Guide to co-marketing with AWS as a startup partner

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 AWS Partner Network (APN), 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:

1. Partner-led: Your team drives content strategy, messaging, and spearheads customer engagement opportunities. 
2. AWS-led: AWS primarily manages customer opportunities, content development, and campaign creation. 
3. Co-branded: Collaborate with AWS to share marketing investments and jointly manage campaign execution.

Once you’ve completed your APN membership and have reviewed the co-marketing and co-selling best practices , 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:

1.  Create a joint marketing plan 
2. Secure funding 
3. Create your campaigns and assets 
4. Deliver via AWS marketing channels 
5. Track leads and co-sell

1. Creating a joint marketing plan

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 to enhance your solution visibility to potential customers.

Jonathan Barouch​, CEO of Local Measure, discusses the benefits of building a custom joint marketing plan: “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."

Learn more about the AWS Partner Marketing Academy Courses on AWS Partner Marketing Central and watch the webinar on building joint marketing plans in the Partner Marketing Enablement area.

2. Leveraging Funding

After establishing your marketing budget, explore the AWS Marketing Development Funds (MDF) 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 email campaigns, telemarketing, display advertising, search marketing, paid social, and customer facing webinars or events. 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, and track your funding status on the AWS Partner Funding Portal (APFP).

3. Creating your campaigns and assets 

With your strategy defined, it’s time to bring your marketing vision to life through AWS Partner Marketing Central, a self-service portal with customizable campaign content, virtual support, and an extension resource library to streamline the marketing process. Access Partner Ready Campaigns available in more than in 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 designed to accelerate sales and solution brief development.  

AWS Partner Marketing Central serves as your marketing hub, offering marketing assessments to identify potential knowledge gaps, connections to AWS-approved agencies via Agency Connect, and collaborate with Virtual Partner Marketing Managers (vPMMs) to accelerate sales and drive pipeline growth. AWS Partner Marketing Central features the AWS Marketing Academy and Learning Library, an all-in-one educational platform containing foundational guidance on developing your value proposition, establishing your target audience, and reviewing your marketing resources.

Ash Munshi​, CEO of Pepperdata, has found co-marketing with AWS transformative to the business: “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.”

Before launching any campaign, review the AWS Partner Creative and Messaging Guidelines and the AWS Partner Creative and Messaging Checklist, available in multiple localized versions.

4. Deliver through AWS marketing channels

Listing your solution on AWS Marketplace unlocks new pathways ways to reach AWS customers efficiently. According to Forrester Consulting report, partners who use AWS Marketplace achieve remarkable results: 234 percent ROI, 50 percent faster deal closure, and 4 to 5 times greater deal sizes.

AWS Marketplace partners can engage and convert customers through multiple strategic channels. These include high-visibility AWS events and AWS Summit sponsorships, compelling customer success stories, engaging APN YouTube content and blogs, and integrated AWS campaigns—all leveraging the extensive reach and established market credibility of AWS.

To maximize your AWS presence, consider exploring the following programs:

1. AWS Marketplace Seller Prime Program: 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. 
2. AWS Partner Solutions Finder: Increase your market visibility by making it easier for potential partners and customers to discover you. 
3. AWS Global Sponsorship Program: 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 of programs (in-person and virtual) that help each partner meet their business goals and objectives.

5. Track your leads and co-sell

Tracking and measuring success are essential as your co-marketing initiatives gain momentum. The APN Customer Engagements (ACE) program 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 seamless sharing of opportunities with AWS Sales teams, providing access to customized technical and sales support. Through active participation in ACE, you'll tap into AWS-referred opportunities that not only deepen your engagement with AWS and strengthen customer relationships but also enhance your visibility for future AWS marketing campaign collaborations.

For Daniel Marashlian​, CEO of Drata, co-selling support from AWS has been instrumental to long-term business scalability: “by providing a wide variety of resources to help with product development, GTM efforts, and co-sell initiatives.”

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 to establishing your AWS Marketplace strategy.