PartnerStack’s STACK’D conference was created as the first-ever customer summit to help its users ignite growth and form quality connections with industry leaders within its network. It was an opportunity to connect with some of the brightest entrepreneurial minds in B2B SaaS, and the AIM team was excited to attend.
Offering sessions designed to elevate and scale your partner program, PartnerStack delivered some fantastic speakers. They had Cory Snyder—VP of Partnerships at Sendoso, Jay McBain—Chief Analyst at Canalys, Zak Pines – VP of Partnerships at Formstack, and more.
Attending such a conference like this with a focus on B2B partnerships, it was fascinating to dive into the traditional partnerships like agency and reseller programs. However, as the team navigated through these sessions and networked, it was clear that there is a huge opportunity for B2B affiliate.
With a competitive edge, AIM has been in a premier position of B2B affiliate work for a while now, understanding that the time is NOW and B2B is only gaining momentum. We have designed a large team of B2B experts and a close partnership with PartnerStack to grow and scale our B2B client programs.
Since PartnerStack is a key player with our B2B success, it was a great experience to be a part of this conference and expand our B2B knowledge. Here are 5 key takeaways our team gathered that are worth noting:
1. Do the Work to Be Prepared
It’s not just about putting the budget toward marketing campaigns. It’s about knowing your customers/ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and having a story around them. When you know the right people and knowledge surrounding the campaign, you’ll have better success.
2. Ecosystem Mindset for Partnerships
Start with a deep understanding of your clients’ ICP—where are they buying, how are they buying, and what problems do they need solved? This information creates an ecosystem of partners to follow. These types of partners include referral partners, affiliates, integrations, agencies, resellers, and more. Understanding how these partnerships interconnect and work for the brand together versus as individual partners offers more touchpoint advantages in the customer journey.
3. Igniting Growth with Internal Stakeholders
When getting buy-in from internal stakeholders, mapping out the budget is crucial to see what a company is willing to invest. To help, set expectations and know/befriend your audience—speaking in their language and to what KPIs each internal team prioritizes. It’s also essential to get input from sales teams on demos/partner sales pitches to help improve the partner sales process.
4. Getting Partners to the Revenue Table
First and foremost, it’s about nurturing partnerships and expressing commitment to the partnership’s growth. Find out what your publishers’ goals are and keep an open and direct line of communication available to highlight enablement materials, and promotional resources, or to get helpful feedback.
5. Quick Soundbites
- Early on, build KPIs/metrics around the pipeline and translate that into revenue (ie. free trials/new trial starts –> new paid users –> new revenue)
- Value Chain: The product is only one part of the customers’ solution. Understand how to provide additional value to contribute to the end-to-end solution the customer is looking for.
Other focuses surrounded knowing when to pivot, how to leverage the client’s sales team and the potential of tapping into two networks. It was an event filled with actionable insights that we’re excited to use to help optimize and scale our programs while driving revenue.
“I really appreciated the content, the people, and the overall approach that PartnerStack took with STACK’D. It was honestly the first conference I’ve been to in years that actually felt relevant. Affiliate is so overly dominated by consumer brands, and having the B2B-specific affiliate content (and brands), as well as more of the Partnerships Ecosystem conversations was the perfect combination. Plus, it was a lot of fun.” – Jason Lilien, Senior Account Director
PartnerStack is a leading network for B2B affiliate and is growing rapidly. If you’re looking for a network that’s equipped to host your B2B affiliate program, we recommend heading to their site to learn more. And, if you need an agency to assist you with your program’s success, our team has the knowledge for optimal growth and scalability.
