Guide to Building a Killer Go-To-Market Partnership Strategy

Building a robust Go-To-Market (GTM or G2M) partnership strategy is essential for winning companies. A well-done GTM partnership plan can drive growth for SaaS businesses of all sizes–from startups to mega-conglomerates like Amazon. 

Have you ever tried to go to the grocery store without a plan? Or go on a hungry stomach? You know how that goes. It always takes more time. You may forget what you‌ need, and the list goes on. The same happens when you don’t have a go-to-market plan for your partnerships.

With enough market research and planning, you can reach the right audience or enter the market at the right time. This knowledge can also prevent you from targeting an oversaturated market. It can help you understand your customer’s pain points, buyer personas, demographics, and differentiation. This will guide your pricing strategy and product-market fit, improving your new products and product launches. Get to know what resonates with your target market.

Your GTM partnership strategy can also help your partners, marketing, and sales team work together while matching your buyer's journey. Let’s explore what a killer GTM partnership strategy looks like–from best practices to key performance indicators (KPIs)–and how to create one.

What is a Go-To-Market Strategy?

A go-to-market (GTM) plan is a plan businesses use to launch a new product or service successfully into the market. It involves identifying the target audience, crafting a marketing and sales strategy, and aligning key stakeholders to ensure a smooth and effective market entry. A GTM strategy's primary goal is to show customers the company's unique value while making them more competitive.

Key components of a GTM strategy

1. Identify Target Market: Define the specific audience segments and problems the product or service will address. This involves understanding customer needs, preferences, and behaviors to tailor offerings accordingly. Get to know your ideal customer profile.

2. Define Value Proposition: Show the unique value proposition and benefits the product or service offers customers. These could be product features, integrations, or anything that makes your product or service stand out. Highlight your competitive advantage. This helps differentiate the offering from competitors.

3. Pricing Strategy: Conduct in-depth research to determine the optimal pricing model that reflects the product's value and aligns with market expectations. This could involve traditional pricing, subscription models, or other innovative pricing strategies.

4. Sales, Partnerships, and Distribution Channels: Select the most effective channels to reach and engage the target audience. Depending on your business, this includes deciding between direct sales, partnerships, distributors, or online platforms.

5. Marketing Plan: Create a data-driven marketing plan that includes key messaging, branding, and promotions. Get potential customers to know and want the product. This can include content marketing, SEO, and case studies. Your marketing team and partnerships should be all over this!

6. Stakeholder Alignment: Ensure that all relevant departments, such as sales, marketing, and product development, align and work towards the same goals. This includes setting clear roles and responsibilities and maintaining open communication, especially about product roadmaps or marketing plans.

7. Risk Mitigation: Identify potential risks and challenges associated with the product launch and develop strategies to address them. Minimize the likelihood of failure and ensure a successful market entry.

New and established companies looking to introduce new offerings or enter new markets must have a well-thought-out GTM strategy. 

What is a Go-To-Market Partnership?

A GTM partnership allows two or more businesses to collaborate to achieve their goals. These goals include increasing brand awareness, reaching new customers, improving customer retention, and lowering customer acquisition costs. These partnerships can take various forms, including co-marketing campaigns, joint product development, and channel partnerships.

The Role of Partnerships in a GTM Strategy

Partnerships are essential to a GTM strategy. They help you reach new markets, use your strengths together, and offer better products. Strategic alliances can accelerate the adoption of new technology and create additional revenue streams, making them a valuable component of a successful GTM strategy.

Steps to Build a Killer Go-To-Market Strategy for Partnerships

1. Define Clear Goals

Defining clear goals is essential when involving your partnerships in your GTM strategy. What do you hope to achieve through this collaboration? Common goals include:

• Expanding brand reach and visibility

• Improving product offerings, capabilities, and functionality

• Driving conversion rates, sales, and revenue growth

• Building long-term relationships with partners and customers

• Improving customer experience or customer satisfaction

Setting clear, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals can help you match your partnership plan with your business goals.

2. Identify the Right Partners 

Like your partnership program, choosing the right partners is crucial to the success of your GTM strategy. Look for partners whose values, target audiences, and business goals align with yours. Consider the following criteria when selecting partners:

• Audience Overlap: Ensure that your partner's audience is similar to or complements your target audience.

• Brand Alignment: Choose partners whose brand values and messaging align with yours to ensure a cohesive collaboration.

• Expertise and Resources: Assess whether your partner has the knowledge and resources to contribute to the partnership's success.

3. Develop a Collaborative Partnership Strategy

Once you've identified potential partners, work together to develop a collaborative partnership strategy. This involves:

• Define Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly outline each partner's roles and responsibilities to ensure accountability and alignment.

• Establish Communication Channels: Set up regular communication channels to facilitate collaboration and address any challenges that may arise.

• Create a Joint Marketing Plan: Make a joint marketing plan that shows how you will reach your target audience. It should include the ways you will use to achieve them.

You can also use or add technology to your plan, like using Hubspot for inbound marketing, if that's part of your marketing plan. You can also plan joint webinars or implement LinkedIn campaigns to target customers.

4. Leverage Partner's Strengths

One key benefit of partnerships is leveraging your partner's strengths. Identify the unique skills, expertise, and resources each partner brings and use them to enhance your GTM strategy. For example, if one partner excels in digital marketing, they could lead online promotions, while the other focuses on product launches.

5. Implement Co-Marketing Campaigns

Co-marketing campaigns are an effective way to maximize the impact of your partnership. These campaigns involve joint marketing efforts, including co-branded content, joint events, and shared promotions. You may even have templates for this, especially for social media posts. Partners can reach a wider audience and generate more significant results by pooling resources and combining efforts.

6. Measure and Analyze Performance

Finally, measure and analyze how well your partnership is doing to see if it's working and find ways to improve. Key metrics to track include:

• Engagement: Monitor likes, shares, comments, and other forms of engagement to gauge audience interest.

• Traffic: Analyze website traffic to determine how much traffic your partnership drives to your site.

• Conversion: Track conversions, such as sign-ups, downloads, or sales, to assess the impact of your partnership on your bottom line.

Use these insights to refine your partnership strategy and improve future GTM efforts.

Best Practices for Go-To-Market Partnerships

Want your partners to go further and crush your GTM goals? 

Prioritize Diligence, Onboarding, and Enablement

Effective partnerships require diligence during recruitment and a disciplined partner onboarding and enablement strategy. Companies prioritizing these basics can generate a high ROI while furthering their growth. 

Ensure that your partners are well-equipped with the necessary product documentation, sales and marketing content, and training resources. Make sure your partner is also having a good experience. Referrals from your partners are just as important as your customers!

Focus on Product Truth

A successful partnership usually depends on product truth. This means that the value of an offering is linked to how a partner sells, markets, or integrates it. 

Ensure that your partnership aligns with your product's value proposition and enhances its appeal to customers. How do they impact the customer experience? Do your customers understand your product or service and how it solves their problem? This is particularly important for a successful product launch.

Structure Partner Incentives

Structure partner incentives around fair market value, adding incentives for exceptional or niche partner capabilities and outcomes. This approach encourages partners to invest in the partnership and strive for mutual success.

Go to Market with Partnero

Building a killer Go-To-Market partnership strategy requires careful planning, collaboration, and execution. By setting clear goals, choosing the right partners, and planning to work together, you can increase sales and create new ways to grow. 

Remember to leverage each partner's strengths, implement co-marketing campaigns, and continuously measure performance to improve your GTM efforts. With the right approach, partnerships can be a powerful tool for expanding your reach, enhancing your brand, and achieving your business goals.

The best part? You can streamline your go-to-market partnership efforts with Partnero. Onboard, track conversions, and make it easy for your partners to access marketing assets in an organized content library. Sign up for a free trial and try it all out today! No strings attached.