Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace is a digital catalog and online storefront that allows businesses to discover, purchase and instantly deploy software and services that run seamlessly on AWS infrastructure. It's a hub where businesses can find a range of cloud-based solutions to streamline their operations and enhance productivity. Instead of investing in costly on-premises software and hardware, businesses can access a vast array of ready-to-use solutions on AWS Marketplace on-demand.

AWS Marketplace offers distinct advantages to both buyers and sellers. For buyers, it provides a convenient platform to discover and procure software solutions. This simplifies the procurement process, eliminating the need to research and negotiate individually. The software available on AWS Marketplace seamlessly integrates with AWS infrastructure, meaning smooth deployment and operation. Businesses can choose from various pricing models, such as pay-as-you-go or subscription options, enabling them to scale their usage according to their specific needs. For sellers, AWS Marketplace opens doors to a global audience of potential customers, significantly expanding their market reach. The platform streamlines the sales process, reducing the time and resources required to onboard new customers.

Account mapping is an ABM (account based marketing) strategy that involves two partners combining their customer data into one central location in a partner CRM.

Account mapping scans the partner ecosystem and shines a light on the hidden connections and opportunities within it. It's like having a cheat sheet for maximizing the value of your partnerships. By finding these connections, partners can identify new revenue opportunities, accelerate sales cycles and build stronger, more strategic relationships with each other.

Account mapping can be done manually, but specialized software tools like Crossbeam can streamline the process and provide visual solutions.

An account mapping matrix is a visual summary of overlapping opportunities and potential revenue gains that can be created with an account mapping software. These specialized tools also enable filtering and segmenting accounts, tracking partnership performance and generating insights.

PartnerStack customers can easily map their accounts with a new integration between PartnerStack and Crossbeam.

Partner activation is the process of engaging and mobilizing newly recruited partners to actively participate and contribute to a company's business objectives. It involves turning passive participants into active contributors who perform valuable activities, such as sharing links, making referrals, generating leads or closing deals. While the specific criteria for defining partner activation can vary across programs, the common denominator is that partners must demonstrate tangible actions that benefit the company.

This may include registering their first deal, closing their first sale, generating a certain amount of revenue within a specified period or consistently engaging in co-marketing activities. Partner activation is distinct from partner onboarding, which focuses on familiarizing partners with the company's products, services and program guidelines. Onboarding is a prerequisite for activation, but it does not guarantee active participation. Activation requires a level of engagement and commitment from partners, as they actively apply their knowledge and resources to drive results for the company.

Successful partner activation requires a strategic approach that combines onboarding, ongoing training and support, clear communication, and motivating incentives. Companies can leverage various tactics to encourage partner activation, such as offering personalized guidance, providing access to sales tools and resources, hosting webinars and workshops, and recognizing and rewarding top performers.

Activation plans are strategic roadmaps designed to execute and activate business strategies, GTM motions or marketing campaigns. In a partnership ecosystem, they transform partnership programs from mere agreements between two entities into powerful growth engines. Beyond simple introductions, an activation plan focuses on empowering partners to effectively market, sell, and support your solution.

Activation plans cover a variety of essential topics needed for success. A partner activation plan includes elements like onboarding, training, marketing support, partner incentives and ongoing support and materials fro growth. An activation plan will include timelines, key contacts within the program and all the materials that a partner needs to go from signing their partner agreement to closing their first, second and third customer.

There are many benefits of creating an activation plan. It helps gain alignment and set the stage for a successful partnership, initiative or marketing campaign. Activation plans are crucial for unlocking the full potential of B2B SaaS partnerships. By investing in partner enablement and engagement, companies can cultivate mutually beneficial relationships that drive sustainable growth and success.

An activation rate is a metric used by companies to determine when their users are achieving value. Your partner program’s activation rate is the percentage of partners that sign up for your program that gain or add value in the program. What is defined as activation can differ between programs, but it's often a first sale, first referral, or revenue achieved over a set number of months — something that indicates the partner is likely to stay profitable or engaged.

To determine your activation rate, you can take the number of partners who successfully met your activation metric, divide it by the total number of partners who joined your program, and multiply that result by 100.

Also see: Activation

Activation strategies are proactive measures taken to transform recruited partners from passive participants to actively engaged collaborators. These strategies (all of which make up a comprehensive activation plan) aim to accelerate partner adoption and utilization of your solution, driving faster time to value and maximizing the partnership's potential.

Partner activation strategies encompass various tactics, such as providing  enablement materials, conducting product training workshops, offering co-marketing campaigns and incentivizing initial sales or integrations. By implementing effective activation strategies, you turn partners into advocates, fostering a mutually beneficial ecosystem that fuels growth for both parties.

Ad clicks measure how often users interact with online advertisements by clicking on them. When clicked, users are redirected to the advertiser's website or a specific landing page and this action signifies a user's interest in the advertised product, service or content, making ad clicks a valuable indicator of potential engagement and conversion.

The number of ad clicks generated by a campaign is often seen as a measure of its success. A higher click-through rate (CTR), which is the ratio of ad clicks to impressions (the number of times an ad is displayed), indicates a greater level of user engagement and a more effective ad. Ad clicks play an important role in various online advertising models, including affiliate marketing, paid search and display advertising.

For affiliate marketers, ad clicks are essential for tracking the performance of their promotional efforts and calculating commissions based on the traffic they drive to the advertiser's website. In paid search campaigns, ad clicks are used to determine the cost per click (CPC), which is the amount advertisers pay for each click on their ads. Display advertising campaigns also rely on ad clicks to measure the effectiveness of their visual ads in capturing user attention and driving traffic to their intended destinations.

‍Advocacy marketing is a strategic marketing approach in where SaaS businesses utilize the satisfaction of customers or brand advocates to promote the company. Customers are encouraged to share positive experiences, recommend the brand to others, and actively participate in marketing efforts for the product or service.

In advocacy marketing, companies recognize that satisfied customers are their best brand ambassadors. Advocacy marketing shares similarities to affiliate marketing, however, by cultivating a strong relationship with these advocates, businesses tap into their passion and authenticity to amplify their marketing messages. Advocacy marketing goes beyond traditional advertising by fostering genuine, organic advocacy from customers who truly believe in the brand.

Businesses can implement advocacy marketing strategies through various channels, including social media campaigns, referral programs, testimonials, and user-generated content. By empowering their customers to become advocates, companies benefit from increased brand awareness, improved customer loyalty, and enhanced credibility.

An affiliate link is a unique link assigned to an affiliate partner by a partner program. These links are uniquely assigned to affiliate partners and an important tool for affiliate programs. When a user on a website clicks on this specialized link, it registers as a visit attributed to the affiliate partner. Each affiliate link contains a distinct identifier, such as an affiliate's ID or username, ensuring accurate tracking of traffic and user interactions.

This tracking capability allows affiliate partners to receive recognition and rewards for the traffic they direct. Also, if the user who clicks on the affiliate link proceeds to make a purchase or complete a desired action — such as subscribing to a service or purchasing software — the conversion is credited back to the affiliate partner. This process not only incentivizes affiliates to drive quality traffic but also ensures transparency and accountability within affiliate marketing relationships.

Affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a brand pays third-party content creators to generate traffic and leads for the brand's products or services. Content creators often run a blog or produce video content. They promote the company in their content and are given a unique link to drive their audience to. Then, they are paid a commission for the value of the traffic driven to that link or sales made through it.

Affiliate marketing is a useful tool for businesses who want to reach a wider, established audience through a creator the audience is already familiar with. Affiliate marketing is a billion-dollar industry, and it operates in both B2C and B2B spaces. Return on investment for affiliate marketing can be very high since the company essentially outsources marketing and selling to the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing programs are performance-based partnerships between businesses and individuals or other partner businesses.

Affiliate partners promote a company's products or services in exchange for a commission on sales, leads generated or other conversion points in the sales funnel.

This model incentivizes affiliates to drive traffic and conversions through various marketing channels such as websites, blogs, social media or email. By leveraging the reach and influence of affiliates, businesses can expand their customer base and increase revenue without incurring upfront costs.

‍An affiliate network, in B2B SaaS, is a digital platform that connects SaaS vendors with affiliate marketing partners. Once partnered, affiliates promote the products or services of the vendor for a commission on successful referrals or sales.

By joining an affiliate network, vendors can access a wide range of existing affiliates marketers, which enabling them to reach a broader audience and increase their marketing efforts. Affiliate networks may also allow custom filtering so vendors can narrow down on those affiliates who meet their specific criteria for their ideal partner profile.

Affiliates, on the other hand, can explore multiple  programs within the network and choose the ones that best align with their audience and interests. Affiliate networks provide a centralized infrastructure for tracking and managing affiliate marketing activities, including commission tracking, reporting, and payment processing. They also offer resources such as promotional materials, affiliate tools, and analytics to support the success of both vendors and partners.

Affiliate partners are a subset of marketing partners who drive traffic to a company's websites, products or services through tracked links and earn a cut when that traffic converts.

Affiliate partners can expand a company's exposure and market reach by exposing them to entirely new audiences. By leveraging their credibility with their audiences, affiliate partners can effectively promote a company's products and generate valuable leads while increasing brand awareness.

An affiliate partner can be a business, an individual or another affiliate program. Typically, the most common affiliate partners are influencers, content creators, and email marketers.

Mutually beneficial in nature, these partnerships operate on a performance-based model, where affiliates earn a commission for each successful referral or conversion generated through their unique tracking links. As affiliates earn a commission for their successful referrals, companies gain increased traffic, leads and ultimately, higher revenue.

As consumers in recent years have been experiencing ad fatigue and distrust in large corporations, affiliate partners are becoming one of the most effective ways to drive new customers.

An affiliate program is a performance-based marketing strategy that allows individuals or businesses, known as affiliates, to promote a company's products or services in exchange for a commission. This model creates a mutually beneficial relationship where affiliates use their online platforms, such as websites, blogs, social media or email lists, to drive targeted traffic to the company's website or landing pages.

An affiliate program tracks the traffic generated by each affiliate through unique links or codes, ensuring accurate attribution of sales or leads. When a user clicks on an affiliate's link and completes a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form, the affiliate earns a commission based on a predetermined percentage or fixed amount.

Affiliate programs are a cost-effective marketing strategy that can be implemented by both B2B and B2C brands. They provide a scalable way to expand reach, increase brand awareness, and drive sales without incurring upfront marketing costs. Affiliates, in turn, benefit from a reliable source of passive income by promoting products or services they believe in and aligning with their audience's interests. The success of an affiliate program hinges on establishing strong relationships with affiliates, providing them with the necessary resources and support, and offering competitive commission structures.

Affiliate tracking is technology used to track the traffic, referrals, and/or sales that come through a specific partner. The purpose of affiliate tracking is so that a company knows which affiliates drive favorable business outcomes (in other words, attribution), and can reward these individuals accordingly. UTM links are the most common mechanism for affiliate tracking.

Affiliate tracking can also be achieved using promo codes. For example, if an influencer can offer his or her audience 10% off a 1-year software subscription with the promo code PERCY10, this allows the company to track precisely how many sales Percy drives. This then enables the company to determine which partnerships are most lucrative and invest in building these relationships and enabling them to do their best work.

An agency partner is a powerful partner, typically an agency who either send you leads or closes business on your behalf. They may also run a client's program on your software and charge them for services. Agency partnerships can increase marketing reach and earn additional referral revenue. They can help you reach new potential clients and add more value for current clients. They may also collect payments and maintain customer relationships on your behalf.

Agency partners work within the same industry between companies with aligned values and goals and they can provide significant improvement on ROI for businesses that utilize them.

Also see: Value added resellers (VARs).

In business, an alliance refers to a collaborative relationship formed between two companies to pursue mutually beneficial objectives. These partnerships, also known as strategic alliances, typically involve joint efforts in product development, creation, marketing and sales. Strategic alliances can take various forms such as joint ventures, equity strategic alliances or non-equity strategic alliances.

Joint ventures involve the establishment of a new entity by two parent companies to jointly pursue specific objectives, sharing risks and revenue in equal measure. Equity strategic alliances, meanwhile, see one company acquiring a stake or equity in another, creating deep operational and strategic integrations while maintaining separate corporate identities. On the other end, non-equity strategic alliances use shared resources and capabilities without involving equity stakes, allowing companies to collaborate closely on common goals while retaining autonomy.

These alliances are instrumental in enhancing competitive advantage, expanding market presence and capitalizing on complementary strengths to drive innovation and growth in a dynamic business landscape. By pooling resources and expertise, companies can mitigate risks, access new markets and accelerate time-to-market for innovative products or services. Strategic alliances also facilitate knowledge exchange and technological advancement, allowing partners to stay ahead in rapidly evolving industries.

Annual recurring revenue (ARR) is a key metric in the realm of B2B SaaS. It represents the predictable and recurring revenue generated by a SaaS company from its subscription-based services over a 12-month period. ARR encapsulates the total value of all active subscriptions, providing a stable foundation for financial forecasting and business planning. This metric is paramount in assessing the health and growth trajectory of B2B SaaS businesses, offering insights into customer retention, expansion, and overall revenue stability. By focusing on ARR, companies can gauge the long-term sustainability of their subscription models, enhance strategic decision-making, and demonstrate the appeal of their offerings to potential investors.

An application form consists of a series of questions prospective partners have to answer before joining a partner program. Potential partners must complete this form to be considered for your program.

It's like a job interview for partnerships, making sure companies can gauge a prospect's fit for the program, including their goals, strengths, and what they can offer to the program. The information from an application form helps determine whether a potential partner is worth investing in or if they're better suited for a different opportunity. It’s important for companies to screen all potential partners as they’ll be publicly associating with the company.

Basic application forms typically ask for:

• Contact information
• Reason for joining
• Website
• Social media links.

However, questions might cover everything from the partner's target market and industry expertise to their marketing presence and revenue goals. Application forms are a great tool for companies and partners to find matches that drive mutual success.

See more: How to promote your program and recruit the right partners.

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a valuable tool in B2B SaaS partnerships that allows the building of custom connections between SaaS products. An API is a set of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate and interact with each other, therefore enabling SaaS products to build partner integrations.

For example, a customer relationship management (CRM) like Hubspot can implement an API that allows it to integrate with a PRM like PartnerStack. Creating this integration partnership allows users of both CRM and PRM to synchronize their customer and partner data to better track and measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, making both products more valuable to the end user.

Related: Learn more about the PartnerStack API.

An authorized partner is a third-party organization or entity that has entered into a formal agreement with a B2B SaaS company to resell, distribute or support their software product. This contractual arrangement grants the partner the right and responsibility to represent the SaaS provider in the market, promoting and selling their software to end customers. Authorized partners play an important role in expanding the company’s reach, accelerating sales cycles and providing localized support and services to customers in specific regions or industries.

To make sure authorized partners are equipped to effectively represent and sell their software, many B2B SaaS companies establish formal training programs leading to certified partner status. By completing the certification process, authorized partners demonstrate their expertise and commitment to delivering high-quality customer support. By working with an authorized partner, SaaS companies gain access to new markets and sales channels without having to invest in building a direct sales force. Authorized partners on the other hand gain access to a proven software product, marketing resources and ongoing support from the SaaS provider.

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Automated communication refers to the strategic use of technology to streamline and optimize various forms of communication between internal teams, external partners and customers. It uses software and platforms to automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks, such as sending welcome emails, onboarding materials, performance reports or reminders for upcoming events.

By automating these routine communications, businesses can improve efficiency, reduce human error and free up valuable time for employees to focus on more strategic and value-added activities. Automated communication is not limited to simple notifications or reminders. It can also encompass more sophisticated workflows, such as personalized email campaigns based on customer behavior, automated lead nurturing sequences and even chatbot interactions for instant customer support.

In the context of B2B partnerships, automated communication plays a crucial role in maintaining strong and productive relationships with partners. It can facilitate seamless information sharing, streamline onboarding processes, and provide regular updates on performance and opportunities. Constant, centralized communication creates transparency and trust. By automating routine communication tasks, partner managers can dedicate more time to strategic initiatives, such as developing co-marketing campaigns, nurturing relationships and identifying new growth opportunities.

Automation is the strategic implementation of technology to streamline and optimize repetitive tasks, workflows and processes that were traditionally performed manually. It includes a wide range of tools and platforms designed to enhance efficiency, reduce errors and free up valuable employee time for strategic initiatives.

B2B SaaS companies can use automation in numerous ways. Marketing automation solutions can nurture leads, personalize email campaigns and track customer engagement. Sales automation solutions can streamline the sales process, from lead qualification to deal closure, ensuring faster response times and a more efficient sales cycle. Partnership automation solutions can streamline partner onboarding, communication and performance tracking, fostering stronger collaboration and driving revenue growth through co-marketing campaigns, referral programs, and joint sales efforts.

Automations can also be applied to internal operations such as data entry, reporting and invoice processing, streamlining workflows and minimizing errors. Automation can have a huge impact on businesses. By automating mundane tasks, businesses can significantly reduce operational costs, improve customer satisfaction through faster response times and personalized experiences and help employees to focus on higher-value activities.

Automation also enables businesses to scale their operations more efficiently, ensuring consistent quality and performance even as the volume of work increases.

Average contract value, or ACV, is a sales metric is especially useful for SaaS companies that have multi-year contracts with their customers.

While often used interchangeably with annual contract value, it more accurately represents the normalized annual revenue derived from customer contracts, even those spanning multiple years.

ACV is calculated by dividing the total contract value by the contract duration in years. For instance, a three-year contract worth $36,000 would have an ACV of $12,000.

Formula: ACV = Total Contract Value (TCV) / Contract Duration (Years)

ACV is an important indicator of a company's financial health and growth potential. It reflects the value customers perceive in the product or service, the effectiveness of pricing strategies and the overall revenue generation capacity of the business.

Monitoring and analyzing ACV can also help companies identify opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, optimizing their pricing models or reassessing the features offered to different customer segments.

Average deal size, also known as average contract value or ACV, is a metric used by SaaS companies that represents the average amount of money that customers spend on a solution. Another way to explain it is the average amount of money a business makes per deal they close.

Average deal size can be calculated by taking the total revenue earned in a given period and dividing it by the number of closed-won opportunities during that timeframe. ACV is often calculated on a monthly or quarterly basis and used as a key performance indicator (KPI) for the business. Average deal size can be a helpful metric to use when evaluating the performance of sales teams, and it can also be used to determine the price points that are most likely to see leads convert.

The Azure Marketplace is a centralized hub within the Microsoft Azure ecosystem, helping businesses to discover, deploy and scale cloud-based solutions. This comprehensive platform offers a curated selection of virtual machines, software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, data services, and APIs, all vetted and certified by Microsoft Azure.

For businesses, the Azure Marketplace simplifies the procurement and implementation of cloud-based tools, reducing time-to-market for new initiatives. It provides access to an assortment of solutions, from productivity tools to advanced analytics and AI capabilities, catering to diverse organizational needs. Organizations can confidently use these pre-built solutions because they already integrate with existing infrastructure, minimizing the complexity of cloud adoption.

For SaaS providers, the Azure Marketplace opens a global storefront, helping them to reach a new customer base and accelerate their growth. Listing solutions on the Marketplace means increased visibility, credibility and streamlined billing and deployment processes. The Azure Marketplace is like a giant home improvement store where businesses can find everything from pre-built sheds (ready-to-use software) to power tools (cloud services) to help them build and improve their projects.