Don’t miss out! Early bird tickets for Catalyst 2025 are live—but only for a limited time.

Deep Dive: Insider AWS Partnership Tips

Explore AWS’s Build, Market, Sell pillars and customer-first marketing principles to strengthen your AWS partnership and drive impactful results.

Elevating your AWS partnership requires a solid grasp of their core partnership pillars and a customer-first approach to marketing. In this blog, we’re unpacking insights from our exclusive AWS webinar with Maryam Lahiji. From integrating seamlessly with AWS services to co-selling through the ACE program, these tips are designed to help you drive impactful results with AWS.

If you’ve ever wondered how to take your AWS partnership from good to unstoppable, you’ll want to soak up every word of this blog!

This post is adapted from our Deep Dive newsletter. Subscribe to newsletters to receive insights like this every week.

Insight 1: The Three Partnership Pillars of AWS

(Image from: Unlocking Partner Marketing Success with AWS)X

When working with AWS, remember their three partnership pillars: Build, Market, and Sell. Maryam Lahiji broke down each one in the webinar, so here’s the rundown:

Build: Your product needs to integrate well with AWS services, whether you’re using their infrastructure or building a solution “powered by AWS.” This integration makes your offering more valuable to AWS customers and lays a solid foundation for a strong partnership.

Market: Joint go-to-market messaging is huge for AWS. It’s not just about branding but clearly communicating how your product complements AWS’s solutions. The goal? Show customers why your product + AWS is a winning combination.

Sell: As Maryam put it, “ACE is King.” Registering deals in AWS’s ACE program gives you visibility and strengthens your co-sell efforts. But don’t stop there. Follow-up is critical to keep AWS’s sales team engaged and ensure your deals get the attention they deserve.

Insight 2: AWS Marketing Principles

(Image from: Unlocking Partner Marketing Success with AWS)

AWS’s marketing approach is all about Customer Obsession — putting the customer’s needs, journey, and challenges front and center. This means focusing less on pushing solutions and more on showing how they solve real customer problems.

This customer-first messaging hits home because it shows genuine value in a way customers connect with.

AWS also expects partners to dive into the resources they offer, such as it’s co-marketing programs, funding, and tools, to maximize reach and impact. They don’t want passive partnerships. They want you to get in there and make things happen.

And it’s not just a one-time thing. AWS sees these partnerships as long-term relationships. Sharing customer success stories and tracking the impact of what you’re doing together keeps AWS engaged and strengthens the bond, building a partnership that grows and delivers value over time.

Subscribe to Our Deep Dive Newsletters

This article was originally published in our Deep Dive newsletters. Get bi-weekly partnership insights straight to your inbox – no hassle, no spam. Subscribe here.

Login error!