Revenue Partners: Aligning Business Development with Growth Marketing

Marketing is increasingly focused on growth and attributing marketing activities directly to qualified leads, an active funnel, and more revenue. With new marketing automation and analytic tools and techniques, it is easier to tie marketing activities accurately and consistently to leads and revenue.

Business development partnerships have a strong play here. When integrated deeply into growth marketing activities, partnerships drive more qualified leads and active funnel than a company going it alone.

1. Partnerships are solutions focused. Companies work together and integrate to solve a customer problem that is larger than what either company could solve alone. Jointly talk about that solution in online events, gated content, live events, and executive briefings will naturally be of greater interest to a wider number of customers and prospects. Solutions are a more relevant topic to customers than point products.
2. Partners have a force multiplying effect when promoting a joint message. Two companies leveraging their reach will drive 2x, 4x or more attendance, downloads or registrations than one company doing it alone
3. Solution message articulated at the right time in the buying process can accelerate a deal. If a prospect is working with one of your partners, your product will more likely move from awareness to active consideration to final decision if the prospect knows you have worked together to simplify adoption, integration and deployment of a joint solutions.

Business development has traditionally had a strong partnership with the brand or communications wing of marketing; announcing a partnership is always a good excuse to put out a press release, blog post or social media posts. Partnership professionals now have a unique opportunity to work with emerging growth marketing teams to show that building a joint solution with another vendor not only solves current customer problem, but also serves as a platform to directly drive leads and funnel, and win over new customers.