Partnerships: What They Are And Why Everyone In Marketing Should Have Them with Alex Glenn
🎙️ Happy Clients Podcast Recap: Partnerships: What They Are And Why Everyone In Marketing Should Have Them with Alex Glenn
In today’s crowded digital space, marketing agencies and SaaS companies are discovering that partnerships are no longer optional, they are essential for growth. On the Happy Clients Podcast, Alex Glenn, founder of Partnerhub, broke down what partnerships really mean for agencies and why every marketer should embrace them.
We help agency owners grow by taking client management off your plate - and putting you in the CEO seat instead
🎙️ Happy Clients Podcast Recap: Partnerships: What They Are And Why Everyone In Marketing Should Have Them with Alex Glenn
What Is a Partnership in Marketing?
According to Alex, a partnership can take different shapes depending on the agency and the technology involved. The three main buckets are:
Implementation Partners (Power Partners): Agencies that go deep on a specific SaaS tool, like HubSpot or ClickUp, and build services directly on top of it. These agencies generate most of their revenue through implementation and retainers.
Referral Partnerships: A lightweight but effective model where two businesses refer clients back and forth without heavy integration.
Co-Marketing and Co-Selling: When agencies and tech companies create joint content, host events, or strategically collaborate to reach each other’s audiences. This builds pipeline overlap and creates long-term revenue opportunities.
Glenn emphasized that agencies should evaluate whether they have the expertise, demand, and resources to dive into one of these partnership models.
The Biggest Challenges With Partnerships
While partnerships promise massive upside, they are not without obstacles. Glenn pointed out three recurring pain points:
Communication: Agencies often feel left in the dark about partner expectations and updates.
Reciprocation: Sending referrals without receiving any in return quickly damages trust.
Support: Agencies need confidence that their partner will provide proper client support; otherwise, their own reputation suffers.
Without solving these issues, even the most exciting partnership can fizzle out.
Why Partnerships Are a Game-Changer
For many agencies, partnerships open doors that traditional lead generation cannot. By collaborating with aligned businesses, agencies can:
Expand reach into new markets
Build credibility through association with trusted tech brands
Create content that resonates with broader audiences
Unlock new streams of referrals and revenue
As Glenn shared, once agencies experience their first successful collaboration, “they get addicted to partnering”. The compounding benefits quickly outweigh the initial effort.
When to Hire a Partner Manager
One key insight Glenn offered is knowing when to scale partnership operations. Agencies don’t need a full-time partnerships hire right away. Instead, they can distribute partnership responsibilities across marketing and sales teams in the early stages. But when an agency reaches around 50 active partnerships, the workload becomes too heavy. That’s when bringing on a dedicated Partner Manager makes sense.
Getting Started
For agencies new to partnerships, Glenn’s advice is simple: don’t overthink it. Start conversations, test collaborations, and be specific with your intentions. A podcast episode, a co-written article, or a joint webinar can be the first step toward building long-lasting referral and revenue channels.
Final Thoughts
Partnerships are not just a growth hack, they are a sustainable business strategy. Whether through implementation, referrals, or co-marketing, agencies that embrace partnerships build stronger ecosystems, happier clients, and more predictable growth.
As Alex Glenn puts it, partnerships are about more than leads: they are about aligning expertise, trust, and value so both sides grow together.
NEVER MISS AN EPISODE
ITUNES | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE