Marketing is your most effective and powerful way of telling the world about your products and services—and then converting at least some of that world into paying customers.

How important is marketing? Very. The average large corporation spends about 10 percent of its annual revenue on marketing, according to research firm Gartner. On a percentage basis, that’s nearly three times as much as those same corporations spend on IT, Gartner adds.

Yet for too many channel suppliers, marketing is a mere afterthought. After all, you dedicate most of your budget, staff time and other valuable resources to designing, building and servicing systems for your customers. To be sure, that’s important. But without a serious marketing effort, you may find yourself hard pressed to find new customers for those systems.

Fortunately, channel providers looking to beef up their marketing efforts can turn to a powerful and affordable solution: partner marketing programs offered by their suppliers. Remember that “10 percent of revenue” figure? That’s what your top-tier suppliers are spending on marketing their brands, products and services. By aligning your smaller channel company with their brand, you’re essentially hitching a free ride on their very costly coattails.

“Being regional, the biggest challenge we have when we call on a new client is explaining who we are,” says Richard Cummins, president and CEO of ISOCNET, a Crestview Hills, Kentucky-based provider of managed services, email, cloud hosting and design. “Even though we’ve been around for 18 years, we’re not a nationwide name. So if we go in with a Microsoft product, they’re going to listen. That partnership immediately gives us credibility in a bigger market.”

And there’s much more. The best suppliers’ partner programs offer marketing tools — often at no cost — that you can use to create and manage email, syndicated content and social media campaigns. For example, members of the Microsoft Partner Network get access to customizable marketing and sales content, Web syndication services, local community connections and networking tools, event planning support, and even customized logos. The community’s Content Finder helps partners find marketing and sales content by category with provided filters; categories include video resources, marketing graphics, competitive resources and more. In addition, Microsoft PinPoint makes it easy for customers to find partner companies by providing tailored suggestions based on customer input and the various solutions partners provide — all to help partners fill their sales pipeline with relevant leads.

The big takeaway? Ask your suppliers about their programs designed to help your marketing campaigns. Their answers may pleasantly surprise you — and help you land new and profitable customers.