Unlock the Power of Partner Marketing: Your Guide

Whether you call it co-marketing, collaborative marketing, or channel marketing, the essence is the same—smart partner marketing strategies empower you to combine forces with your partners to amplify your message and extend your market reach. 

Get ready to dive into the world of partner marketing. Read on to find out more about the role of partner marketing, its benefits, and steps to create a winning partner marketing strategy. 

👉 What you’ll find in this guide:   

• What is partner marketing? 
• What is the role of partner marketing? 
• How to build a partner marketing strategy 
• Leveraging a partner marketing automation platform 
• Meet the future of partner marketing 

What is partner marketing?  

How can you rapidly expand your reach to new potential customers, without increasing internal headcount and resources? One word: partners. Partner marketing refers to joining forces with other companies (your partners) to share messaging and marketing materials to your target audience. You may also hear it referred to as co-marketing, collaborative marketing, and channel marketing.  

With partner-driven marketing strategies, both companies win as they benefit from shared expertise, more hyper-personalized campaigns, and wider market access. Customers win too, as they'll hear about the story of your brand from partners they already know and trust.  

For instance, a technology firm might collaborate with a complementary software provider to offer bundled solutions, making it easier for customers to adopt integrated tech stacks. In retail, a fashion brand could partner with an influencer to reach new audiences through authentic endorsements. Similarly, in the financial sector, an investment firm might partner with a fintech company to co-promote new investment tools, ensuring wider adoption and better customer experiences.   

Typically, key partner marketing strategies include a combination of: 

• Joint campaigns: Creating and executing marketing campaigns together to leverage your partner's audience and resources, including anything from shared ads to coordinated product launches.
• Content collaboration: Developing content such as blogs, whitepapers, and case studies together, which can be shared with both networks to increase visibility and credibility.
• Lead sharing: Using account mapping tools to identify and prioritize shared opportunities between teams. This ensures both partners and vendors can provide more value to each other's customer base.
• Resource sharing: Pooling marketing budgets, technology, and expertise to maximize the impact of joint initiatives, such as sharing marketing automation tools, analytics, and design resources.  
• Cross-promotion: Promoting each other's products or services through various marketing channels, like email, websites, or social media.  

Today's partner marketing leaders rely on partner marketing automation platforms (PMAP) to manage these different partner-led efforts. The best platforms sync seamlessly with your partner relationship management software. The shift towards partner-driven marketing powered by a PMAP is more than just a strategic choice; it will become increasingly necessary in a cookie-less future where customers crave personalized marketing experiences led by trusted brands.  

As Lindsay Jensen, senior director of partner strategy and growth at Impartner, notes in Wired: “Who will be tomorrow’s market leaders? Those who have mastered the art of partnering. We’re moving beyond the era of solo achievements; the future is all about collaboration and collective success."  

By leveraging the strengths of every partner in your ecosystem, your organization can build a dynamic outreach strategy that's designed to grow. Let's get to it.  

What is the role of partner marketing?  

By collaborating with trusted partners, your business can tap into new customer bases, leveraging the credibility and established relationships that your partners have built over time. This approach not only amplifies your marketing efforts but also fosters a sense of trust and reliability among your potential customers, who are more likely to engage with a brand endorsed by a partner they already know and trust.  

Just a few partner marketing stats prove the effectiveness of these efforts:  

• Crossbeam notes that deals are 53% more likely to close when a partner is involved
• Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions, according to McKinsey
• PartnerPath found that 68% of consumers can make a buying decision without speaking to a sales rep after seeing a co-branded campaign  

While partner marketing is important now, it becomes even more critical in a cookie-less future. Today's traditional digital advertising methods face challenges due to increased privacy regulations and the phasing out of third-party cookies. Partner marketing enables companies to reach their target audience through first-party data from partners, bypassing the need for intrusive tracking methods.  

By relying on the trust and relationships that your partners have cultivated, businesses can continue to engage effectively with potential customers in a more privacy-conscious world. This approach not only ensures compliance with new regulations but also builds stronger, more genuine connections with customers, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and business growth. 

🤖 Look to the future: Advancements in AI offer significant benefits for marketing through your partners… if you know how to leverage them. In our expert-lead MasterClass, we explore the untapped potential of AI to maximize your paid media budgets and how it can revolutionize your approach to partner marketing automation. Watch it here! 

How to build a partner marketing strategy 

As many as 90% of your partners will need your support on marketing efforts. You'll need a strong strategy to get started.  

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you build a robust strategy that leverages the strengths of your partners to achieve your growth goals. Throughout, we'll also share partner marketing examples from some of today's industry leaders and links to more in-depth resources.  

1. Define your partner marketing goals   

Start by clearly defining what you aim to achieve with your partner marketing strategy. Clear objectives are crucial as they guide every decision you make and can help you adjust course along the way.  

Your objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Some types of goals to start with may include:  

• Increase brand awareness  
• Generate new leads
• Boost sales revenue
• Increase customer retention rates
• Enter new markets
• Enhance customer experience  
• Increase partner engagement  
• Drive marketing innovation  

Remember to review and adjust your goal regularly to reflect changes in the market and your strategic business priorities. By setting clear and specific objectives that matter for your business, you can create a focused partner marketing strategy that drives meaningful results, like Palo Alto Networks did.  

⭐️ Partner marketing example: Palo Alto Networks

"Impartner has really been pivotal in changing the way that our partners are able to co-market with us. We're seeing about a 40% quarter over quarter growth when I'm measuring partner engagement, which is fantastic."

- Stephanie Zembal, Sr. Manager Channel Marketing at Palo Alto Networks  

2. Invest your resources in the right partners  

Choosing the right partners to co-market with is crucial. Before investing in partner marketing to drive leads, it's essential to assess the capabilities of your partners. Which ones have the resources to support your co-marketing efforts? Which ones are interested in doing so? What tools do you have in place that can make it easier for them to succeed?  

Prioritize partners who possess strong marketing capabilities or interest and demonstrate high growth potential. You can do this by:  

• Conducting a comprehensive partner assessment using a structured framework  
• Evaluating partners based on marketing signals, engagement signals, and enablement signals  
• Visualizing partner attributes and readiness for scale to make informed investment decisions  

Once you've identified partners that would be a good fit for your partner-driven marketing campaigns, take a data-driven approach to resource allocation to ensure that the right partners receive the necessary support.   

Implement a tiered support model to decide where to put your marketing dollars. This model should define different service levels, ranging from self-service to managed marketing services, based on partner performance, resources, and potential reach.  

And, once you have determined the support level for each partner, communicate this information clearly. Provide your partners with the benefits of co-marketing with you and the resources they can expect. This clear communication helps set expectations and fosters a collaborative relationship between you and your partners from the start.  

3. Make co-marketing an easy yes  

Joining your partner marketing campaigns will require additional work from your partners. Make it worth their while by crafting a compelling value proposition. Your benefits and incentives may include:   

• Revenue opportunities: Outline the financial benefits for your partners, such as increased sales through co-marketing campaigns, higher commission rates, or revenue-sharing.
• Access to new markets: Offer partners the opportunity to expand into new geographic regions or industries where your brand has a strong presence, so they can diversify their market base.  
• Exclusive promotions: Provide exclusive discounts, promotions, or early access to new products for your partners and their customers.  
• Lead sharing: Implement account mapping to identify and prioritize shared opportunities, so both parties benefit from each other's customer base.
• Easy marketing support: Make it easy to partner with co-branded marketing materials, templates, GTM playbooks, MDF funds, and access to marketing automation tools.  

A strong value proposition not only draws partners in but also encourages them to actively promote your products and stay in your program.  

4. Build a co-marketing plan  

From there, you'll collaborate with your partners to develop a co-marketing plan. This should include co-branded campaigns, shared content creation, and coordinated promotional activities. 

Define the roles and responsibilities of each partner, set timelines, and agree on key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. Each plan will look different depending on your business and goals, so we've put together a longer resource to work through this part of your partner marketing strategy.  

🛠️ Dig deeper: Our in-depth post covers the 10 steps to build your co-marketing plan, along with examples of successful campaigns. Read it here.  

5. Leverage partner marketing automation platforms  

Partner marketing automation platforms can rapidly streamline collaboration and communication with your partners. These platforms offer a suite of tools designed to optimize and enhance various aspects of your partner marketing strategy, ensuring that your partners have easy access to the resources they need and can track their progress in real-time.  

Here’s a detailed look at each essential feature of partner marketing automation platforms. 

Onboarding and training 

Efficient onboarding and training are critical for enabling your partners to effectively market and sell your products. Partner marketing platforms provide structured onboarding processes, including interactive training modules, certifications, and progress tracking.  

Automated onboarding ensures that partners receive all necessary information and training without manual intervention from your partner managers, leading to faster ramp-up times and better preparedness. 

Content asset sharing 

A central content library is essential for distributing marketing assets to your partners. These libraries allow you to store and share a variety of materials such as product datasheets, brochures, videos, and case studies.  

Partners can easily access and download these resources, ensuring consistent messaging and branding across all marketing efforts. Regular updates to the content library keep partners informed with the latest information and tools. 

The best PMAPs even allow your partners to co-brand your materials right within their portal.   

Email marketing  

Email marketing tools integrated into partner platform enables you to create and manage email campaigns targeted at your partners and through them to their customers.  

These tools support both to-partner and through-partner marketing efforts, allowing you to send co-branded emails, newsletters, and promotional offers. Automated workflows can segment audiences, personalize content, and track engagement metrics to optimize your email marketing strategies. 

⭐️ Partner marketing example: Siemens

With over 16,000 global partners, Siemens Digitial Industries Software was communicating with partners in an uncoordinated way—and largely in English with non-native English speakers. Siemens turned to Impartner tool to automate email newsletter creation, localization, deployment, and tracking.  

Now, partners get localized email newsletters with co-branded marketing materials and information, which has led to 70% open rates! Read the full case study here.

Social media  

These tools facilitate coordinated social media marketing efforts so you can create and schedule posts, monitor engagement, and analyze performance across multiple social media platforms.  

Partners can leverage these tools to amplify their outreach, ensuring consistent messaging and maximizing the impact of social media campaigns. Templates and suggested posts can help partners maintain alignment with your brand standards.  

Paid media tools 

Paid media tools for partners can help you manage digital advertising campaigns on behalf of your partners. These tools allow you to create, fund, and track digital ad campaigns across various channels such as Google Ads or social media sites like Facebook.  

By handling the paid media efforts directly for our partners, you can ensure that campaigns align with your brand guidelines and reach the desired target audiences effectively without overspending. 

⭐️ Partner marketing example: Xerox

Xerox needed a way to scale their co-marketing efforts for their partners, but initial efforts were time-consuming, costly, and led to conflicting ad campaigns and budgets. Xerox’s team realigned on their goals, and realized they needed a solution they could manage for partners. With Impartner, they set up and deploy ad campaigns with zero effort from partners.  

Today, Google Ads is the first source of leads for Xerox partners and has led to a 75% decrease in cost per lead! Read the full case study here.    

Performance tracking   

Finally, tracking the performance of your partner marketing campaigns is crucial for evaluating success and making data-driven decisions. The best partner marketing platforms offer comprehensive analytics and reporting features that provide insights into campaign performance.  

Real-time data on metrics such as lead generation, conversion rates, and sales help you and your partners understand what’s working and where improvements are needed. Performance tracking also supports incentive programs by highlighting top-performing partners. 

By leveraging these advanced features, partner marketing automation platforms enable seamless collaboration, enhance marketing efforts, and drive measurable results for your business.  

⚒️ Dig deeper: Discover how you can encourage the highest-performing marketing behaviors among your partners with the power of data.   

Meet the future of partner marketing 

Partner marketing enables companies to accelerate growth by leveraging each other’s strengths, networks, and resources. By forming strategic alliances, businesses can achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively, whether it's increasing revenue, enhancing customer experience, or driving innovation. 

What's driving this change? The latest advancements in partner marketing that are revolutionizing how companies can collaborate with their ecosystem of partners. These tools enable businesses to streamline processes, automate marketing efforts, and gain valuable insights through predictive analytics and AI-powered functionalities. With platforms like Impartner, companies can orchestrate their partner ecosystems to work towards shared objectives, resulting in faster growth and higher revenue. 

Today, millions of partners in nearly every industry across the globe access Impartner. 

Impartner is the fastest-growing, most award-winning partner management software on the market. Our partner relationship management (PRM) and partner marketing automation (PMA) solutions help companies accelerate revenue and profitability through their indirect sales channels at every partner lifecycle touchpoint. 

From partner training and onboarding to pipeline management, resource sharing, and performance tracking, Impartner handles it all and more with best practices and automation built-in.  

Need to accelerate your partnerships? We’re ready when you are.