Collab Convo Podcast | Maria Ferrara on alignment, influence, and partner growth
Most partner marketing programmes aren’t short on activity.
Budgets are allocated. Campaigns are running. Content is being shared. Portals are up to date.
But when you look at what actually converts into pipeline? It’s often inconsistent.
That’s exactly what we get into in the latest Collab Convo episode, a Coterie series where Jo Dunkley speaks to people in the role, sharing how partner marketing works day to day, what lands, what doesn’t, and where things tend to break.
In this session, she’s joined by Maria Ferrara. Maria leads partner marketing for service providers across EMEA at Palo Alto Networks. She currently operates in one of the more complex partner environments: shared ownership of pipeline, multiple stakeholders. And no direct authority over the teams expected to act.
Her view is straightforward: “There’s a lot of motion without always forward movement… we’re confusing activity with impact.” That’s the issue. Not effort, but alignment.
Because the job isn’t just about running campaigns. It’s about getting other teams, in other organisations, to prioritise what you’re trying to achieve.
As she puts it: “Partner marketing isn’t just B2B… it’s B2B to human.” Which means the usual levers – process, tools, and funding – only get you so far.
One of the more practical points she makes is where to focus your energy. If there’s no alignment at a leadership level, it’s very difficult to create momentum further down. In Maria’s experience, when collaboration only exists at the marketing level, it rarely goes anywhere.
What does make a difference is visible commitment from both sides – especially at the top. When leaders take the time to sit down together, align on what they’re trying to achieve, and show that it matters, the rest of the organisation tends to follow. While simple, it changes how seriously the partnership is taken internally, and that’s what drives follow-through.
The underlying point is one most people in this role already know: “When you have zero managerial authority, you can’t mandate collaboration, you have to inspire it.”
If you’re working through that challenge, this is a useful 15 minutes.
“Partner marketing isn’t just B2B… It’s B2B to human.”
~ Maria Ferrara