case study partner

How to Choose a Case Study Partner

You’ll find plenty of good reasons to work with an outside partner to create your B2B customer case studies .

But when you opt to work with someone outside, you have to choose very, very carefully.

Because when you work with an outside partner to create your customer case studies, you’re giving them permission to interface directly with your most valued customers. It’s a high-touch, highly involved process.

Which is why hundreds and hundreds of businesses have chosen Case Study Buddy as their case study partner.

Not convinced? Here are a few more reasons to choose us as your case study partner:

• Case studies are all we do
• We can help with strategy
• We offer expert guidance and advice at every stage
• We know how to deploy case studies (and their byproducts)
• We have high emotional intelligence
• Your customers deserve the best
• We’ve been doing this for years
• You get undeniable ROI
• You get what you pay for

1. Case studies are all we do

For us, case studies aren’t just one of many service offerings. They’re all we do.

We specialize in creating written and video case studies and the valuable assets you can derive from them.

So you can bet we know what we’re doing.

2. We can help with strategy

Because we’re specialists, we can also help with case study strategy.

If you’ve been creating case studies by choosing customers and projects that are easy and available—rather than those that are strategic—we can help get you on the path that puts you closer to your goals.

3. We offer expert guidance and advice at every stage

The path to every successful case study is pitted with potential pitfalls.

We can help you avoid them (when possible) and deal with them when you can’t , whether the issue is obtaining customer buy-in, getting them through legal, or something else.

4. We know how to deploy case studies (and their byproducts)

Our expertise doesn’t end with delivering a powerful, targeted case study. We can also give you expert guidance and advice on how to use them across your funnel.

In addition, we’re skilled at milking value from the “byproducts” of the case study creation process , from testimonial cards you can share on social media to one-sheets you can hand out at trade shows.

5. We have high emotional intelligence

Case studies don’t just require good writing, they require the ability to navigate relationships.

Often the hardest part of completing case studies is the delicate work of pushing it through edits and your customers’ approval process.

Often, the hardest part of a case study is the delicate work of pushing it through edits and approvals.

We have the emotional intelligence to get it done—while making sure you AND your customer feel good about the process.

6. Your customers deserve the best

What does it say to your customer if you put them in the hands of a generalist agency that doesn’t have tested, foolproof process for creating case studies?

How would your customer feel if your agency shows up late for the interview, gets snarky if the customer requests a few more edits, or drops the ball when approvals get complicated?

We’re not those guys.

One of the reasons our clients come back to us again and again is because we treat THEIR customers with the same level of professionalism and respect as we treat our own.

7. We’ve been doing this for years

Experience counts.

For the past six-plus years, we’ve created hundreds (likely thousands) of case studies. You can bet we’ve seen almost every possible scenario.

So if your case study hits an unexpected snag—maybe your customer is hesitant to speak on camera or their legal department won’t approve the written study—we can navigate those concerns and objections.

8. You get undeniable ROI

Consider the lifetime value of your customers.

If a case study helps you land even just ONE customer, it’s likely that new customer will cover the cost of that case study many times over— providing a high rate of return that can continue for years.

9. You get what you pay for

Could you find a freelancer or agency that’s willing to write your case studies for less? Possibly.

But you could end up with a case study that doesn’t hit your brief. Or gets stalled. Or doesn’t have powerful quotes or metrics that really connect with potential customers.

A good case study is an investment in your future success. It’s something you can use in multiple ways across your funnel for years to come.

So it’s worth doing right the first time.

Besides, if your “cheaper” agency doesn’t cut it—you may feel sheepish asking your customer for a do-over.

Choose Case Study Buddy as Your Case Study Partner

Choosing the right partner to create your case studies—whether video or written—is a big decision.

We get that.

Let us make the case as to why we’re the best choice.

Contact us to start the conversation.

Head of Writing and Interviewing

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Holly is pumped to tell stories of companies succeeding and doing good in the world.

Ya, you like that? Well, there’s more where that came from!

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The big list of 100 ways to use your case studies.

If your case studies and video testimonials live only on the customer success page of your website, you’re missing out. You can do  SO MUCH MORE  with these versatile assets.

Get our actionable guide to using case studies across your sales and marketing funnel (and beyond) to wring out every ounce of value.

Partnership Marketing: The Ultimate Guide for 2024

Partnership marketing is a broad term for several collaborative marketing techniques, including affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, loyalty marketing, cross-promotion, joint product developments, and more!

All these techniques are incredibly effective if you have the right partners, and choose the right type of partnership marketing, for your objectives.

But which partnership marketing strategy is the right one for your brand? And how do you find the right partners to collaborate with?

How do you implement your partnership marketing strategy and manage all your partners?

It can be challenging to answer these questions, especially when there are so many different types of partnership marketing, and so many different techniques to use.

Today, we’re covering everything you need to know about partnership marketing and how to make it work for you!

In this guide, we go over what partnership marketing is, the different types of partnership marketing, the benefits, and how to find and choose the best partners.

We also review some of the best partnership marketing software and look at some real-life partnership marketing examples.  

To demonstrate just how successful partner marketing can be, we have a case study provided by the award-winning experts at Acceleration Partners ,  a leading, global, partnership marketing agency!

Let’s get right into it!

Skip to What You Need

What is Partnership Marketing?

Partnership marketing (sometimes called partner marketing) is collaboration between parties that benefits both entities and helps them achieve their business and marketing objectives. These objectives range from increased brand awareness, recognition and credibility, to lead generation, sales and business growth. 

There are many types of partnership marketing (more on those below) and partnerships can be between two brands or between an individual and a brand, or even two individuals.

Some of the most well known marketing partnerships include affiliate partners who promote a brand on their own platforms in exchange for a commission on the sales or actions they generate, and influencers who promote a brand on their channel in exchange for payment or a sample product that they can unbox, test and review – creating valuable content for their channel. 

The main goal or objective of partnership marketing is for two entities to join forces in a strategic marketing collaboration that benefits them both and helps them reach their respective objectives. 

DEFINITION: WHAT IS PARTNERSHIP MARKETING?

Partnership marketing (sometimes called partner marketing) can be defined as a strategic marketing collaboration between parties that benefits both entities and helps them achieve their business and marketing objectives. These objectives range from increased brand awareness, recognition and credibility to content creation, lead generation, sales and business growth. 

Partnership Marketing vs Business Partnerships – What is the Difference?

Business partnerships are usually formal, legal agreements between parties. For example, when two law firms merge or one company partners with another to provide a combined service or product. These types of partnerships involve a lot of red tape, think contracts, taxes, registrations, levels of liability etc. and are usually permanent or long-term agreements. 

Partnership marketing, on the other hand, can be much less formal and may not involve any kind of legal agreements, tax complications or even an exchange of money. While we call it partnership marketing, and there are formalized types of partnership marketing, it is often a much looser agreement, or collaboration between parties.

The aim is to achieve marketing objectives that can be difficult to quantify, for example, a collaboration may lead to improved brand awareness, credibility and trust, but these benefits may not have any immediate impact on revenue.

This is why many marketing partnerships are measured in terms of actions taken or impressions, rather than a sales commission that relies on an immediate impact on sales. 

In some cases, like when two influencers collaborate to jointly create new content, there is no exchange of money, no agreement and the collaboration may be a spontaneous, once-off event with no paperwork or agreement at all. 

What Are the Main Types of Partnership Marketing?

There is a range of different types of partnership marketing approaches to choose from. According to Acceleration Partners , it is vital to choose the right type of partnership (and the right partners) to be successful.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the most popular strategies:

• Affiliate Marketing: a mutually-beneficial strategy that involves collaboration with a publisher, such as a blogger or an influencer, who will advertise and promote your product or service to their respective audience.
• Influencer Marketing: when an influencer or industry expert markets the brand’s product/service to their followers in exchange for a fee or free products/perks or upgrades. Influencers also benefit from creating content for the brand, as it forms part of their channel’s content and adds value for their followers.
• Loyalty Marketing: when a brand offers incentives to its customers to buy more frequently or spend more with a formalized program to earn points and receive benefits like discounts or a free product after x purchases.
• Distribution Partnership Marketing: when a certain brand will bundle up another brand’s products or services with their own products or services, as a package deal, and the brands then benefit from reaching each other’s distribution networks.
• Referral Marketing: referral programs are similar to affiliate and loyalty marketing, where a brand partners with people who will refer people to the brand in exchange for an incentive, reward, or commission.
• Cross-Promotion Marketing: when partners promote each other to their particular audiences through a joint marketing campaign that promotes the other’s product/service.
• Sponsorships: when a brand publicly sponsors the second party in exchange for visibility and views. Sponsors can sponsor events, public figures like athletes or musicians, or content creators, their channels, or individual pieces of content like a specific YouTube video by a popular creator.
• Product Placements: when a clearly branded product is used in a TV show or movie and the scene places emphasis on the product or brand, ensuring that viewers see it being used by a beloved character in the show.
• Co-branding: when two brands come together to create a co-branded product or upgrade, like the Apple Watch Nike Edition.
• Content Marketing: when a brand has their product placed in content like blogs, videos, and social media posts to promote their products in a natural and relevant way.
• Licensing: when a brand allows another brand to make and market a product under its branding. For example, Netflix and Ben & Jerry’s “Netflix and Chill’d” ice-cream edition.

How to Choose the Right Partnership Marketing Partners

When you decide to give partnership marketing a go, take your time and find the right strategic partners – it will make all the difference to your experience, and the success of your partnership marketing!

According to Acceleration Partners, choosing the best strategic partners for your partnerships is essential. Look for partners that are complementary to your brand in terms of both their products/service s and their values . Aim to create relationships that will last, with partners that share your business and ethical values, as well as being a good fit for your products and your audience. 

Your partners will reflect on you, and you will reflect on them, so do your homework and choose them wisely!

Not everyone will make a great partner. But even if the people you connect with aren’t right choice for your partnership marketing, looking for partners can still be a productive exercise. Expanding your existing network and making new contacts that are relevant to your brand and marketing may lead to other valuable opportunities.  

Now let’s take you through some of the key steps of selecting the right marketing partner:

• Define Your Marketing Objectives

Before you start searching for a partner, make sure that you have clearly articulated what your brand wants to achieve through your potential business partnership .

Your objectives will inform the type of partnership marketing that will be the most beneficial for you. Choosing the right type of partner and right type of partnership collaboration will make a huge difference to the results you’re able to achieve. 

Once you have set up your partnership, you can assess whether the relationship is meeting these objectives and how you can improve things or change things as needed. 

Find a Company With Common Ground

This common ground must include a very similar audience to your company. This is very important, as this could lead to future problems if this is not clearly defined from the start. In essence, their target audience must be in the same sector and industry as your target audience.

Additional common ground includes having similar values to your company. This will ensure that you both can build on a similar foundation.

It is also worth offering products or services that are complementary to one another.

You can find potential partners for your partnership marketing through: 

• Google search 
• Social media searches and industry related hashtags 
• Online forums in your niche
• Business directories 
• Tradeshows and conventions 
• Networking events online and in person 
• Affiliate and influencer platforms and marketplaces 

Once you have selected some potential partners, research them before you reach out so that you can weed out any partners that will obviously be a poor fit. Once you have narrowed it down, find out who the right person to speak to is and reach out to them directly.

From there, focus on building a relationship that is mutually beneficial and be clear about the value you can offer them, as well as what you want in return.

Here are the next steps to follow, and what to consider when you’re choosing a partnership marketing partner, in more detail:  

Research, Research and More Research

And, you guessed it, more research! When it comes to finding a great partner, this is when research counts a great deal. Whatever a potential partner does in the future, will reflect either positively on negatively on your brand, so this is an important decision for you to make.

Start by reading up on all the reviews you can find of the companies that spark your interest. Then be sure to ask for references. Try to get an opinion from an outside third party on what they think of the partner you are planning to approach.

And finally, ask to see their buyer persona. It will also be an advantage if you have your own to provide to potential partners.

• Identify Any Potential Conflicts of Interest

Once you have found a company with more common ground than other companies, it is good to start identifying if there are any potential conflicts that may arise. For starters, avoid a brand that will result in direct competition to your brand.

You will also need to determine who would own particular leads? And how would the profits be shared? Make sure that all these matters are ironed out early on.

Define Fair Expectations, an Even Workload Spread and a Clear Agreement 

Make sure that you both clearly articulate the responsibilities for each partner and what the expected outcomes are for each of those responsibilities.

It’s no good being ‘wishy-washy’ when it comes to responsibilities, and each partner must receive an equal share. This means that both parties must input the same amount of time and resources to get their jobs done.

Partnerships of all kinds work best when there is a clear agreement between parties, that sets out who is responsible for what, timeframes, contingences for unexpected delays or roadblocks along the way, as well as what happens of either party fails to deliver what they’re responsible for, and how assets like contact lists, leads etc. will be handled when the partnership ends.  

• Play to Your Specific Strengths

While it is good to have an equal share of responsibilities, it is not necessary to split them right down the middle.

Simply make sure that each partner is able to use their particular expertise or strengths in the relationship. Both of you will be specialists in certain areas, so make sure you focus on those strengths unique to you.

• Develop a Feedback Loop

It’s important that a space is created where feedback can be provided. So ensure that you and your various stakeholders gather together on a regular basis to talk over how things are going.

It will also be good to give each stakeholder a turn to chair the meeting. Basically everyone needs to feel heard.

Define How Results Will Be Tracked and Measured

It’s important to identify and track your progress against your objectives as closely and accurately as possible. Decide which metrics will be measured, and how, ahead of time so that there can be no disagreement or dispute of the results down the line. 

Make sure that your goals are measurable and that you define how long you will track progress, and how often you will evaluate your progress. 

• Create that Personal Touch and Focus on Building a Relationship

While it is about business, it’s also about a personal relationship. Take the time to get to know your partners – who are they, what are their likes and dislikes? Their values? What’s their pet’s name?

This might sound odd, but it’s always worth having that personal connection when it comes to business. This might just be the glue that holds it all together!

SUMMARY: HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT PARTNERS FOR PARTNERSHIP MARKETING

• Find a Company with Common Ground
• Do a Lot of Research
• Define Fair Expectations, an Even Workload Spread and a Clear Agreement

1 Partnership Marketing Case Study

Partnership marketing involves two entities working together so that they both benefit from the collaboration.

The purpose of marketing partnerships is to build brand awareness for both entities, increase sales/engagement and provide their target audience/s with additional value by joining forces.

Let’s take a look at a partnership marketing case study (and then some partnership marketing examples from brands you know) to see just how successful it can be: 

Case Study: Reebok Loyalty Affiliate Campaign Results in 161% (YoY) Revenue Increase

Despite an initial rise, fitness, and lifestyle apparel brand Reebok saw a marked drop in orders during the Covid-19 pandemic. To combat this and gain new customers, Reebok turned to Acceleration Partners , a leading partnership marketing agency.

Their objectives were to:

• Gain new customer revenue through a targeted campaign with a loyalty affiliate;
• Increase average order value (AOV) from new customers; and
• Engage previous customers to bolster lifetime value and brand loyalty.

Acceleration Partners developed a strategic two-week campaign with Cartera, a leading loyalty program provider that works strategically with banks and airlines.

Choosing Cartera and the type of partners they work with was a crucial component of the campaign, which proved to be incredibly successful.

With Cartera, Reebok was able to join forces with a major U.S. airline. The carefully targeted campaign included a limited-time bonus, where qualifying purchases of at least $100 with Reebok gave consumers 500 bonus points, which were applied as bonus miles for the airline.

Promoting the campaign included homepage placements on the airline’s homepage and a newsletter from Cartera announcing the Reebok bonus offer to all airline loyalty members.

While the campaign targeted just one airline, it created a halo effect that resulted in a 38% increase in revenue from other programs on Cartera.

Acceleration Partner’s approach revolved around strategically identifying a valuable media placement opportunity, precise audience targeting, and choosing the best loyalty affiliate partner for the campaign.

Each of these elements was carefully considered, and the solutions strategically selected, which lead to impressive results from just a two-week campaign:

• 161% increase in revenue YoY from Cartera
• 329% increase in clicks YoY from Cartera
• 143% increase in new customer revenue YoY from Cartera
• 49% increase in AOV YoY from Cartera

These results took Reebok back to, and surpassed their pre-pandemic order volume and revenue.

4 Successful Partnership Marketing Examples

As you can see from the case study above, partnership marketing done right can rapid drive growth and provide a significant bump in revenue, as well as set you up for long-term success with dynamic on-going partnerships. 

The best marketing partnerships are between brands that share an audience in terms of their audience’s values and desires, as well as demographics.

Here are some partnership marketing examples from popular brands you know (and maybe love) that really leveraged their shared audiences’ values and passions:

1. BMW and Louis Vuitton

The marketing partnership between BMW and Louis Vuitton is a great example of brand giants coming together for a joint purpose. Both of their types of customers travel frequently and strive for exclusivity, luxury and comfort, so what better way to target their audience than co-branding their retail products?

These two created a four-piece luggage collection, retailing for $20 000, which was designed to fit perfectly into the trunk of the BMW i8. This is a great example of an innovative marketing partnership that leveraged their shared audiences values and desires to cross-promote their core product offerings to a shared audience. 

2. AirBnb & Flipboard

I bet most of you have heard of Airbnb, but not as many will know about the social network aggregator, Flipboard. In this partnership marketing example , these two got together to create new content and in turn promoted each other to each of their (overlapping) audiences.

Thanks to their collaboration with Airbnb, Flipboard was able to greatly increase their number of users and Airbnb was able to generate valuable brand awareness, engagement and marketing content.  

3. H&M and Balmain

Over the years the Swedish retailer H&M have been known to collaborate with a number of different luxury fashion designers. Perhaps the best example is when they partnered with the Balmain clothing collection in 2015.

This collaborative clothing collection was launched onto the H&M website and their brick and mortar stores, which had queues that could be seen far and wide.

Every year H&M collaborates with these types of designer brands, allowing their customers to pay for designer clothing items at a fraction of the price. Now that’s a win win partnership!

By collaborating with a highly desirable designer/brand, H&M was able drive a massive sales by using the desirability of Balmain products from consumers who would not normally be able to afford or access such a high-end brand.

Balmain benefitted from a huge amount of awareness and buzz around their brand that reached H&M’s huge audience of people who value high-fashion brands.  

4. Red Bull and GoPro

Back in 2012, when the novelty of GoPro was a really big deal, they partnered with Red Bull to support Australian skydiving legend, Felix Baumgartner. Here the two brands collaborated to capture his record-breaking jump from a 24 mile high balloon.

GoPro: Red Bull Stratos – The Full Story :

This turned out to be quite the enthralling take, captured on GoPro, and both brands received a great deal of exposure through this partnership.

These partnership marketing examples demonstrate how brands can join forces and generate huge value in terms of brand awareness, engagement, anticipation/buzz, content marketing, user generated content AND sales!

9 Great Partnership Marketing Benefits

There are many significant benefits to partnership marketing and here are some of them:

1. Branching into New Markets

Partnering with another brand that has a presence in a particular region, area or niche, will enable you to reach a new market, that you wouldn’t have been able to reach before.

This opens up new opportunities for growth and greater productivity for your brand.

You can also sit back and enjoy the benefits of a customer base that will more easily trust your brand, due to the trust they already have for your partner.

You will be marketing to an audience that will already be interested in the kinds of things you offer. This can maximize your marketing efforts, with the least amount of input.

2. Providing Fresh Perspectives

By working with a marketing partner, you will be exposing yourself and your team to some different and new outlooks on marketing.

Perhaps there are a few gaps that you might have missed that need improvement? Or maybe there’s something completely out of the ordinary that you hadn’t thought of before?

The great advantage of partner marketing is that each partner can use it as an opportunity to learn from each other and to gather wisdom from each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

3. More Cost-effective than Traditional Marketing Channels

It’s worth keeping in mind that the industry is moving closer to a pay-per-performance model, and away from a pay-per-ad and impression model.

So in the case of partnership marketing, it will now be easier to measure your ROI based on how a particular post performs, as opposed to measuring social media metrics, such as likes, shares and comments etc. This will be more relevant to the affiliate partnership marketing strategy.

For some partner strategies a swap can also be included, which can save costs and benefit both partners.

Partnership marketing also requires less financial risk on your part, as only a small fee or commission will be required. This will be more relevant to the affiliate type of partnership marketing.

4. Provides You with a Support System

It is comforting from time to time to know that you are not alone in the marketing game!

When you succeed, your partner succeeds with you and this just highlights how mutually beneficial this type of marketing relationship is.

The true benefit comes when you find a partner who is open and communicates clearly with you from the start.

5. Targeting Customers at the Ideal Time

Through cross-promotion, you are more likely to be noticed when a customer makes a purchase from your partner and stumbles across your brand at the same time.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

For example, when driving with Uber you can tune into Spotify and listen to songs through them while driving. And when booking flights, you might also notice a hotel ad popping up and recommendation a stay with them near your destination.

The opportunities are endless!

6. Delivering Added Value to Your Brand

When partnering with a trusted brand, you will be adding greater value to your existing brand.

Whether it’s through developing new content, making necessary improvements or doing a content swap, customers are more likely to take notice and to become more attracted to your brand.

It can only be beneficial when you open up new avenues of interest and strive to enrich your brand even more than before.

7. Building Your Brand Identity

Partnerships open up the opportunity of brand association.

For smaller brands, partnering with a larger brand means they will be able to reach a much wider audience. On the flip side, a larger brand can benefit by reaching a more specific, niche audience, by partnering with a smaller brand.

It’s through these types of partnerships, that customers might begin to associate better with your brand, if they see you partnering with a unique or more popular brand.

8. Providing Unique and Innovative Solutions

Partnership marketing is a great way for two complementary products/services to join forces and provide an innovative new solution. By drawing on each other’s strengths they can provide a more comprehensive product/service, or package, which often leads to the development of an entirely new solution. 

9. Growth and Increased Revenue 

We have talked a lot about the more indirect benefits of partnership marketing but biggest benefit (like all other forms of marketing) is increased revenue and growth.

Strategically harnessing the power of partnerships and collaborations allows you to reach more people in your target audience, generate leads, and close sales. All while giving you all the less direct benefits, like brand awareness and improved trust, AND costing you very little!  

SUMMARY: THE BENEFITS OF PARTNERSHIP MARKETING ARE:

• Branching into New Markets
• Providing Fresh Perspectives
• More Cost-effective than Traditional Marketing Channels
• Provides You with a Support System
• Targeting Customers at the Ideal Time
• Delivering Added Value to Your Brand
• Building Your Brand Identity
• Providing New and Innovative Solutions 
• Growth and Increased Revenue 

3 Top Partner Marketing Software to Use

What is partnership management software?

Partnership management software is used to track sales and affiliates through a variety of channels, as well as streamline communication between partners. It also allows you to see an overview of your partners and their performance so you can continually optimize your marketing and improve your partnerships. 

Essentially, it gives you everything you need for simple and effective partnership relationship management (PRM), which includes all the activities and strategies used to manage your partners and your partnership marketing as a whole. 

Partnership management platforms , on the other hand, are online platforms and marketplaces where you can search and connect with potential partners. These are especially useful for finding affiliates and influencers to partner with. 

There are a huge number of partnership management software tools out there!

It can be daunting and time consuming to sift through all the options to find the best ones, which is precisely why we have selected three of the best partnership marketing software to review here:  

1. Tapfiliate

Tapfiliate is a customizable, cloud-based Affiliate Tracking Software that allows you to develop and track your affiliate marketing campaigns. You can successfully automate a number of tasks, such as tracking, managing commissions and marketing across different levels.

You will also be happy to know that Tapfiliate can be integrated with over 30 different e-commerce and digital marketing platforms. It is also very easy to implement for those who are not familiar with management software.

• Simple to set up and manage
• Very responsive customer service
• Can be easily integrated with different platforms
• 14 day free trial available
• Can only support a limited number of languages
• A bit pricey
• A free version of the software is not available

Pricing: Starting at 89$/month

P2P Score: 4.7/5

Website: tapfiliate.com  

2. Post Affiliate Pro

Post Affiliate Pro is one of the pioneers in affiliate software, used by many e-commerce websites and online stores. This great software allows you to easily manage and engage with your affiliate partners . You can also monitor a number of tasks, such as commission payouts, affiliate automation and different online payment options.

In addition, you will have access to over 170 major Content Management Systems (CMS), such as Stripe and PayPal, with WordPress and Shopify also included.

• Provides a great affiliate tracking system
• User-friendly for managing affiliates
• Flexible and customizable user interface
• Allows for detailed reports and data analysis
• Responsive and engaging customer service
• Supports a number of different languages
• A bit on the pricey side

Pricing: Starting at 97$/month up to 477$/month

Website: postaffiliatepro.com

3. LeadDyno

LeadDyno is a user-friendly affiliate management platform that provides great support for running successful affiliate marketing campaigns. The system is easily integrated with third-party websites and platforms, which is a huge plus when needing a smooth workflow.

Other huge attractions include email automation, conversion tracking, payout management and detailed reporting functions.

• Provides a long 30 day trial for users
• Very simple to sign up and use features
• Easy for influencers to use
• Easy to integrate with social media platforms and e-commerce stores
• Poor customer service

Pricing: Starting at 49$/month up to 79$/month

P2P Score: 4.5/5

Website: leaddyno.com

Final Thoughts on Partnership Marketing – Where to From Here?

Partnership marketing includes a large number of different marketing channels and strategies. Done right, it can lead to massive growth and increased revenue for your business, as well as improved brand awareness, recognition, trust and credibility.

Finding the right partners, and choosing the right type of partnership marketing for your objectives is critical for success.  

Start by finding a partner with the same brand positioning – such as having a similar type of audience and then check whether their values match up to yours.

Then reach out and start the conversation with brands that stand out to you the most. If nothing comes of it today or tomorrow, either way, you would have met some other brands in a similar industry, and you would have made some great, new connections.

Using an agency can help you get off on the right foot and establish your partnership marketing strategies and programs.

Agencies are not always an option, but if you’re looking for experts to help you with partner marketing, check out Acceleration Partners – a specialist, innovative and an award-winning partner marketing agency, that always gets it right. 

Ready to find your ideal marketing partners? Check out our expert marketing guides on affiliate marketing, loyalty marketing, influencer marketing and more! 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is partnership marketing.

Partnership marketing is a collaborative relationship that is formed between two or more parties, in which they help each other to reach their unique marketing and business objectives. Take a look at our comprehensive guide on how to set up a successful partnership marketing strategy for your business.

What are the main partnership marketing types?

There are many types of partnership marketing strategies, but the common types include affiliate marketing, distribution partnership, influencer marketing, sponsorships, and cross promotion. For a complete understanding on how each of these function, go and check out our full partnership marketing article.

What are the best partnership marketing software tools?

The best tools to help manage and monitor a partnership marketing program, are Tapfiliate, Post Affiliate Pro and LeadDyno. If you're interested in seeing what makes these so great and how to effectively use them, go and see our complete partnership marketing article.

What is an example of partnership marketing?

There are many examples of partnership marketing that we see and participate in every day, such as influencer marketing, content marketing, and loyalty marketing. One well-known partnership marketing example is when BMW and Louis Vuitton collaborated to create and promote an LV luggage set that was designed to fit perfectly into the trunk of a popular BMW model. Check out the full guide for more examples of partnership marketing and a detailed partnership marketing case study.

What is a partner marketing platform?

Partnership marketing platforms are online platforms and marketplaces where you can search, find and connect with potential partners for your partnership marketing. They are most frequently used to find affiliates and influencers. Check out the full guide to learn more and find out what the difference is between a partnership marketing platform and partnership marketing software.

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Case Study: Intimate Partner Violence

Rebecca Plett, PhD

Sarah is having her first baby. She’s in her early 20s, and recently married: her parents and in-laws spent a lot of money on a lavish church wedding and honeymoon. On her wedding day, Sarah paused on her way into the church, her arm linked in her father’s, feeling a dread in her gut that she was making the wrong decision in marrying this man but currently saw no way out; few narratives had shown her a life other than marriage to a man and children.

Several years earlier, after high school, Sarah got a job at a factory. There she noticed a young man paying particular attention to her, someone known around the factory as a nice guy, and she decided to go on a date with him, not having had any previous romantic encounters. The date started off well, and after dinner and a movie, he offered to drive her home. Instead of taking her straight there, however, he took Sarah to a secluded area and demanded she have sex with him. When she said no, he did anyway, forcibly. After a derogatory comment about her loss of virginity, he dropped her off at her parent’s home. Feeling overwhelmingly ashamed and shocked, Sarah took a bath and contemplated taking a bottle of pills. The next day, she told her mother what happened, and her mother, fearing her daughter be labelled as promiscuous, urged that Sarah marry him and make the best of the situation.

Caring deeply about her family’s approval, Sarah got married despite a sense of dread. She became pregnant shortly after her wedding, and her husband also began hitting her around this time. Feeling an overwhelming instinct to protect her child, Sarah did everything in her power to placate her husband, including enabling his drinking to the point he would pass out and would no longer be a threat. Throughout her pregnancy, her husband became increasingly violent, though he avoided causing visible evidence, and became obsessed with the possibility that this wasn’t his child, and that Sarah had cheated on him.

Of course, you don’t know any of this when you meet Sarah for the first time. What you do notice is that she has a slight bruise around her wrist, and her husband hasn’t come to any appointments: a fact that Sarah defends with vigour. You begin to suspect she might not be safe, and are also concerned for what may transpire when the baby comes.

What are some of your options in seeing Sarah through her pregnancy and labour with care?

a) During one of your appointments, you could confront Sarah directly and tell her she needs to leave her husband. b) You could call the police, or the local child-and-family services (at this point, there are no children involved). c) You could build trust with Sarah for a few appointments by supporting her and being positive about her. d) Be indirect in offering resources and support services

While you may feel a sense of urgency in assuring Sarah and her child’s safety, answers a) and b) have the potential to make matters worse for her. Here are a few things to keep in mind when caring for a client who appears to be in a situation of partner violence:

• Clients with abusive partners may experience the most abuse during the pregnancy and postpartum periods (Moore 1999); Expectant fatherhood can arouse feelings of fear and insecurity in the father-to-be about his own role in parenting, especially if he faced abuse from his own father. These feelings can manifest through control and abuse of partners. In Sarah’s case, her husband was abused by his father.
• Often, abusive partners maintain control through emotional and psychological violence, making it less visible. Sarah’s husband, for instance, has repeated told her she is “ruined” for any other man, and that he is the only one who will “put up” with her. Because of this, Sarah feels the unbearable tension of being afraid of leaving, and ashamed that she stays.
• Direct confrontation – saying “you need to leave right now,” for instance – can potentially increase danger. Sometimes criticism of abusive partners can lead to the client becoming defensive of their partner and their situation, particularly if the direction makes them feel ashamed of staying in a situation they know is dangerous, but can’t yet leave.
• Depending on the situation, some abusers exert control by requiring their partners to report every interaction with every person they encounter. For instance, after a midwifery appointment, the client may feel they need to report what was discussed, and if the midwife recommended leaving, this may lead to anger by the abusive partner that puts the client in significant danger. In addition, further controls may be put on the client (like not being able to go out at all), narrowing their scope of support.
• Leaving a violent relationship is not simple, and a safety plan needs to be in place before someone may decide leaving is better than staying (Macy et al. 2009). These plans can include securing a safe place to go, like a relative’s house or shelter; keeping important documents in a hidden location; memorizing emergency numbers, and assuring financial security. Sarah’s husband controls their bank accounts, but she has been reserving small amounts of cash when he asks her to take out money for his trips to the bar.
• Violence often leads to chronic health problems, which can impede the ability of carry out a safety plan. (Macy et al. 2009) During pregnancy, the development of chronic conditions due to physical violence increases stress, creates delays in seeking care, and can lead to poor nutrition, and substance abuse to cope (Moore 1999).
• Those in situations of violence are not passive victims, but are often weighing their options carefully: Sarah, for example, knows she shouldn’t be ‘letting’ this happen to her, but is anxious about her ability to care for a new baby on her own, her financial well-being if she leaves, and her family’s insistence that divorce is a sin. These may seem to be trivial, but for Sarah, these are her very real struggles, and it is because of this that many prefer the term survivor over victim.

What can you do as a midwife?

• Screening for violence should be universal; that is, all clients can be given information on resources and safety – this also needs to be done apart from partner
• Providing information for leaving an abusive relationship (how to develop a safety plan, signs of violence, expectations of what a healthy relationship looks like, and resources available (like shelters, financial and legal aid)) can be done anonymously through posters in offices, bathrooms, exam rooms, and brochures given directly. Even providing ‘safety cards’ throughout the clinic that are discreet and carry useful information about resources.
• When leaving a violent situation, many clients need the support of a variety of services. Midwives can foster a sense of community practice and advocacy by familiarizing themselves with the services available – counselling, legal and financial aid, medical services beyond birth care, housing, etc.
• Ultimately, those in violent situations need support in a non-judgemental setting: you should be there to offer a relationship built on trust and support, to build the client up and emphasize the positive aspects of what they are doing in relation to their pregnancy, birth, and care of their infant. In this way, you can say in a context of trust, “when you’re ready, here are some resources and supports that you can access in order to help you leave.”

Case Study: Intimate Partner Violence Copyright © 2017 by Rebecca Plett, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Managing Partner: Who They Are and What They Do

Updated: March 11, 2024

Published: October 11, 2022

When you’re in the early stages of growing your business, technicalities like job titles are the last thing on your mind. In fact, there’s a good chance you’re the CEO, sales manager, and IT support all rolled into one. 

As your business grows, it makes sense to start formalizing your business’s legal, ownership, and management structures. If you choose to become a partnership or a limited liability company (LLC), then you’ll need to understand the role of a managing partner. 

What is a managing partner in an LLC?

An LLC is a business structure that is legally distinct from the owner or owners of the business. In other words, if an LLC is being sued or goes bankrupt, the owners’ personal assets are not at risk. 

This makes it different from other structures like a sole proprietorship — a business structure with one owner who is not legally distinct from his or her business (most freelancers fall into this category). It’s also different from a corporation (e.g., Microsoft, Dominos), which has a different management structure and taxation scheme. 

The owners of an LLC are called members, and they can be individuals or businesses. A member-managed LLC is run by one or more of its members. Alternatively a nonmember manager can be hired to oversee the business. This arrangement is called a manager-managed LLC. 

The members of an LLC are sometimes referred to as partners. The managing partner is someone who is a member and a manager of the business. They are responsible for day-to-day operations and implementing long-term strategies. 

Mark Donnolo is the managing partner of business consultancy SalesGlobe. The company is an LLC with a handful of partners who are all involved in the business, but Donnolo takes the lead. “I think of a managing partner as a first among equals,” he says. “It’s the person that’s leading the charge strategically.”

Sometimes a business will have more than one managing partner. Beth Hellowell and Nathan Palmer are the co-founders of Signify Digital, a digital marketing firm. The agency is a limited company, a business structure in the UK that is similar to an LLC in the US. Hellowell and Palmer are both managing partners, and they share decision-making and management responsibilities equally between them. 

Managing partners in partnerships

A partnership — like an LLC — is a kind of business structure. There are several types of partnerships , each with different legal implications, but in all of them, it’s common for one of the partners to be selected as a managing partner and become responsible for the daily operations of the business. 

Other partners may be actively involved but take less of a strategic leadership role than the managing partner, or they may not be involved in the running of the business and simply provide capital. 

Managing partner vs. CEO

A managing partner and a chief executive officer (CEO) are both senior executives who play a leadership role. Usually they are the highest-ranking person in the business. But there are some differences between the two. 

• Business structure: The managing partner role only exists in a partnership or LLC. A corporation is required by law to have a CEO, but companies with other structures could also choose to appoint one.
• Ownership: A managing partner is always an owner in the business, but a CEO may or may not own a part of the business.
• Dismissal: A CEO can be fired, but if a managing partner exits the partnership, that process will be determined by the partnership agreement and will lead to a change in ownership. 
• Reporting: Typically, a CEO reports to a board of directors (if there is one) and the owners, who could be members, partners, or shareholders, depending on the business structure. A managing partner, meanwhile, reports to the other partners or an executive committee made up of some of the partners. 
• Compensation: A CEO will typically receive a salary and a performance incentive, while a managing partner will typically earn income through profit share. 

Some people view “managing partner” as a legal designation, something to be filled in on a government form, rather than a job role that comes with daily responsibilities. In that case, a person can be both a managing partner, for legal purposes, and a CEO, which is the role that appears on their business card. Others see “managing partner” as a job title in and of itself.

Managing partner vs. owner

As mentioned above, a managing partner is an owner of the business, but they are also involved in running the business and play an executive leadership role. Not all owners are managing partners. 

Some owners are not involved in management and will simply provide capital. Some owners play an executive role but are less senior than another owner who has the title of “managing partner.” 

Managing partner vs. limited partner

A limited partnership is a type of partnership where at least one person is actively involved in the business (known as a general partner), and at least one person who just provides money but is not otherwise involved (known as a limited or silent partner). 

A limited partner shares in the profits of the business but is not responsible for its debts and liabilities. In a limited partnership, a general partner may take on the role of managing partner. 

Managing partner role and responsibilities

The responsibilities of a managing partner typically include:

• Strategic planning
• Addressing core business challenges
• Financial management 
• Employee management 
• Internal and external communication

They may delegate some aspects of these responsibilities, or take on additional roles. For instance, Donnolo is very involved with business development, intellectual property development, and content creation because these functions match his strengths and past experience, but managing partners with different backgrounds may have other focuses.

At Signify Digital, Hellowell deals predominantly with client management and business development, while Palmer covers work delivery and campaign strategy. 

“Having two partners suits our business well,” says Hellowell. “While we have the same passion and vision, we each bring a different skill set to the company.” 

Managing partner agreement

A partnership agreement is a written agreement between business partners or LLC members. It lays out important information about the company such as:

• Capital contributions — how much capital each partner has contributed
• Equity agreement — how much of the company each partner owns
• Operating details — the responsibilities of each partner
• Compensation agreement — how will each partner be paid
• Disputes — how will they be resolved
• New partners — if, when, and how someone can become an owner
• Exit agreement — what happens when a partner leaves the partnership
• Decision rights — whether decisions require consensus or a majority, for example

Sometimes you need to draw up this agreement early on, if there are seed investors who want to contribute capital and need to know their rights and ownership share. 

At other times, if you are starting a new venture, you may not know who will be involved and whether you will raise investment. In that case, you might want to let the idea shape out a little before you formalize things. 

That being said, it’s very important to get things on paper.

“Teaming up with people always seems fun and rosy and optimistic in the beginning,” says Donnelo, “but when things really get tough, that’s when personalities and differences start to show. Operate on the assumption that we need to make sure everybody’s gonna be protected, just in case.”

Donnello recommends speaking to an attorney and, if you can afford it, an executive compensation consultant when you write up your agreement. However, there are some simple templates you can start with if that’s out of your budget. The agreement should be reviewed and tweaked as your company grows and evolves.

Managing partner compensation

Compensation structures for managing partners can be complicated, as they can take different forms and will vary from one business to the next. 

Distributive share

Partnerships (as well as some LLCs) are flow-through tax entities, which means the company’s income (both profits and losses) pass directly on to the owners. This is called a distributive share. 

Most of the time, partners receive a distributive share that is proportional to their ownership percentage. For example, if one partner owns 80% of the business and the other owns 20%, they will split any profit 80-20. 

Partners can also choose to divide their income however they like by outlining the arrangement in their partnership agreement. This can be done for tax purposes or for any other reason, such as if one partner is taking more of a reputational risk. 

Guaranteed payment

According to IRS rules, a partner cannot be considered an employee or be put on the payroll. However, if a partner contributes services or capital to the business, they may receive a guaranteed payment in lieu of a salary. 

This is a fixed payment that ensures the partner has predictable income even if the company doesn’t make a profit. Guaranteed payments differ from a salary in that they are not subject to payroll tax. Instead, they will be taxed as ordinary income as part of the partner’s individual tax return.  

Managing partners and any other active partners may also receive an additional payment in lieu of a performance incentive or bonus, but again this payment is not taxed via payroll and is not technically classified as a paycheck.

In Hellowell and Palmer’s case, they split everything 50-50. They take a fixed amount from the business each month and review that figure every six months. Any excess profit is reinvested in the business or kept in a fund for future use.

“We have found that an equal share of decisions, challenges, and rewards keeps us both motivated and on our toes at the same time,” says Hellowell.

Of course the biggest advantage for owners is that they own a portion of the business. If the business grows and is successful, their portion of the equity will become an increasingly valuable asset.

Compensation in an LLC

By default, an LLC with multiple members is treated by the IRS as a partnership. This means the managing partner’s compensation will be paid (and taxed) in the same way as if the business was a partnership. 

However, an LLC can also choose to be treated as a corporation, which is sometimes done for tax purposes. In that case, members must be hired as employees and paid a salary to earn an income. They can also earn a share of the profits in the form of dividends. 

If your business is an LLC, it’s a good idea to consult an accountant to work out salary and dividend amounts, as there are regulations and tax implications. 

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Case Study: Design Embraced Portfolio – 2024

A look behind the code and collaboration of the new portfolio for Anthony Goodwin at Design Embraced.

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How it started

Anthony got in touch with me through Norman. He had a concept ready for his new portfolio and needed someone to bring it to life. After he showed me this video of the home slider, I was on board immediately.

My first thoughts

After agreeing to the collaboration, without actually having a clue how to do it, I thought it would be straightforward to start with the home slider and deal with the bending of the planes, since this effect would be used multiple times. Adding the necessary control points to bend the plane properly was easier said than done. But, if I could do that, the rest of the page wouldn’t be so hard anymore (a couple of page transitions, some hover effects, etc.). At least that’s what I thought.

In this article

I will try to give you some insights into the work I did with and for Anthony Goodwin, including some of my favorite features and animations. I can’t delve too deeply because it would make the article quite long, and I don’t think it would be very interesting, since most of it is just basic frontend stuff with a very unique motion concept and design that powers the whole experience.

The tech stack

Before starting, I wanted to define the tools and libraries to use for the website. It’s basically planes in 3D space with some vertex manipulation, requiring WebGL. Since we’re not importing any objects and all the geometry is limited to planes, we don’t really need ThreeJS or some other fancy (big) library. We can just write it from scratch, which saves bytes and potentially performance. Here’s the tooling I ended up with:

• Custom Static Site Generator with Deno
• Tailwindcss for CSS
• esbuild for building JS
• Cloudflare Pages for free Hosting
• Custom Tween library for animations
• Custom WebGL library for rendering via WebGL
• Custom Router for all the navigation and preloading
• Custom Scroller for the smoothness

The site doesn’t have a CMS, and the content is editable through JSON. The focus was definitely on the animation and the general feel of the page. Initially I planned on using PayloadCMS (self-hosted). Check it out if you don’t know it already. It’s one of the best open source CMS I came across in the recent years.

“Why not just use NextJS, ThreeJS and GSAP? It’s easy!”

That’s a valid question. It probably would’ve been faster, but part of the process for me is learning new things. I wasn’t really familiar with WebGL, GSAP, or the magic in NextJS (or Astro, for that matter). So, I decided to take the longer route to build this project. It was more about understanding the fundamentals and the inner workings of each tool than just getting the project out the door. Also, I wanted to improve my own “library” further. It’s been a challenging yet rewarding process.

Another point worth mentioning is that while these libraries are incredibly useful, but they are also quite large because they need to cover a wide range of edge cases. Even with “tree-shaking” to remove unused code, I would have used only about 10%, making it overkill for this project. So I wanted to go with something more lightweight.

Bending and curling planes

I’m bad at math. That’s just how it is. So I need visualizations to make all the functions tangible otherwise I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything. Using the Desmos Calculator , I was able to create a graph that allowed me to control the plane’s behavior the way I needed. It took me some time though. Here’s the result, which you can play around with.

• s = The size of the plane (or the length in this case)
• r1 = The radius of the curl
• k1 = The position of the curl
• u = Determines the direction

There’re probably easier and simpler ways to solve this. After I got the formula down I tried to apply it to the planes vertex shader. Here’s the result isolated:

And here is the vertex shader code for the curl:

Page Transitions

We aimed for seamless transitions between pages to minimize delay and maintain a slick, easy navigation feel. By preloading all the pages upfront, we traded initial load performance for a better user experience and brand identity. For page transitions, I added animation functionality to the router that works with the tween package.

I wanted it to feel less like page navigation and more like one screen changing states. Optimizing all animations to be interruptible was the hardest part. This also required that every combination needed an animation, so I ended up with all these different animations to cover all cases:

To get it right with all the scrolling and the states was the hardest part of the portfolio to be honest. Maybe there are better ways to deal with this, but yeah creating multiple “sub-animations” as components made it pretty manageable in the end. Here’s how the transition from “case to about” looks:

Without showing too much code here, a quick description what’s behind these functions:

• viewEnter simply returns a timeline that triggers all the animations on the incoming page. Such as the text slide animation.
• viewLeave also returns a timeline and triggers the “out” animation on all of these elements so that for example the text slide up and out of view again.
• sliderLeave this hides the slider by curling the center image and moving it to the top, while also locking it and fading out all the other items.
• enableTheme activates the colors found in the page its navigating to when the transition starts

Using animation util functions like sliderLeave and viewEnter allowed me to abstract some of the generic logic occurring on most pages, which made it easier to debug. You can test the page transitions. They’re not perfect, but it definitely feels more fluid than just having a fade-in fade-out transition. Here’s an example of me testing the interruptible transitions by quick navigation.

Moving from case-to-case

We also decided to try a seamless page transition for browsing the cases, running an animation and quickly hiding the old page.

To achieve this transition I’m tracking the scroll position from the start of the image this.observable.y - this.viewport.height * .5 to the end this.observable.y which is at the end of the screen. So when progress >= 1 and the transition hasn’t been triggered already, we navigate to the next project really quickly.

My nemesis: Old GPU shader bug

I encountered a headache-inducing bug with the GPU in an older iMac, related to the use of an or-operator in a condition inside the shader. I had to adjust the shader code to work around this issue.

So this didn’t work:

And had to be transformed to:

If someone has more information on this, please let me know, since I couldn’t really find anything useful online, just some old stackoverflow threads with similar issues but not if this is intended behavior or really a bug

The mobile page

We opted for a non-WebGL version for mobile to keep it lightweight and simplify development. Using WebGL on mobile would require a loader and it’s better in my opinion to make the mobile experience as fast as possible without much delay if possible. The mobile version replicates the home slider with CSS and JS, and page transitions are just simple fade-out and fade-in animations.

Making it accessible to keyboard-only usage

Ensuring accessibility for heavy-animation websites is challenging. Even harder when there’s a fixed budget and the main focus is the brand identity itself. For this portfolio, we’ve added keyboard navigation so users can tab through all links, the slider, and the cases. In order to mimic the default scrolling behaviour in browsers we added a “keyboard” behavior to the scroller :

Working with Anthony on his new portfolio taught me a lot. I mean, he really opened my eyes to a lot. The whole process was a combination of challenges, fun, learning, long nights and getting mad at some random GPU error. Collaborating with a creative powerhouse like him was something else. He’s an absolute beast, and if you haven’t checked out his portfolio by now (which I doubt), go and check out his work! The best part was pretty much bouncing ideas around and experimentation. Still fascinated with how fast Anthony is able to translate ideas in his head to After Effects. It saved us both a lot of back and forth!

From a tech perspective, many devs will get it when I say I’d do things differently in hindsight. But, finishing the project and seeing people engage with it has been rewarding. Can’t wait for what’s next!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me on Twitter or LinkedIn or reach out via mail !

P.S.: We won SOTD on 18th March on Awwwards, very happy about that! 🎉

Tagged with: case-study

Davide Perozzi

Freelance Developer

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