Lessons Learned from the Partner Marketing for Ecosystems Roundtable

Over at the SaaS Ecosystem Alliance, we held a virtual roundtable event focused on partner marketing for technology ecosystems. 

We spoke with Mark Lafrate, Product Marketing Manager for Apps & Partnerships at Intercom, Katie Rubak, Senior Manager of Partner Marketing at Talkdesk, Briarley Laban, Global Director of Partner Marketing at Trustpilot, and Morgan Rochofski, Product and Partner Marketing for Salesloft’s ecosystem. 

During the event we discussed traits of good tech and co-marketing partners, best practices for internal and external reporting structures and org charts, and how to tie partner marketing KPIs to larger organizational goals.

Partner Marketing and Organizational Structure

The panelists discussed how partner marketing can often be mispositioned or misrepresented as a supporting team to partnerships. Ensuring organizational structure and KPIs are designed so partner marketing, marketing, and partnerships are all supporting each other and working towards a shared vision can effectively combat this. 

Panelists discussed the different executives that partner marketing and alliances teams report to within their company, and how they collaborate within these structures. 

For example, Briarley Laban from Trustpilot explained how her Partner Marketing team sits under Marketing while the Partnerships and Alliances team works under their Commercial team. 

Morgan Rochofski noted that both Partner Marketing and Alliances work under Marketing at Salesloft. Briarley and Morgan explained the pros of these two different structures, as well as the synergies that they unlocked. 

Related Content: Lessons Learned from the Partner Marketing for Ecosystems Roundtable

Partner Marketing KPIs

When it came to the discussion about KPIs for partner marketing that tie into organizational goals, Mark shared the three “north star” KPIs they use at Intercom, which are opportunities, lead generation, and app adoption. 

Panelists also shared that along with KPIs tied to generating revenue, they also have KPIs around marketing activities and ensuring other internal teams are leveraging partner opportunities. 

They thought it was useful to frame KPIs in different buckets: marketing to partners, marketing through partners to their audiences, and marketing with partners. 

Related Content: Tactics for Scaling Partner Marketing and Attribution Tracking

Internal Support for Partner Marketing

In addition, panelists discussed the importance of collaborating with other internal teams on partnerships, including having KPIs tied to other internal teams' engagement in co-sale opportunities. They described some specific actions they have taken within their organizations to engage and invest internal teams in external partnerships. 

If you're interested in hearing the full discussion, join the SaaS Ecosystem Alliance to gain access to members only resources and a recording of this event. 

You can also register for more upcoming roundtables on interdisciplinary topics relevant to those working in technology partnerships.