Partner marketing that connects

1. Choose a strong value proposition

Maybe you are struggling to attract partners or just looking to expand your partner universe. Either way, examining your partner value proposition is a good place to start. This is different from your company’s value proposition. It is not about your product or service but the value you bring as a partner. Examine your value proposition and ask yourself if it is strong enough to motivate someone to jump through the hoops needed to make a partnership happen. If it isn’t, or if you don’t have one, it’s time to do some work.

Begin by identifying a list of your ideal partners. These could be companies that share an audience demographic with your company or have a shared value proposition to the end client. Spend some time in the research phase to ensure the value proposition will actually appeal to your potential partners. Find the answers to these questions before drafting or updating your value proposition:

• Audience: Who are potential partners’ main audiences? Are there multiple audiences or sub-audiences within their target audience? Identify each and list as much demographic information as possible to see where your audiences overlap or complement each other.
• Marketing strategies: What marketing strategies are your potential partners using? Do they seem to work? Why or why not? Where might your product or service be of value or help them maximize their reach? 
• Other partners: Who have your ideal partners already partnered with? Are any of them your competitors? Or are they also potential partners? 
• Sales model: How do potential partners sell their products? Are there inside or outside sales teams? How do they interact with customers? 
• Messaging and core values: Which of your ideal partners has core values that align with your company values? Are there any that don’t? 
• Channels: Do your preferred partners sell through specific channels? Which ones and why? 

Now, examine your partner program and decide why any of these companies would see value in it. If they wouldn’t, it’s time to make changes to your actual partner program (that’s a topic for a different day). 

Assuming you’re on track, it’s time to craft a value proposition that will appeal to them. Make your partner value proposition strong and motivating. Remember, you are not selling your product or service here; you are selling your partnership. All your ‘to partner’ marketing materials should return to this value proposition. The value proposition should answer the question: How does your partnership benefit the partner? 

2. Create channel-specific content

Your value proposition is the single most important statement you’ll create to attract partners, but what if your partners sell through various channels and each value different things? In that case, you’ll want to create channel-specific content that speaks to your partners specifically about their business channel. The more tailored you can make the content, the better. This might mean taking even more time to research your partners and their channels, but it will be worth it. Nailing the messaging is really critical for attracting the right partners.

3. Get creative with format

Attracting partners can be even more difficult than attracting end customers. After all, they already have a product or service to sell. Your pitch has to be pretty compelling to make them want to add more work to their plate selling yours. This is why getting creative with your ‘to partner’ content is essential. 

When simple emails and cold calls won’t do the trick, it’s time to turn to video content, webinars and partner testimonials to seal the deal. Treat your partners to the same full-funnel marketing strategy you would with your customers. Just ensure your messaging focuses on the partner value proposition, not so much on the end product or service. If you’re stuck at the start, try some of these cringe-free ways to break the ice.

Educate your partners to do the selling for you

You’ve signed up some partners! Now, the challenge really begins. Partner marketers frequently cite partner engagement as their biggest hurdle to successful partner marketing programs. Sure, a partner might sign up, but what motivates them to learn about your product and then refer or sell it? Great marketing content, that’s what!

1. Onboard partners with content that’s easy to consume

Educating partners is the first step to better engagement and sales. However, getting a partner to take time out of their schedule to learn about a new product or service is no small task. This is when partner marketers really need to turn on their creativity. 

Thoughtfully designed content plays a big role in partner education. Use co-branded slide decks, on-demand onboarding video courses, and battlecards to make it easier for partners to get information in the way they like to consume it. Some people will prefer to watch a video, while others may prefer reading or attending a presentation. By giving your partners options, they will be more likely to take action. 

Make sure all of your educational content is smartly designed. House all your materials in a partner onboarding portal or dedicated website to make it easy to find.

2. Create low-barrier, high-reward incentives for partners

It can help to think of partners similarly to how you think about your sales team. Many of the same techniques that motivate in-house sales teams will probably work for them, with some tweaking.

For instance, hosting an educational webinar is a great way to teach product information. It’s even more likely to be attended if there’s a big giveaway your partners can qualify for afterward. Sales playbooks make excellent tools for partners who need to reference information about your products, but how do you get them to even crack one open? Rewards, rewards, rewards! Amp up a sales playbook with opportunities to complete quizzes, earn prizes or be selected in random drawings. 

You’ll want low barriers to entry and high rewards when trying to get your partner to spend their time getting up to speed on your products. 

1. Create partner marketing content for the full funnel, then rinse and repeat

Start by creating an arsenal of co-branded assets to help push your partner’s customers through the full marketing funnel. This means you’ll need everything from top-of-funnel social media, blogs, and email copy to interest-level pieces like explainer videos and eBooks. You’ll also need long-form content like whitepapers and pillar pages to seal the deal. 

Creating these assets seems like a big push-up, but once they are done, they can be templatized and co-branded with ease. Focus first on creating your full funnel of assets and regularly engaging with partners to see what they think is missing. Add an area to each asset where your partner can customize the templates with their personal information and/or logo. You can even create a joint value proposition if it makes sense for your businesses.

2. Activate your marketing partners with content that’s fun

Sales gamification has existed for decades, but now we have better, faster, easier tools! The options for having fun with partner engagement are pretty wide. Finding the right one means striking a balance between impact and effort. Though we recommend leaning heavily on AI and automation to provide the highest touch possible for partner programs, never neglect the influence of an in-person visit! 

Personalized chatbots can spin up daily trivia, AI-enabled sales playbooks can serve up answers on the fly, and watching animated infographics and 3D video feels like a treat rather than a chore. 

We love it when our clients set up a dedicated social channel for partners, separate from their “to market” social channels. These partner-exclusive spaces are populated with information about educational sessions, Q&A sessions, giveaways and contests. They make partners feel like part of the team.

Signature gifts are another of our favorite tactics for distinguishing a partner program from the crowd. A quarterly gift makes for the perfect excuse for your partner account managers to spend time with their partners.

3. Share the cost of marketing with your partners

Part of being a good partner is supporting them in their endeavors. We recommend offering your trusted partners a marketing slush fund or co-op dollars. Fund their endeavors fully or share the cost of producing materials, hosting events, buying promotional items, etc. 

Since your partners probably know their audience better than you do, this is a worthwhile investment in your future sales and the partner relationship. Just make sure you have final oversight on anything attached to your name or branding to ensure it meets your corporate standards.

Build a strong partner-retention strategy

Perhaps the most important part of creating a revenue-generating partner marketing strategy is partner retention. The effort it takes to onboard and equip a partner to sell your product can be monumental. The longer you can keep your partners, the more return you’ll get on that investment.

1. Retain partners by making through-sales simple

Partners want to work with companies that make it easy. You can provide content that does the selling for them, but you also need to work within your company to reduce barriers to partner sales. Here are a few things you can do to grease the wheels for partner sales:

• Work with your brand team to expand market reach into the channels your partners sell to so their clients are familiar with your company. 
• Ensure your content is mobile-friendly so partners can access it on the go. 
• Engage your implementation team to ensure partners have a clear idea of how to sign up customers and how to get support after the sale.

2. Embed yourself into your partners’ marketing department

One of the best tactics for retaining partners is to embed yourself in their internal marketing teams. Pitch ideas and be collaborative, host joint webinars and co-author articles. Joint PR pitches can expose both companies to different and more expansive audiences — and give prospects more bang for the buck. 

The more embedded you are in your partners’ organizations, the harder it is for them to ignore or detach from your partner program. If you don’t have the resources to be completely hands-on with your partners, use email automation and a dedicated partner social channel to provide a regular newsletter to them. This will keep them up to date on changes at your company, new products, announcements, and opportunities.

3. Build trust with your partners with consistent communication

Consistent and trustworthy communication is critical to every step of the partner journey, from engagement to activation and retention. 

A good rule of thumb is never going a week without communicating with your partners. Use multiple channels to stay connected and top-of-mind. These could include regular email newsletters, social posts, partner account manager outreach, or SPIFFs. Just like direct-to-consumer marketing, partners need to be surrounded by multiple touchpoints to remember your product/service.