1- Educate yourself about the partner to determine the fit
It is critical to understand who you are talking to before approaching potential new partners to avoid friction and shooting in the dark.
Dig into your partner's website, check their LinkedIn to see the compatibility of the brands: is there a fit with your culture, can you identify the same customer segment, does your value proposition fit theirs?
2- Develop a relationship where you have a joint pipeline
Identify the accounts where you and your partner both already have a relationship. Eventually use a specific demand from a client to target the partner with proof of ROI.
Build a business case !
The partners that you really want are going to vet the partnership and that doesn’t mean the commission, it means how your tool can help them increase their number of clients.
3-Invest in Co-Marketing
Co-marketing is the best way to strengthen the relationship with your partners: it generates awareness, creates lead generation opportunities and engages with your clients.
Example of co-marketing: webinars, podcasts, blogposts, email campaigns, case study/testimonials, white papers, events ..
There are a few ways you can measure co-marketing campaigns.
Set your expectations and goals up front!
4- Care about your partner's success
Show your partners you want them to succeed and offer your help, be pro-active.
It is not a one way street!
5- Fill gaps with your solution
Does your solution solve issues to your partner's clients?
“Everyone talks about the apps in their marketplace, but the gold standard, the thing that is valuable, is how many people are using this thing.” Vasanth Matamudra, Director of Product Strategy at RingCentral.
Look if your product fills in some gaps that your partner's product team can't tackle directly.
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