Partnerships
"The best partners share your audience but don't compete for the same budget." From coreyhaines31/marketingskills co-marketing v2.0.3 (MIT), including references adapted from Corey Haines's Founding Marketing, ch. 11. Book figures remain attributed anecdotes; FTC, ISED and merger corrections remain where noted. Community identity, member journeys, support and health belong to community-marketing; referral and affiliate mechanics to referral-programs, creators to creator-marketing, joint events to event-marketing.
Before asking questions, read the shared product context file .agents/product-context.md (anti-slop-copy CONTEXT.md); the source calls it .agents/product-marketing.md.
Apply only the routes and checks for the selected job. Read a linked skill's named file from its installed folder when available, or from the linked source. Report an unavailable required reference instead of inventing it. [skill-authoring, DISTRIBUTION.md#composing-skills]
| The job |
Read |
| Scope, routing and rules |
SKILL.md |
| Who to partner with, scoring partners 1 to 5, where to find them, campaign formats (content, events, product, community), brainstorming with one partner, the outreach email with its legal lines, call prep, the agreement, lead sharing, metrics, the checklist |
PARTNER-MARKETING.md |
| Integrations, resellers, affiliates, co-marketing and marketplaces: what each pays off, build patterns, marketplace fees in payback math, where to start |
PARTNERSHIP-TYPES.md |
The rules
- Pick partners who share the buyer, not the budget: same persona with a different problem, adjacent in the workflow (before, after or alongside you), similar stage and customer size, complementary not competitive. [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing]
- Route the request to the right partnership type before defaulting to joint content (PARTNERSHIP-TYPES.md). [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing]
- Partner outreach is commercial email: a physical postal address and a working opt-out in every message, with "no exception for business-to-business email" under CAN-SPAM; in Canada, consent first (PARTNER-MARKETING.md). [https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business]
- Agree lead ownership in writing before launch, and tell registrants at signup who receives their details (PARTNER-MARKETING.md). [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing]
- Anyone you give something to (ambassadors, giveaway entrants, partners' promoters) discloses it clearly, in words like "#XYZ_Ambassador" or "Gifted by XYZ", and you monitor them (community ambassador disclosure). [https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking]
Prove it
Each shortlisted partner has a score on all six criteria and a named overlap; every outreach email carries a postal address and an opt-out and went to a Canadian contact only with consent; the agreement covers all eight parts including lead handling; every contest or paid-promoter brief includes the required disclosure; and the relevant topic's Prove it checks pass. [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing; FTC Endorsement Guides FAQ]
1---2name: partnerships3description: "Plans and runs partnerships: selecting co-marketing partners, joint campaigns, outreach, agreements, lead sharing, integration, reseller, affiliate and marketplace distribution. Use when choosing partners, planning a joint campaign or deciding which partnership model fits the product."4metadata:5 source: https://skillmd.com/skills/quegenx/partnerships6---78# Partnerships910"The best partners share your audience but don't compete for the same budget." From coreyhaines31/marketingskills `co-marketing` v2.0.3 (MIT), including references adapted from Corey Haines's *Founding Marketing*, ch. 11. Book figures remain attributed anecdotes; FTC, ISED and merger corrections remain where noted. Community identity, member journeys, support and health belong to [community-marketing](https://github.com/Quegenx/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/marketing/community-marketing/SKILL.md); referral and affiliate mechanics to [referral-programs](https://github.com/Quegenx/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/marketing/referral-programs/SKILL.md), creators to [creator-marketing](https://github.com/Quegenx/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/marketing/creator-marketing/SKILL.md), joint events to [event-marketing](https://github.com/Quegenx/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/marketing/event-marketing/SKILL.md).1112Before asking questions, read the shared product context file `.agents/product-context.md` ([anti-slop-copy CONTEXT.md](https://github.com/Quegenx/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/anti-ai-slop/anti-slop-copy/CONTEXT.md)); the source calls it `.agents/product-marketing.md`.1314Apply only the routes and checks for the selected job. Read a linked skill's named file from its installed folder when available, or from the linked source. Report an unavailable required reference instead of inventing it. [skill-authoring, DISTRIBUTION.md#composing-skills]1516| The job | Read |17|---|---|18| Scope, routing and rules | [SKILL.md](SKILL.md) |19| Who to partner with, scoring partners 1 to 5, where to find them, campaign formats (content, events, product, community), brainstorming with one partner, the outreach email with its legal lines, call prep, the agreement, lead sharing, metrics, the checklist | [PARTNER-MARKETING.md](PARTNER-MARKETING.md) |20| Integrations, resellers, affiliates, co-marketing and marketplaces: what each pays off, build patterns, marketplace fees in payback math, where to start | [PARTNERSHIP-TYPES.md](PARTNERSHIP-TYPES.md) |2122## The rules23241. **Pick partners who share the buyer, not the budget:** same persona with a different problem, adjacent in the workflow (before, after or alongside you), similar stage and customer size, complementary not competitive. [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing]252. **Route the request to the right partnership type** before defaulting to joint content ([PARTNERSHIP-TYPES.md](PARTNERSHIP-TYPES.md)). [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing]263. **Partner outreach is commercial email:** a physical postal address and a working opt-out in every message, with "no exception for business-to-business email" under CAN-SPAM; in Canada, consent first ([PARTNER-MARKETING.md](PARTNER-MARKETING.md#outreach)). [https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business]274. **Agree lead ownership in writing before launch,** and tell registrants at signup who receives their details ([PARTNER-MARKETING.md](PARTNER-MARKETING.md#the-agreement)). [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing]285. **Anyone you give something to (ambassadors, giveaway entrants, partners' promoters) discloses it clearly,** in words like "#XYZ_Ambassador" or "Gifted by XYZ", and you monitor them ([community ambassador disclosure](https://github.com/Quegenx/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/marketing/community-marketing/COMMUNITY.md#ambassadors)). [https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking]2930## Prove it3132Each shortlisted partner has a score on all six criteria and a named overlap; every outreach email carries a postal address and an opt-out and went to a Canadian contact only with consent; the agreement covers all eight parts including lead handling; every contest or paid-promoter brief includes the required disclosure; and the relevant topic's Prove it checks pass. [coreyhaines31/marketingskills, co-marketing; FTC Endorsement Guides FAQ]
