem marketing.

“There’s a real need to shift away from one-off tactical campaigns and co-branded merchandise to long-term strategic programmes,” noted Coterie’s partner marketing services director, Nicole Beale. “That requires not just budget, but a commitment to building the right capabilities.”

Independent teams report higher confidence

Another key insight from the report is the structure of partner marketing teams. Only 17% of South African partner marketers say they work in fully independent partner marketing functions. The majority work in blended field and partner roles – often a necessity driven by budget constraints or centralised team models.

However, those in independent roles report significantly higher confidence in their future success (69% vs 55%) and are more likely to believe they are receiving sufficient investment in skills development. This suggests that having clearly defined roles, autonomy and focus can lead to better outcomes and higher satisfaction among partner marketers.

AI, martech and the skills of the future

While digital marketing and martech skills are considered essential today, the research shows they will be even more critical in the next five years – particularly as AI and automation rise in priority. A third of respondents identified AI as a skill they need to master, and over half (52%) said they would like dedicated training in this area.

Ironically, though, these are the very areas receiving the least investment. The report calls out a disconnect between what partner marketers need and what they’re resourced to deliver – a challenge the Coterie Connect event attendees agreed must be addressed at both vendor and partner level.

Face-to-face training was named the most preferred format for upskilling, reinforcing that despite growing digital tools, the human element of marketing remains irreplaceable.

Design trends signal a shift to human-centred creativity

Lenique Potgieter, head of design at Coterie, shared the top design trends shaping partner marketing in 2025. Among the highlights:

Bold typography and large fonts are cutting through digital noise.
Texture and organic patterns are reintroducing warmth to digital design.
Maximalism is replacing minimalism, with layered visuals and confident colour use.
Interactive elements like scroll animations and hover effects are now standard.
AI-powered design tools are streamlining workflows and enabling personalisation at scale.

“These trends aren’t just aesthetic,” said Potgieter. “They’re about usability, attention and building experiences that scale.”

A community ready for change

Coterie’s Partner Marketing Connect event marked a significant milestone for the regional partner marketing community, creating a forum for honest, peer-to-peer discussion. The event underscored a shared ambition: to elevate partner marketing from an execution function to a strategic lever for growth.

As ecosystems expand and complexity increases, the skills and structures supporting partner marketing must evolve. Those organisations that invest now – in both people and platforms – will be best positioned to lead.

Gillian Clark, Coterie’s customer success director, noted: “Partner marketing is no longer just a support function. It’s the engine behind ecosystem growth. But to deliver at that level, we need to equip marketers to think strategically, act confidently and collaborate across the entire business.”