Always Be Testing Podcast: Episode #63 – The Tech Stack for B2B Affiliate Marketing with Tyler Calder, CMO of PartnerStack

Release Date: November 26, 2024

Introduction

In Episode #63 of the Always Be Testing podcast, host Ty DeGrange welcomes Tyler Calder, the Chief Marketing Officer of PartnerStack. This episode delves deep into the intricacies of B2B affiliate marketing, exploring the essential tech stack, growth strategies, challenges, and success stories that shape the landscape of partner marketing in the SaaS sector.

PartnerStack: Revolutionizing B2B Partnerships

[01:27 – 04:04]

Tyler Calder begins by providing an in-depth overview of PartnerStack, positioning it as the leading platform designed to scale partnerships and drive revenue for B2B companies. He emphasizes the platform's comprehensive approach to managing indirect revenue streams, unifying various partnership types under a single strategy and platform.

Tyler Calder [01:46]: "PartnerStack is the leading platform for scaling partnerships and driving revenue for B2B companies... It really is about managing and orchestrating your entire indirect revenue ecosystem."

Calder highlights the fragmentation issue faced by many companies, where different teams manage disparate partner types using multiple tools. PartnerStack consolidates these functions, offering features like tracking, attribution, partner onboarding, education, certification, tiering programs, and managing payouts—all within one platform. Additionally, PartnerStack boasts a network of approximately 80,000 active B2B partners, facilitating meaningful connections between vendors and partners to enhance mutual growth.

Tyler Calder [04:04]: "Our platform has quite a bit of breadth to it... manage everything and then you have the network to help you continue to scale the impact of your program."

Growth Loops and Strategic Levers

[06:25 – 10:25]

When discussing growth strategies, Calder outlines how PartnerStack operates a robust growth loop that intertwines their platform with their extensive partner network. As PartnerStack signs more clients, it naturally attracts more partners to its network. This symbiotic relationship enhances the platform's value, drawing in even more vendors and partners.

Tyler Calder [06:25]: "As we sign more customers, those customers attract more partners into our network... as we attract more partners, that in turn makes the network more valuable and attracts more vendors."

Calder also emphasizes the importance of data in driving growth. By capturing and aggregating data from vendor-partner interactions, PartnerStack gains valuable insights into best practices and areas needing improvement. This data informs product development, marketing strategies, and sales coaching, creating a feedback loop that continuously enhances the platform’s effectiveness.

Tyler Calder [07:15]: "The more vendor and partner connections that we have in our network, the more data we're able to capture... it helps drive our approach to coaching during the sales cycle."

Moreover, Calder discusses the significance of fostering a strong partner ecosystem. By integrating partners deeply into marketing, sales, and customer success functions, companies can achieve higher traffic, better conversion rates, lower acquisition costs, shorter sales cycles, and improved customer retention.

Tyler Calder [08:30]: "Our own partner ecosystem is a pretty significant growth loop itself... just focusing on our own partner ecosystem is right up there with one of the most important levers that we're pulling."

Challenges and Areas for Improvement

[12:03 – 17:52]

Calder addresses the primary challenge of maintaining focus amidst rapid growth and numerous opportunities—a common hurdle for scale-mode, venture-backed companies. Balancing strategic focus with the flexibility to explore new avenues is crucial to avoid both stagnation and overextension.

Tyler Calder [12:27]: "How do you continually and pretty ruthlessly prioritize on our focus areas while still giving yourselves the latitude to wander and explore?"

A significant area of improvement for PartnerStack is education within the B2B SaaS and partnership space. Calder observes a knowledge gap where many companies either apply B2C strategies to B2B scenarios or rely on outdated channel playbooks. PartnerStack aims to bridge this gap by leveraging customer data and insights to educate the market effectively.

Tyler Calder [13:50]: "We feel like there's a huge opportunity to educate just on B2B SaaS and partnerships. There’s a deficit of knowledge there."

Additionally, Calder emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balanced approach to focus, allowing room for experimentation without losing sight of core objectives. This involves setting clear priorities, utilizing frameworks to evaluate opportunities, and ensuring organizational clarity on decision-making processes.

Tyler Calder [16:35]: "Having clarity on what you’re saying no to and what you’re saying yes to and how did you come to those decisions to make sure the rest of the org is clear."

Client Success Stories: Driving Revenue Through Partnerships

[17:52 – 23:24]

Calder shares inspiring success stories of PartnerStack’s clients, illustrating the platform’s impact on revenue growth through effective partnership programs. Among the notable examples are:

1. Teamwork.com: Under the leadership of Corey Snyder, Teamwork.com experienced a 10x increase in pipeline sourced through their partner program within a year. Calder attributes this success to their proactive and experimental approach, treating their partner program with the same agility as a marketing team.

   Tyler Calder [19:10]: "Corey and the team there just get at it... they’re really just moving very quickly."

2. Glide: Featuring Brett, Head of Experts at Glide, this case study highlights innovative use of PartnerStack’s APIs to leverage experts as partners for market education, showcasing creativity in scaling and automating partnership efforts.

   Tyler Calder [21:40]: "Brett has the coolest title ever... he's done it using PartnerStack and a bunch of our APIs in a way that nobody else ever has before."

3. Apollo: Jennifer Rima and her team at Apollo represent those who fully utilize PartnerStack’s capabilities, embodying the platform’s vision of integrating all partner types and strategies to maximize revenue impact.

   Tyler Calder [21:00]: "Jennifer and her team have kind of wrapped their arms around just about everything you can do with PartnerStack... which is awesome to observe and use as a good example."

These stories underscore the transformative potential of a well-executed partner program, highlighting increased pipeline, enhanced scalability, and innovative integrations as key outcomes.

Emphasizing Creativity and Data-Driven Growth

[23:24 – 30:47]

Calder advocates for a balance between data-driven strategies and creative experimentation. He reflects on his early experiences in performance marketing, where focusing solely on incremental improvements limited the potential for exponential growth. Instead, he encourages partners to think big and utilize creative strategies to drive significant impact.

Tyler Calder [24:34]: "I regret early in my career getting so hung up on just incrementalism... partnership leaders are in such a good space to be able to do that and not get sucked into incrementalism."

Calder also stresses the importance of continuously testing new marketing channels to stay ahead of saturation and diminishing returns. He cites examples like Reddit ads and LinkedIn’s conversation ads as opportunities that require early experimentation to capitalize on their potential before they become overcrowded.

Tyler Calder [26:40]: "Regularly testing new channels as they pop up... carve out some budget to go test it, experiment it, before it starts to diminish."

Furthermore, he highlights the value of unsexy yet impactful tactics such as conversion rate optimization and direct mail campaigns, which can yield significant returns without necessitating extensive technological investments.

Tyler Calder [27:03]: "Sticking with the unsexy stuff... things like improving our traffic to demo requests by 10% without spending an additional dollar."

Importance of Budgeting for Experimentation

[30:47 – 33:29]

A critical takeaway from the discussion is the necessity of allocating a dedicated budget for testing and experimentation. Calder advises companies to set aside a specific percentage of their marketing budget purely for exploration without tying expectations to these efforts. This approach fosters innovation and prevents the team from becoming complacent with safe, incremental changes.

Tyler Calder [32:25]: "Think about what percentage of budget you’re comfortable setting aside without any expectations tied to it... you need to have no expectation that it's going to do anything."

Calder acknowledges the difficulty in maintaining this balance, especially when baseline numbers aren’t being met. However, he insists that for experimentation to be genuine, it must come with the acceptance of potential failures and the flexibility to pivot based on outcomes.

Client Outcomes and Best Practices

[33:29 – 38:12]

When addressing client outcomes, Calder explains that the primary metric PartnerStack tracks is revenue generated through partner programs. He outlines a transformative journey where companies evolve from having no partner program to leveraging it for significant revenue contributions.

Tyler Calder [18:07]: "Step one is if you don't have a partner program, then the outcome is just you now have the ability to do partnerships... it becomes a revenue story of how do you go from 0% of your revenue coming through the channel to 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%."

Calder emphasizes the importance of creativity and leveraging APIs to maximize the platform's potential. By encouraging partners to think outside the box and utilize the full spectrum of PartnerStack’s capabilities, clients can achieve remarkable growth and operational efficiency.

Tyler Calder [24:34]: "Partnership leaders are in such a good space to be able to do that and not get sucked into incrementalism, just how big of an impact partners can have."

Personal Insights and Career Highlights

[33:29 – 41:38]

Shifting to a more personal narrative, Calder shares pivotal moments in his career that shaped his professional trajectory. He recounts his early experience at Eloqua, where he was exposed to the rapid pace and innovative environment of a startup, contrasting it with his previous role in a more traditional banking setting.

Tyler Calder [34:08]: "Working at a 300-person startup like Eloqua... was the first exposure of 'this is what I want to do.'"

Another significant moment was his decision to join a small digital marketing agency over a larger ad tech company. This choice provided him with extensive hands-on experience, allowing him to manage numerous accounts and gain a comprehensive understanding of the digital marketing landscape.

Tyler Calder [35:40]: "Taking that job was the defining moment of my career because I was there for eight years... managing 400 SMB accounts myself."

Calder attributes his success to the opportunities he seized early on, emphasizing the value of embracing challenges and leveraging foundational experiences to build a versatile skill set.

Fun Facts and Personal Tidbits

In the lighter segment of the conversation, Calder shares personal hobbies and interests that reveal a different side of his personality. He discusses his affinity for golf, humorously noting his tendency to lose golf balls and how he customizes them with his daughter's drawings as a creative workaround.

Tyler Calder [38:12]: "I get my daughter's drawings printed on all of my golf balls... to remind myself that hanging out with my kid is better than golfing for five hours."

Additionally, Calder surprises listeners by revealing his love for the TV show Glee, a fact that often astonishes those who know him professionally.

Tyler Calder [40:07]: "I am a huge Glee fan... Luke, one of our co-founders, calls me Musical Chaos."

Closing Thoughts and Connection Information

As the episode wraps up, Ty DeGrange and Tyler Calder recap the key insights shared, reinforcing the importance of a unified partner marketing strategy, the balance between data-driven decisions and creative experimentation, and the transformative power of a well-executed partner program. Calder encourages listeners to connect with him via LinkedIn or email for further discussions.

Tyler Calder [41:18]: "You can find me on LinkedIn as Tyler Calder or reach out via email at tylertnerstack.com."

Notable Quotes

• Tyler Calder [06:25]: "As we sign more customers, those customers attract more partners into our network... as we attract more partners, that in turn makes the network more valuable and attracts more vendors."

• Tyler Calder [12:27]: "How do you continually and pretty ruthlessly prioritize on our focus areas while still giving yourselves the latitude to wander and explore?"

• Tyler Calder [24:34]: "Partnership leaders are in such a good space to be able to do that and not get sucked into incrementalism, just how big of an impact partners can have."

• Tyler Calder [32:25]: "Think about what percentage of budget you’re comfortable setting aside without any expectations tied to it... you need to have no expectation that it's going to do anything."

• Tyler Calder [40:07]: "I am a huge Glee fan... Luke, one of our co-founders, calls me Musical Chaos."

Conclusion

Episode #63 of the Always Be Testing podcast offers a comprehensive exploration of the tech stack required for effective B2B affiliate marketing, led by insights from Tyler Calder of PartnerStack. From strategic growth loops and overcoming operational challenges to inspiring client success stories and personal anecdotes, this episode provides valuable lessons for marketers aiming to scale their partner programs and drive substantial revenue growth in the competitive B2B SaaS landscape.

For more information about Tyler Calder and PartnerStack, connect with him on LinkedIn or via email at tylertnerstack.com.