… let’s think about strategic partnerships.

In this use case scenario … you are responsible for strategic partnerships at ACME Corporation.

In Q3 of next year, ACME will be launching a new SaaS product that has a better user experience (UX) and superior features, than incumbent SaaS products in the market.

ACME’s SaaS product helps large property management companies manage their apartment units, residents, rent payments, accounting, maintenance request, package tracking, and communications from one easy to use dashboard.

As the new CMO, one of your priorities is to find potential partners that may be a good fit for ACME’s new product launch.

Based on your previous experience, you’ve been successful at forming strategic partnerships to gain early market share and traction.

That experience also taught you the best partnerships are win-win … they must benefit both parties equally.

You believe out of all the marketing channels available to you, strategic partnerships are the best way to launch ACME’s new SaaS product to the market.

For instance, when Google first launched, they gained traction by forming strategic partnerships with Netscape and Yahoo!.

Google provided the search results for Netscape Navigator’s web browser and Yahoo!’s web directory.

These two strategic partnerships were key in Google’s rapid growth, and instrumental in them becoming the #1 search engine in the world.

For ACME, your job is to create a plan to find potential strategic partners for their new property management SaaS product.

How would you approach this scenario, ?

The best type of strategic partnerships are when two companies join forces to make one or both products better.

For instance, ACME’s SaaS product is for large property management companies.

In my judgment, the first step is to brainstorm other types of companies that offer products and services to large property management companies.

The following come to mind:

The next step is to conduct extensive research on all the companies and associations that would make a good strategic partner.

, your list of potential strategic partners should be extensive.

Your goal is to prospect strategic partners who could be an integration partner with your SaaS product. Whereupon, your software, and their software can have a seamless integration and benefit the end-user.

After your list is complete, it’s time to sit down with your executive team to discuss a plan to initiate conversations with your potential partners.

Next Steps

Remember, … the focus point is the end-user of your software. The goal of the strategic partnership is to integrate third-party features to:

• • save the end-user time and make their job easier
  • make your SaaS application more customizable and scalable
  • enhance the user experience by creating a seamless experience
  • create a network of partners who can refer new business opportunities and users
  • incorporate growth marketing tactics into yor software to help achieve traction faster