6 Content Categories You Need Before Launching Your Partner Program

Aug 26

Key Takeaways

Problem: Launching a partner program without a content foundation leads to reactive chaos and erodes partner trust.
Solution: Proactively identify and build assets across six core categories before you launch.
The 6 Categories: Sales Enablement, Technical Enablement, Legal & Financial, Program Structure, Marketing Resources, and Support Infrastructure.
Strategy: Start with the basics and add complexity like portals and tiers later.

You’re a startup. You just signed your first partner. They’re excited, you’re excited. Their salesperson asks you for a battle card that you don’t have. Momentum stalls.

This is the reality of building a partner program on the fly. Success in the channel is built on trust and empowerment, and a strong content foundation is essential for both. Without a clear strategy, you’ll be caught in a reactive cycle that doesn’t present your team in the best light.

You may not need everything in this guide and some things you may still be figuring out. But this guide will provide a framework that will help you get your first partners activated - so you can scale in Phase 2.

This guide will help you empower partners with the confidence to sell, solidifying your reputation as a company that’s serious about partnerships and most importantly - easy to work with.

1: Sales Enablement Essentials

Why it Matters: Your goal is to make selling your product as easy and intuitive for a partner as it is for your own team. Strong sales enablement gives partners the confidence to qualify leads and manage deals.

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) & Qualification Guide: Identify the target customer and the questions to ask to qualify a lead.
Core Sales Deck: Your standard sales presentation, which partners can co-brand.
ROI & Business Case Talking Points: Quantifiable value props to build a business case.
Competitive Battle Cards: At-a-glance comparisons of at least 1-2 competitors, including strengths, weaknesses, and/or key differentiators.
Objection Handling Guide: The top 5-10 common objections and proven responses.
Case Studies & Reference Customers: A short list of successful customers, ideally sortable by industry or use case.

2: Technical Enablement

Why it Matters: A partner who can’t confidently demo your product is a partner who won’t be able to sell it. Technical enablement provides the credibility partners need to lead technical discussions and equips them with shareable assets to answer questions from prospects.

On-Demand Video Library: A collection of short videos that serve as training resources and sales tools, including a product demo, feature-specific clips, and use cases.
Demo Access (NFR License): A dedicated "Not for Resale" license for them to learn, practice, and perform live demos.
Implementation Overview: A high-level document explaining the steps, timeline, and resources required for a typical customer implementation.
Integration Capabilities: A simple overview of your key API endpoints and integrations.

3: Marketing & Demand-Gen Resources

Why it Matters: You don’t want partners creating their own materials - and they don’t have time to do it anyway! Provide foundational, ready-to-use collateral to ensure they can generate demand for your solution while keeping the brand message consistent.

One-Pager/Datasheet: The essential PDF overview of your solution, ideally co-brandable.
Company Boilerplate & Logos: Official descriptions and logos for partners to use on their own websites.
Shared Asset Location: A simple, central place where signed partners can find all assets. Before you have a partner portal, this might be a Resources section on your website or a shared Google Drive.
Deal Registration Form & Rules: A process for signed partners to register leads and receive status updates.

4. The Legal & Financial Framework

Why it Matters: By establishing clear, simple rules of engagement you’ll protect both your business and your partners. This proactive framework prevents channel conflict and builds trust for long-term partnerships.

Partner Agreement: A straightforward contract outlining the terms, responsibilities, and commission structure.
NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement): A standard NDA to protect confidential information.
Pricing & Discount Policy: A simple document showing the standard customer price and the partner's discount/margin.

5: The Program Structure

Why it Matters: Hope is not a strategy for partner activation. This blueprint defines a clear, repeatable path to turn an interested partner into a revenue-generating one, removing the friction that kills momentum.

Prospective Partner Web Page: A page on your website that’s designed to attract and inform potential partners, outlining benefits and encouraging them to apply.
Partner Program Overview and Guide: A 1-2 page overview that serves as the "brochure" for your program, outlining the benefits and requirements to prospective partners. The guide will provide detailed elements about how the program works for partners who are ready to commit.
Onboarding Process Checklist: An internal and external checklist for what happens in the first 30 days (e.g., Welcome Call, Technical Training, First Deal Sync).
Certification Requirements: A simple definition of what a partner needs to do to be considered "certified" (e.g., co-present a demo, pass a sales quiz).

6: The Support Infrastructure

Why it Matters: Demonstrate to partners that your team will provide reliable support. Providing accurate and reliable resources builds trust so they are encouraged to bring you more deals.

Key Contacts List: A simple directory for sales, technical, and billing/ops support.
Support SLAs (Service Level Agreements): Clear expectations for response times on support tickets.
Communication Schedule: Let them know how you'll communicate. For example, 1:1 monthly check-ins and through a partner newsletter with product updates and tips.

Start Lean: What to Build in Phase 2

Scale and Optimize

Don't overengineer your program. Get your first 3-5 partners successfully selling and then scale. Once you've proven the model, you can add sophistication. Here are some things that can wait:

A Partner Portal: Start with a shared folder. Portals are great investments when you’re ready to consistently onboard new partners at scale - and you have an internal resource who can manage it (content, LMS, deal certifications).
Formal Tiers: You don't need tiers when you only have a handful of partners. Treat everyone like a top-tier partner.
MDF (Market Development Funds): Prove you can generate revenue together before committing to running an MDF program.
Formal Annual Reviews & Performance Plans: In the beginning, this should be a fluid, collaborative conversation, not a rigid corporate process.

Ready to Build Your Strategy?

Establishing these foundational pieces is the first step toward a thriving partner program.

Laura Bednash