This posting is part of the partners@work series.

It is better to have someone else promote you than promoting yourself! When you have partners, they can talk about you, promote you and tell everyone how great you are. Visa versa, you can do the same for your partners. Telling others about your partners will also increase the level of trust that people have in you. Partner logos are a great way of filling PowerPoint presentations and having a long list of partners available on your website docs wonders to your image.

That you are associated with your partner is a good thing. That is, if your partner is well regarded of course. If you doubt your partner’s reputation, it is wise to deny or revoke the partnership, although this may come across as being blunt. Be careful with whom you choose to partner.

Apart from name dropping, partnership are extremely helpful when organizing events & seminars, developing white papers or when exhibiting on a trade show. Often it is possible to work more cost effective and get more exposure by for instance sharing mailing lists.

When attending an event, your offering must be tailored to the attendees. You need to exhibit what your product can do for that specific target audience. This means you have to tailor your pitch or perhaps customize your product. This is where your partners come in. They have the required in-depth domain
knowledge that you may lack. Ideas for target specific markets and audiences may come from your peers in the marketing department or from your partners themselves.

When organizing a marketing initiative, it is advisable to let one party be responsible for planning and operations. This prevents the foreseeable communication problems and evenly plausible sliding deadlines. Create a formal project a have senior management commit to it. The advice has been given on many occasions, but is truer than ever in this case. Working across the boards on a project that does not immediately generate revenue requires an
elevated level of commitment and steering.