What Is Demand Generation (in the Channel)?
Demand generation is the marketing activity that creates awareness, interest and pipeline for a vendor's products - campaigns, events, content, advertising and lead generation. In the channel, it's the core purpose of MDF and co-op funds, which exist to help partners drive demand the vendor can't reach directly.
Why it matters to IT channel partners. Vendors fund demand generation because partners own the local relationships and market presence. Tying marketing funds to genuine demand-generation activity is what gets activity plans approved and claims paid, and it's how partners turn allocated dollars into actual pipeline rather than expired balances.
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Partners reach local markets and customers the vendor can't, so funding their demand generation extends the vendor's reach at scale.
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