B2B Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Growth in 2023

By Shawn Li & Taylor Wells, summarized by GTM.news & ChatGPT

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Strategic partnerships have become a crucial aspect of business development and growth for companies of all sizes. In today's competitive market, it is important for companies to form partnerships that align with their goals and bring value to their customers. But what exactly is a strategic partnership and how does it work?

A strategic partnership is a collaboration between two or more companies that share common goals and work together to achieve them. This type of partnership goes beyond just co-selling or co-marketing; it involves a deeper level of collaboration and integration. The ultimate goal of a strategic partnership is to generate a 10x return for both companies involved.

In most companies, the CEO takes on the role of the business development (biz dev) leader, with a focus on finding and landing the right strategic partnerships. The SP (strategic partnership) leader is responsible for managing the relationship and ensuring its success.

The key to successful strategic partnerships is understanding the ecosystem around your customer. This involves being familiar with the economy that your customer operates in and the various players within it. By doing this, companies can determine the best partners to work with and how to approach those partnerships.

There are three main aspects of strategic partnerships: co-marketing, co-selling, and co-inventing. Co-marketing involves both companies sharing a common voice to promote the partnership. This includes sharing the narrative and story that flows between the companies. Co-selling involves a shared message being sent to a specific account. Both companies work together to present a unified front to the customer. Co-inventing is the product angle of strategic partnerships. It involves working together to rapidly adopt and be influenced by the customer's needs. This helps companies create a cohesive go-to-market approach and provide the best customer experience.

Starting a strategic partnership program can seem daunting, but it's important to start small and create "aha" moments within your team. To get buy-in from the greater organization, it's crucial to bring in stories of early wins. It's also important to live in your market and understand your customer to ensure that the partnership is successful.

Some may argue that you should wait until you have product-market fit before starting a strategic partnership program. However, it is recommended to start early and have a partnering mindset. This means thinking about how you can contribute to your partner's content or campaigns, and how you can build integrations with third-party tools.

When determining where to start with strategic partnerships, it's important to look at where your customers live and what solutions they consider must-haves. It's also important to understand the jobs your customers are trying to do and the tools they will use in conjunction with your product. You can either take a broad-base approach, getting to know the landscape well, or you can focus on 5 to 10 partners to grow with. If you're starting a program, it's important to find 3 to 5 partners that you have alignment with and reach out with the idea of a partner program.

Measuring the ROI of a strategic partnership program can be challenging, but it's important to have realistic metrics in place. This will help you appear mature and developed to potential partners and also allow you to invest more in the partnership.

In conclusion, strategic partnerships are a valuable tool for business development and growth. The key to success is understanding the ecosystem around your customer, working together with your partners to achieve common goals, and starting early with a partnering mindset. With realistic metrics in place, companies can measure the ROI of their strategic partnership program and continue to grow and succeed. Just get started!