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Skill 29 · Knowledge Base For Startups
Subchapter 29.35
references/learn/business-growth/guide-to-co-marketing-with-aws-as-a-startup-partner.mdMarkdown10 KBView on GitHub
As a startup, you have an abundance of passion, drive, and innovative ideas. Yet to transform these assets into market success, you’ll need to extend your reach, build industry credibility, and access the right tools for growth. By joining the , you’ll connect to a global community of businesses using AWS expertise and resources to build, market, and sell their solutions. Through APN membership and strategic co-marketing initiatives with AWS, you’ll amplify brand visibility, generate demand with new prospects, and craft a unique value proposition that differentiates your brand.
By aligning your strategy and messaging across marketing channels, leveraging the AWS network, and collaborating with AWS Sales teams, you can accelerate profitable growth for your startup.
AWS offer three go-to-market (GTM) motions for co-marketing:
Once you’ve completed your APN membership and have reviewed the co-marketing and co-selling best practices (opens in a new tab), you’re ready to maximize the AWS brand value and launch your co-marketing journey. The following guide outlines the five essential stages of co-marketing with AWS:
Successful co-marketing with AWS begins with strategic alignment by combining your implementation plan with AWS resources and support. This foundational step requires three key elements: establishing your unique value proposition, defining joint business goals, and aligning both partner and AWS-led tactics with sales motions.
Your partner-led marketing plan should include partner-owned events, webinars, case studies, and blogs, while AWS-led activities include global sponsorships, social media amplification, and AWS-owned campaigns.
To build a robust joint marketing plan, focus on developing an efficient strategy that evolves with your business needs. Ensure comprehensive coverage of all essential components, from target industries and assets to KPI tracking and follow-ups. Additionally, incorporate time for pursuing AWS Specializations (opens in a new tab) to enhance your solution visibility to potential customers.
“In the first year of the partnership, our AWS Co-Sell revenue increased 5x. Our top of funnel lead generation has also increased year-over-year, 3 years in a row.” — Jonathan Barouch, CEO of Local Measure
Learn more about the AWS Partner Marketing Academy Courses on AWS Partner Marketing Central (opens in a new tab) and watch the webinar on building joint marketing plans in the Partner Marketing Enablement area.
After establishing your marketing budget, explore the AWS Marketing Development Funds (MDF) (opens in a new tab) program, which offers both cash and credit to offset your marketing costs to drive demand generation and build your sales pipeline. These funding benefits are allocated based on your Partner Path progressions, AWS Specialization achievements, and participation in various AWS Partner programs.
Marketing activities eligible for MDF include:
Through MDF Cash, you can receive up to 50 percent co-funding for completed eligible activities, while MDF Promotional Credits help offset your incurred AWS usage costs during these marketing initiatives.
As an AWS Partner, you’ll unlock exclusive access to marketing opportunities through AWS Partner marketing campaigns. These strategic campaigns are developed by AWS and executed by AWS-approved agencies, supporting every stage of the partner funnel and designed to significantly improve your market reach. Partners may receive invitations to participate in these high-impact campaigns, which often come with full or partial funding from AWS.
Learn more about MDF eligibility by exploring the program guide on AWS Partner Marketing Central (opens in a new tab), and track your funding status on the AWS Partner Funding Portal (APFP) (opens in a new tab).
With your strategy defined, it’s time to bring your marketing vision to life through AWS Partner Marketing Central (opens in a new tab), a self-service portal with customizable campaign content, virtual support, and an extension resource library to streamline the marketing process. Access Partner Ready Campaigns (opens in a new tab) available in more than 10 languages across 23+ solution topics, which you can launch directly through the platform or customize for your specific needs. Simplify your marketing execution with ready-to-use event and webinar kits, AWS speaker support, and Field Ready Kits (opens in a new tab) designed to accelerate sales and solution brief development.
AWS Partner Marketing Central serves as your marketing hub, offering:
“The team offered targeted co-marketing opportunities, provided key resources to identify and align new co-sell opportunities, and enabled strategic level discussions with core technical and business leaders to propel our business forward. The level of support has been extraordinary in helping us build our business on AWS.” — Ash Munshi, CEO of Pepperdata
Before launching any campaign, review the AWS Partner Creative and Messaging Guidelines (opens in a new tab) and the AWS Partner Creative and Messaging Checklist (opens in a new tab), available in multiple localized versions (opens in a new tab).
Listing your solution on AWS Marketplace unlocks new pathways to reach AWS customers efficiently. According to Forrester Consulting report (opens in a new tab), partners who use AWS Marketplace achieve remarkable results:
AWS Marketplace partners can engage and convert customers through multiple strategic channels, including:
All of these leverage the extensive reach and established market credibility of AWS.
To maximize your AWS presence, consider exploring the following programs:
AWS Marketplace Seller Prime Program (opens in a new tab): Helping ISVs grow their digital business with AWS Marketplace, this program activates a new channel for product-led growth (PLG) that will increase revenue and self-service user acquisition within the AWS customer base.
AWS Partner Solutions Finder (opens in a new tab): Increase your market visibility by making it easier for potential partners and customers to discover you.
AWS Global Sponsorship Program (opens in a new tab): Helping AWS Partners, customers, and brands grow their business by connecting them with more than one million AWS customers and prospects each year. AWS offers impactful sponsorship benefits across all programs (in-person and virtual) that help each partner meet their business goals and objectives.
Tracking and measuring success are essential as your co-marketing initiatives gain momentum. The APN Customer Engagements (ACE) program (opens in a new tab) serves as your central platform for managing joint opportunities with AWS, connecting partners with AWS sales and marketing professionals to securely collaborate and co-sell.
The ACE program enables:
“By providing a wide variety of resources to help with product development, GTM efforts, and co-sell initiatives.” — Daniel Marashlian, CEO of Drata, on how co-selling support from AWS has been instrumental to long-term business scalability
By aligning your go-to-market strategy and implementation plan with AWS, leveraging MDF effectively, optimizing your AWS Marketplace presence, and showing success through the ACE program, you can accelerate your startup’s market visibility and growth trajectory. Explore our comprehensive guide (opens in a new tab) to establishing your AWS Marketplace strategy.