Where should the marketing team person spend their time? Which channels, tools, and events should we invest in?
The role marketing should play within an organization may be the least agreed upon thing in the business world.
In our survey of over 30 marketing Managers, Directors, and VPs—we set out to understand how solution providers (SIs, VARs, ISVs) in our industry approach marketing. What are their priorities? Which problem they would solve if they could snap their fingers and make it so?
Let's get into it.
We reached out to people with Marketing in their job titles at BlueStar customer companies and asked for their input in exchange for a $20 gift card. Boom.
The results here were directional—nearly half (45.2%) of all respondents chose Increasing Brand Awareness as a top priority. We didn't include Lead Generation as an option—we know that everyone wants Marketing to drive more leads.
What we wanted to glean here was which activities would help drive demand for your products or services?
Tied for second place was was New Product or Service Launches and Targeting Specific Markets.
💡Observation:
Although in-person events are listed as the top perceived contributor to new business (Question 5), only a single respondent indicated increasing presence at industry events as a top priority in 2025. Does this indicate a desire to lean less heavily on events? Or, do solution providers feel like they have their event marketing approach dialed in, freeing them up to focus on other areas?
| Option | Percent of Responses | #of Responses | |
| Increasing Brand Awareness | 45.2% | 14 | |
| New product or service launches | 29.0% | 9 | |
| Improving social media presence | 6.5% | 2 | |
| Incorporating AI into your processes | 9.7% | 3 | |
| Customer retention | 6.5% | 2 | |
| Refreshing / updating web site | 16.1% | 5 | |
| Adding new digital tools (web, CRM, etc) | 9.7% | 3 | |
| Targeting specific markets | 29.0% | 9 | |
| Increasing presence at industry events | 3.2% | 1 | |
| Improving organic SEO ranking | 16.1% | 5 | |
| Creating promotional video content | 16.1% | 5 |
87.1% of respondents handle at least half of all marketing activities in-house. The top response—selected by 45.2% or 14 respondents—is that companies manage about 75% of their marketing in-house.
Of the 9 respondents who indicated that 50% or less of their marketing is handled in-house, satisfaction with their external partners was very high—rating 4 out of 5 stars for quality of work, understanding of our industry, effectiveness, and communication. Keep up the great work, agencies!
The results here were once again directional. LinkedIn was chosen as the top online channel by 87.1% or 27 respondents followed by YouTube, which was chosen by 54.8%, or 17 respondents.
Facebook was ranked as important by 12.9%, with Reddit (6.5%), Instagram (3.2%), and TikTok (3.2%) trailing significantly.
Yes—overwhelming our industry does invest in paid advertising to the tune of 83.9% of respondents.
| Value | Percent | #of Responses | |
| Yes | 83.9% | 26 | |
| No | 16.1% | 5 |
Finally, a question where answers diverge.
We asked survey respondents to select the top two channels for generating leads for their business.
The top response? In-person events (58.1%). This was followed by Email Marketing (32.3%) and Organic SEO (29%).
Also notable were Paid Search (25.8%) and Word of Mouth (25.8%)
| Option | Percent of Responses | #of Responses | |
| Email Marketing | 32.3% | 10 | |
| Organic SEO | 29.0% | 9 | |
| Paid Search (Google) | 25.8% | 8 | |
| Word of Mouth / Referrals | 25.8% | 8 | |
| Paid Social (Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok) | 9.7% | 3 | |
| Webinars / Online events | 6.5% | 2 | |
| In-person events | 58.1% | 18 | |
| Telemarketing | 9.7% | 3 |
Unsurprisingly, the top priority revealed in question one aligned with the biggest challenge here, which is Brand Awareness (58.1%).
Brand awareness is a sometimes vilified term in sales circles because it is not lead generation. The reality, though, is that it's difficult to generate sales inquiries for a company who isn't known or trusted by prospective buyers in a given market.
Other top answers were Standing Out in a Crowded Market (48.4%) and Creating Content (35.5%).
Are you a solo marketer or part of a duo? In this industry, you're in good company with over 64% of respondents indicating they're part of a one or two person team.
| Value | Percent | #of Responses | |
| 1 | 29% | 9 | |
| 2 | 35.5% | 11 | |
| 3-5 | 25.8% | 8 | |
| 6-10 | 3.2% | 1 | |
| 10-20 | 3.2% | 1 | |
| 20+ | 3.2% | 1 |
Over half of respondents (58%) indicated they are not leveraging AI, or that they're in the pre-operational experimentation stage.
💡Observation:
Although marketing teams in our industry are typically only 1-2 people and Creating Content is a top 3 marketing challenge, the majority of marketers and organizations aren't leaning in to the power of AI for content creation. This appears to be a good area for continued education and training for marketing personnel.
The data was very clear here—91% of responding marketers are leaning on AI for assistance with Copywriting / Content Creation.
Data analysis (34.8%), Image generation (34.8%) and Chatbots (30.4%) were also notable, with Video generation (17.4%) trailing significantly.
"Organic SEO—first page Google results."
"Creating educational content much easier."
"Create clearer and more relatable messaging segments for our positioning in the different areas we compete."
"Reaching clients in a 1:1 approach, decision makers."
"I'd create and distribute more content."
"Finding ways to leverage MDF from multiple vendors for the same campaign versus having to pick one, and having the freedom to present ourselves to the end user as hardware agnostic / in it to find the best solution for their situation."
Nearly half (48%) of respondents describe their organization as value-added resellers, 23% are software companies, and 23% are Solution Integrators with one Technology Consultancy and one Robotics Provider sprinkled in.
| Option | Percent | #of Responses | |
| Value-Added Reseller | 48.4% | 15 | |
| Software Company | 22.6% | 7 | |
| Solution Integrator | 22.6% | 7 | |
| Technology Consultant | 3.2% | 1 | |
| Robotics Provider | 3.2% | 1 |