BusinessBeginnerPreview
Partnership & Co-Marketing
A practical, beginner-friendly guide to building co-marketing partnerships from scratch, from sourcing the right partner to running campaigns and proving the ROI to both sides.
Marketers, founders, and creators who want to grow through brand partnerships without a big budget.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into one real partnership you build end to end. Work through it alongside the lessons with a specific partner brand in mind. By the last page you will have a scored shortlist, a sent pitch, a planned campaign with tracking, a one-page agreement, and a results report ready to power a renewal.
Finding and Qualifying the Right Partner
Build a sourcing list of aligned brands and score them into a ranked shortlist.
Exercise: Define Your Exact Customer and Adjacent Brands
Co-marketing only works when you both serve the same buyer for different needs. Pin down who that buyer is, then map the brands they already buy from.
- Write a one-sentence description of your single ideal customer (role, context, what they are trying to do).
- List five other products, tools, or brands that exact customer buys around the same time as yours.
- For each, note in one phrase the different problem it solves, to confirm it does not compete with you.
- Circle the two that feel like the most natural fit and explain why in a sentence each.
Worksheet: Candidate Sourcing Log
Gather 15 to 25 candidate brands from the five sources in the lesson. Fill one row per candidate; you will score them on the next worksheet.
- Brand name
- Where you found them (customer interview / app directory / podcast / who-audience-follows / sponsor list)
- What they sell (one line)
- Estimated reach (email subscribers, followers, or traffic)
- Source of that estimate (SparkToro / Similarweb / public count)
- One reason this partner would benefit from collaborating with you
- Contact name / role to approach
Checklist: Sourcing Readiness Checklist
- I wrote a one-sentence definition of my ideal customer.
- I gathered at least 15 candidate brands in the sourcing log.
- Each candidate has a rough reach estimate and its source noted.
- Every candidate serves my buyer for a different, non-competing need.
- I identified a likely contact person (not a generic info inbox) for my top candidates.
Pitching the Partnership
Turn a finalist into a sent pitch with a balanced value exchange and a one-page proposal.
Worksheet: Value-Exchange Builder
For your top partner, make the trade visibly fair before you write a word of the pitch. Complete the give-get sentence at the bottom.
- Partner name
- Your contribution (reach, content, or credibility) with the number
- Their contribution with the number
- The shared outcome you both get (estimated registrations / leads / exposure)
- If sizes are uneven, how the smaller side offsets it (more work, hosting, extra promo)
- One-sentence trade: You give ___, we give ___, we both get ___
Exercise: Draft and Sharpen the Cold Opener
Write your first-contact message, then cut it under 120 words. Earn the reply before sending the full proposal.
- Line 1: prove you know them (reference a specific post, product, or detail).
- Line 2: state the idea and your reach number in one sentence.
- Line 3: a soft call to action (a 15-minute call next week).
- Now count the words and cut anything that is about you rather than their upside; rewrite to under 120 words.
Worksheet: One-Page Proposal Outline
Fill each of the six parts in one or two lines. This is the document you send once they reply with interest.
- Hook: why this partner specifically, with a number
- Idea: the campaign in one line
- What each side does (your side / their side)
- What each side gets (estimated registrations, shared leads, exposure)
- Timeline: rough date or window
- Next step: the single call to action
Checklist: Pre-Send Pitch Checklist
- My opener leads with their benefit and a number, not my needs.
- The give-get trade reads as balanced (or the imbalance is offset).
- My estimates are given as ranges, not single inflated promises.
- I am contacting a named human (partnerships, growth, or founder), not a form.
- I scheduled my follow-up dates (bump at 3 to 4 days, final note a week later, then stop).
Designing and Running the Campaign
Choose a format, split ownership on a timeline, and stand up shared tracking before launch.
Exercise: Choose Your Campaign Format
Pick the single format that fits your goal and both teams' effort budget. For a first partnership, default to a webinar or newsletter swap.
- What do you most need right now: leads, audience growth, or fast signups/sales?
- Which of the five formats (webinar, lead magnet, newsletter swap, bundle, giveaway) matches that need?
- Is the effort realistic for both teams in the next month? If not, pick a lighter format.
- Write your chosen format and the single shared goal it serves in one sentence.
Worksheet: Responsibility Matrix and Timeline
Assign a single owner and a backup to every task, then set dates by counting backward from launch day.
- Launch date (set this first)
- Content owner (slides / ebook / swap copy)
- Design owner (landing page / graphics)
- Technology owner (registration form / webinar room / tracking)
- Promotion plan (emails and posts per side, with dates)
- Follow-up owner (recording, thank-you, lead handoff)
- Key milestone dates (T-21 lock scope, T-14 build asset, T-10 start promo, T-3 reminders, launch, T+2 close-out)
Worksheet: UTM and Tracking Setup
Agree the exact UTM values with your partner so both dashboards reconcile. Use the Google Campaign URL Builder to generate links.
- Shared utm_campaign value (both sides use this exact string)
- utm_source values you will each use (e.g. partnerbrand, newsletter)
- utm_medium values (email, social, webinar)
- Where results live (shared Looker Studio / Google Sheet / webinar reporting)
- Who has view access to the shared dashboard
- Consent line shown on the registration form
Checklist: Launch-Ready Checklist
- Every task has a named owner and a date.
- Both sides committed to a specific number of emails and posts.
- All campaign links carry agreed UTM parameters.
- The shared dashboard is live and both teams can see it.
- The registration form discloses the lead share with both named brands.
- We agreed the lead-handoff format and deadline (CSV or integration, within N days).
Agreements, Reporting, and Renewal
Put the deal in writing, report shared ROI, and convert one campaign into an ongoing program.
Worksheet: One-Page Agreement Builder
Capture the terms in plain language. For a simple first campaign a confirmed shared doc is enough; escalate to legal for money, exclusivity, or large data sets.
- Scope: what the campaign is and is not, plus the shared goal
- Responsibilities and deadlines (from your matrix)
- Promotion commitments (emails and posts per side, with dates)
- Lead and data sharing (what, format, by when, consent and privacy terms)
- Brand usage and logo approval step
- Costs and how shared costs are split
- Asset ownership and reuse rights
- Exclusivity, confidentiality, and how either side exits cleanly
Exercise: Calculate Cost Per Lead and the Headline
After the campaign, compute the ROI number that makes the win unmistakable to the partner and your own stakeholders.
- Total cost: rough value of hours spent plus any ad spend or prize cost.
- Total leads captured and shared.
- Cost per lead = total cost divided by leads. Write the figure.
- Compare it to what you normally pay per lead, and write your one-sentence headline result.
Worksheet: Post-Campaign Report and Retro
Build a one-page report from the shared dashboard, then capture lessons for the next round.
- Headline result (one sentence with the key numbers)
- Reach delivered by each side
- Registrations and attendees, split by source
- Leads captured and shared with each brand
- Downstream signups, trials, or sales (if trackable)
- Cost per lead
- What worked / what to fix / what to try next
- Proposed next campaign and date
Checklist: Renewal Checklist
- I sent the results report within a week of the campaign.
- I proposed the next campaign while goodwill and numbers were fresh.
- We ran a five-minute retro and wrote down the lessons.
- I proposed a cadence (e.g. one joint campaign per quarter).
- I added new finalists to the pipeline by re-running sourcing and scoring.
- I templatized the one-pager, agreement, timeline, and dashboard for next time.
Your Action Plan
- Define your one-sentence ideal customer and list five adjacent, non-competing brands.
- Source 15 to 25 candidates into the sourcing log with reach estimates.
- Score every candidate on the four-factor scorecard and rank them into a top-five shortlist.
- Build a balanced value-exchange and a one-page proposal for your top partner.
- Send a personalized cold opener to your shortlist and follow up at most twice.
- On a yes, pick one campaign format and draft the responsibility matrix and backward timeline.
- Set agreed UTM values and stand up a shared dashboard before any promotion goes out.
- Confirm a one-page agreement covering scope, promotion, data sharing, costs, and exit.
- Run the campaign with both brands visible, then exchange leads on the agreed deadline.
- Compute cost per lead, send a one-page report within a week, and propose the next campaign.
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