Insights From Our Experts: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Tech Marketplace

Tech companies have always been in a race to innovate. Business is moving at a breakneck speed, and companies need marketing strategies that can keep up—especially in the B2B space.

Today’s unpredictable economy requires highly strategic marketing decisions. Whether you’re marketing with and through partners or focusing on vertical-specific campaigns, best practices are still the way to close big B2B deals. In December 2024 at the Channel Marketing Association, Canalys estimated that 70% of the total addressable IT market was to, through and with the partner channel. This helps confirm that partnership-driven strategies are central to growth.

Elevate your strategy

To truly connect with customers, your company needs to prove that you can reliably deliver high-quality products or services that meet—and ideally, exceed—their expectations. Whether you’re pushing the envelope with new partnerships or highlighting your industry expertise, you need a marketing strategy that shows off your unique offerings and the value you deliver.

Partner marketing is a powerful way to accelerate growth by collaborating with complementary businesses. At its core, it’s about co-marketing with aligned partners to extend your reach, fill capability gaps and deliver joint value to customers.

But successful partnerships don’t happen by chance. You’ll need a clear, strategic framework that outlines shared goals, messaging and execution plans, so you can effectively co-present offerings while still maintaining brand integrity.

“When partners work well together, they’re not just sharing resources. They’re creating something they very likely couldn’t have done on their own,” says Jenna Murphy, manager at Standing Partnership. “That raises the stakes for their marketing, but it also raises the bar for what’s possible for customers. In tech, where the ‘next best thing’ is always in the wings, partnerships can give you a competitive edge.”

Vertical marketing cuts through generic B2B noise with highly targeted, industry-specific messaging. Instead of offering broad, one-size-fits-all content, vertical marketing leans into tailored stories that directly address the unique pain points, goals and use cases of buyers in specific industries.

Although it can require more upfront investment and coordination, vertical marketing can shorten sales cycles and enhance buyer engagement with messaging that speaks your customers’ language. In competitive markets, a strong vertical marketing strategy is a credibility builder that demonstrates understanding of industry challenges and positions your solution as the right fit.

“While technology solutions can serve broad markets, each sector has unique use cases, budget constraints and staffing realities that shape how those solutions are applied,” says Taashi Rowe, manager at Standing Partnership. “Vertical marketing that speaks to their specific challenges, victories and needs makes your audience feel seen, understood and empowered.”

Ultimately, if you use the same “innovative” language and buzzwords as everyone else in the market, your content won’t stand out—and your customer won’t be impressed, either. With planning and strategy, you can create winning content.

Resonate with personalization

Customers expect more than a “one-size-fits-all” approach to marketing. If you’re still relying on generic pitch decks and talking points, you might be missing an opportunity to show you understand the company you’re meeting with. What are its pain points? What outcomes is the team looking for? What vertical is it in?

The more you can personalize the pitch to your customers, the more impactful it will be. And with so much at stake, you will need to nail every stage of the sales process and get buy-in from everyone in the room. Just like you customize language, pain points and KPIs for an industry, consider how to tailor your pitch for the specific C-suite buyers. What the CIO needs to hear vs. the CFO or CHRO can be very different.

Differentiate your offering

“Competitor knowledge is one of your best tools,” says Sam Pekarske, senior content specialist at Standing Partnership. “Knowing where you sit in the broader market helps you understand where—and why—you stand out. Engaging with a mix of competitive thought leadership and sales content can help create a better understanding of the way your audience talks.”

If your company feels out of place in the competitor landscape or you are unsure how to implement a plan, a good partner who specializes in B2B tech marketing can offer some much-needed guidance.

Are you looking for a partner to implement your plan, find a new angle or discuss your growth strategy? Email us at inquries@standingpartnership.com or check out our Tech Practice page for more information.