Coterie launches channel marketing academy

Channel marketing specialist Coterie has long advocated improving skills in the industry and is playing its part with the launch of an academy.

The Coterie Academy provides online training courses that are recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and a development scheme to improve partner marketing.

Coterie has cut the ribbon on the academy with the launch of a book about partner marketing and the CIM-approved training courses.

Coterie co-founders Helen Curtis and Jo Dunkley have spent the past two years writing How to be a boundary spanner to include everything a partner marketing executive needs to launch campaigns and programmes.

“There are plenty of marketing books and some B2B marketing books, but there are none dedicated entirely to UK partner marketing. We wanted to give something back; we know how hard it is to start from scratch when it comes to partner marketing, so we hope with this book we’re taking some of the stress out of that by guiding people through the process,” said Curtis.

Dunkley said it was important to share tips and best practices to improve the levels of skills across the channel.

Courses available under the Coterie Academy umbrella provide support for beginners and experienced marketers with three certification levels: basics of partner marketing, multi-ingredient ecosystem marketing, and practitioner in partner and ecosystem marketing.

“We often find that even if people have worked in marketing for years, they might not fully understand the nuances and the details of running a dedicated partner marketing programme. Not only will these courses help experienced marketers, but we hope they’ll encourage the next generation into partner marketing,” said Curtis.

The organisation is also launching a development programme to provide support to those individuals who want to work in the industry, with the aim of bolstering the numbers delivering quality campaigns and programmes.

The marketing skills gap has been acknowledged as a major problem for channel players, particularly smaller firms that struggle to employ dedicated marketing support.

Coterie has previously called for more sharing of best practices and greater levels of collaboration to improve overall skill levels and make life easier for the marketing community. In summer 2022, it launched a vendor-agnostic community to encourage partner marketers to talk more and share ideas with each other.

Dunkley said its community efforts had already brought fellow marketers together, providing a forum where experiences could be shared.

“Many members have said they spend far too long trying to explain what they do to friends, family and colleagues. One thing members love [about the forum] is that they can openly discuss challenges and everyone quickly gets it and they are very readily willing to help with solutions and advice because they understand the complexities of the job,” she said.

Channel marketers are not only facing pressure to generate and deliver quality campaigns but increasingly their remit has expanded, with environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts also coming under their purview.