As a marketing agency, freelancer, or consultant, your primary goal is to best serve your clients– from delivering high-level strategy and expertise all the way to best-in-class tactical execution. And in order to do that, you need to be able to recommend and provide the right vendors and technology to your clients every step of the way.

This is why forming and growing the right partnerships is critical. So how do you identify and select those partnerships? What makes one digital marketing platform a better partner opportunity than another? This article will help you not only understand what you should be looking for in a partner program, but also how the right program can help you reach more clients and provide them with more value.

Marketing agencies & digital marketing providers – the perfect partnership

So how do agencies partner with digital marketing platforms to augment their business? There are two primary types of relationships agencies form with their technology partners in order to boost business: by recommending (or referring) the technology tool for their clients, or by utilizing the tool themselves to provide and manage marketing services for their clients. 

When you manage your clients’ marketing through your partner’s tool, you both recommend and use the digital marketing platform you find to be the best fit for your clients, setting up and executing their digital marketing campaigns through the tool on their behalf. 

This allows an agency to build expertise in their partner’s tools, creating efficiencies and expanding the amount of services they can easily and confidently offer to their client base. Depending on the partner capabilities, it can also enable agencies to manage their clients’ digital marketing all in one place, with a single, consolidated login. 

When you refer a client to your technology partner, you help your clients sift through the complexity of the ever-changing landscape of martech tools by evaluating the available tools and making a choice that your agency feels confident recommending to its clients. 

If and when your clients choose to make a purchase based on your recommendation, you may earn revenue from that purchase. This relationship allows you to comfortably and confidently offer your clients your opinion and expertise on what tool is right for them and to share the successes and use cases your other clients have experienced using that tool.

How partnerships benefit agencies, consultants and freelancers

  • Improved efficiency: Streamline your client and campaign management workflow with centralized logins, onboarding assistance, and tool integrations.
  • Accurate reporting: Easily demonstrate effectiveness with the ability to accurately report on client marketing performance. Digital marketing platforms often provide comprehensive analytics in one location so you can show tangible results to clients. 
  • Better campaign performance: Partnering with a digital marketing platform provides your clients with access to all-in-one digital marketing tools. This makes it easier for clients to adopt new marketing tools and implement an integrated digital marketing approach, leading to a higher rate of success and consistency across multiple platforms.
  • Added revenue: Oftentimes, digital marketing platforms include a wealth of benefits for agencies such as performance-based bonuses, revenue-sharing opportunities, and more, allowing you to tap into additional revenue streams.
  • Access to outside support and expertise: By partnering with a digital marketing platform, you’ll gain access to support and marketing teams to help guarantee successful client onboarding and ensure best practices are being adhered to.
  • Brand control: Digital marketing platforms often provide tools for brand control such as premade templates, locked content, and approval workflows to ensure adherence to any brand guidelines.

How partnerships benefit your clients

  • Cost-effective: Digital marketing platforms provide effective marketing tools for your clients to target specific audiences, optimize ad spend, and measure return on investment with unparalleled accuracy.  This ensures marketing budgets can be maximized for optimal results and gives your client more bang for their buck. 
  • Streamlined operations: A centralized login, reporting, and other workflow tools mean clients benefit from seamlessly executed campaigns, timely delivery, a consistent brand message, and consistent communication. 
  • Increased value: Clients will benefit from advanced analytics, targeted messaging and personalized customer experiences provided with a digital marketing platform partnership. This instills confidence and elevates the perceived value of the services you offer.

What makes a good partner program?

Not all partner programs are created equal. Choosing the right digital marketing platform to partner with is crucial to ensuring overall success. But with so many options, how can you be sure if a digital marketing partner will live up to their claims? Here are a few things to look out for when choosing a partner program:

  • Reputable brand: Select a well-established and reputable program from a trusted brand within the industry, one with a proven track record of success. Take into account their experience, reviews, and years in business.
  • Product offering/Scalability: Look for programs that offer a diverse and scalable product offering. This ensures that as your needs grow, the partnership can adapt to support you.
  • Access to training and support: A good partner program provides easy access to quality training and support. Look for programs that provide you and your clients with access to 1:1 support, product training, webinars, and other learning resources to help keep you updated on the latest marketing trends and best practices.
  • Client reviews: Be sure to look at reviews from past and current clients. Client reviews and success stories are a testament to the program’s effectiveness. Give precedence to programs with positive feedback from the clients.
  • Collaboration opportunities: Does the partner program offer any collaboration opportunities to help you get in front of a larger audience? A successful partnership thrives on collaboration. Look for programs that foster a collaborative environment; this can lead to joint projects that benefit both parties.
  • Marketing support: Effective marketing support is the cornerstone of a good partner program. This includes co-branded collateral and campaign resources. The more robust the marketing support, the easier it is for you to promote and sell the products or services.
  • Expertise: Look for a partner program that demonstrates expertise in their industry. Whether it’s through thought leadership, awards, or an experienced team, expertise is key to helping you successfully navigate digital marketing.
  • Customer service: Exceptional customer service is non-negotiable. A responsive and supportive customer service team ensures you can address issues quickly, creating a positive experience for both you and your clients. 
  • Robust tools and features: Ultimately, the tech does the talking for any partner you consider. A digital marketing platform partner should have best-in-class tools and features that make full-scale, multi-channel digital marketing easy, including email, text messaging, social media, paid advertising, and more.
  • Programs that work for you: Finally, the benefits of the program itself must be a good fit for you. Whether you’re looking for technology to help you manage client marketing efforts or trying to find a trusted partner to recommend to clients, you should expect your partner program to provide tangible benefits not only for you but for your clients, as well. 

Constant Contact for agencies and freelancers

In order to best serve agencies, consultants and freelancers who are looking for a reputable, dependable digital marketing partner to recommend to their clients, Constant Contact has created a tailor-made agency program.

It’s been a literal game-changer for my business. The partnership has allowed me to have brand recognition and brand trust while providing multiple streams of income on top of my client work and educational tools to become a better marketer.

Aaron Wesley Means
Owner, ACTIVATE Business Solutions

To learn more about how Constant Contact can help your agency add value for your clients, visit our Agency Partner Program page!