The Power of Partnership: A Guide to Implementing Successful SaaS Partner Marketing Campaigns

Is your business looking to increase its reach and boost customer acquisition? If so, budget constraints and limited resources can be a frustration in a crowded market. That’s where partner marketing comes in, helping businesses reach new audiences by leveraging the networks and customer bases of their partners.

Partner marketing done right can be an effective way to expand your marketing efforts: in a 2022 Hubspot survey, 49% of organisations surveyed attributed 26% or more of their revenue to partners. However, without a solid strategy behind it, partner marketing can just look like two companies spamming each others’ user bases.

Read on to discover how to build a truly successful partnership. Learn about the different types of partnerships, select the right partners to amplify your brand, and build a winning, mutually beneficial strategy.

What is Partner Marketing?

Partner marketing is the name given to any strategy that involves collaboration with other businesses or individuals to promote each other’s products or services to their respective audiences.

This involves forming alliances with complementary brands to leverage their resources, networks, and expertise. Done well, this can help both brands to reach new customers, drive revenue growth, and build brand awareness.

Partner marketing can take many forms, including co-marketing campaigns, referral programs, affiliate marketing, and more.

Types of Partner Marketing

Co-marketing

Co-marketing involves the lowest involvement from partners and is typically non-monetary. This type of partnership helps establish credibility by associating with strong brands through public social media interactions and co-branded content. It encourages participation with non-monetary offers like lead sharing and backlinking and provides a foundation for further partnerships.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing incentivises one business to independently drive traffic or conversions for another. Influencer marketing falls under this banner. The incentive could be a flat fee, revenue share, or lead share. Smaller companies can build rapport and form positive associations with respected brands, and mutually beneficial relationships can be formed with relevant industry figures.

Co-sell relationships

Co-sell relationships involve both companies referring leads or working deals together. It requires effort from both sides, where one company refers a lead and registers an opportunity, and the other works the opportunity. This type of partnership takes some work off a company’s plate but still maintains control over which opportunities to invest time in.

Resell relationships

Resell relationships are a type of partner marketing strategy in which a partner sells a product independently. This allows the partner to generate revenue from the sale of the product without investing significant time or resources. The partner can sell the product directly to their own customers, using their own marketing and sales channels.

For example, a company that develops project management software may offer a reseller program to enable partners to sell the software to their own customers. The partner can earn a commission on each sale they make, and the product owner can generate revenue from the sale of their product without investing significant time or resources in marketing and sales.

Why does Partner Marketing Matter?

Partner marketing enables SaaS businesses to tap into the audience and networks of their partners, enabling them to reach a larger audience and increase their visibility. It enables SaaS businesses to access new markets and customer segments that they may not have been able to reach on their own. It can help SaaS businesses reduce their customer acquisition costs by leveraging the networks and resources of their partners.

Partnering with businesses that offer complementary products or services can help SaaS businesses fill gaps in their offerings and provide more value to their customers. Partnering with well-known and respected brands can help SaaS businesses improve their brand credibility and reputation. Partner marketing can drive revenue growth for SaaS businesses by providing access to new customers and revenue streams.

Finding the Right Partners

Rather than reaching out to as many businesses as possible and seeing what sticks, you need to start with a plan and pick your potential partners carefully. Identify your company’s goals for partnership, such as increasing brand awareness, expanding your reach, or generating more leads. This will help you determine what type of partner to look for.

Look for companies that offer complementary products or services to yours and have a similar target audience. Use search engines, social media, industry directories, and conferences to identify potential partners. Evaluate potential partners based on factors such as their reputation, audience segment, size and engagement, alignment with your brand values, and the resources they can offer. Look for partners with a strong track record of successful partnerships.

Once you’ve got a shortlist of partners who match your goals, reach out to them to gauge their interest in partnering with you. Be clear about your goals for the partnership and present a strong case for how it can benefit both companies.

Once you’ve established interest from potential partners, discuss the terms of the partnership, such as how you will work together, what resources each party will contribute, and what the expected outcomes are. Make sure the terms are clear and mutually beneficial.

Creating a Partner Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve got an interested partner, it’s time to mutually define the goals of your partnership and what you hope to achieve from it. These goals should align with your overall business objectives as well as theirs, so don’t be afraid to negotiate back and forth.

Next you need to provide a clear understanding of your target audience and their needs. Create audience personas and research particular pain points that your partnership can address and solve. Then build promotions and messaging around this concept, adding real value to your offering.

Determine specific marketing tactics that will be used to achieve the partnership goals. This could include social media campaigns, co-branded content, webinars, referral programs, or other activities.

Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each partner in the partnership. This will help ensure that both parties are working towards the same goals and that there is no confusion or miscommunication later down the line. Schedule regular check-ins to ensure that everyone’s still happy with their responsibilities and the direction that the partnership is taking.

Finally, you will need to create a timeline for the agreed partnership activities and set specific deadlines for each stage of the partnership. This will help ensure that everything stays on track, benchmarks are met or exceeded, and your goals are achieved on time.

Measuring the Success of Partner Marketing

Measuring the success of partner marketing is essential to understand the impact of the partnership and make informed decisions about future partnerships.

You will need to start by defining the metrics that will be used to measure the performance of the partnership. This could include website traffic, lead generation, customer acquisition, revenue growth, or social media engagement. Next, establish a baseline for each success metric before the partnership begins. This will provide a benchmark for comparison and help you measure the impact of the partnership.

Monitor the performance of the partnership ongoingly to ensure that it’s meeting the established success metrics. Present the data you gather in a comprehensive way to your partners, and work together to make informed decisions about the next steps for the partnership. This will help ensure that both parties are aligned and working towards a shared objective.

Don’t forget, it’s also important to celebrate your successes and share them with your partners. This will help build trust and strengthen the partnership over time.

Take the Next Steps with Xander Marketing

If you’re looking to implement winning partner marketing campaigns, Xander Marketing can help you achieve your goals.

With extensive experience in partner marketing, Xander Marketing can help identify and develop the right partnerships to achieve your marketing goals. We can help plan and execute a strategic partnership plan that aligns with your goals and target audience, ensuring that your partnerships deliver maximum impact. Partnering with Xander Marketing provides access to a team of marketing experts who can provide the expertise and resources needed to execute successful campaigns.

Book a 30-minute consultation now to find out how Xander Marketing can help your business achieve its marketing goals through effective partner marketing.