# Co-Marketing Ideas for Small SaaS Companies > Practical co-marketing ideas for small SaaS companies, from joint webinars and content swaps to integration launches and bundles, plus how to find partners. Source: https://comppound.com/blog/co-marketing-ideas-for-small-saas-companies (published 2026-07-27) Co-marketing is when two companies promote something together and share the audience, the effort and the results. For a small SaaS company with a thin budget, it is one of the few ways to reach a large number of relevant buyers without paying for ads, because the partner's audience arrives already trusting the partner who introduced you. It works best between companies that serve the same customer without competing for the same budget line. A scheduling tool and a CRM for small agencies, an analytics product and a data warehouse connector, an invoicing app and an accounting newsletter: in each pair, the customer is the same person, and neither company loses anything by recommending the other. This guide covers how to find partners like that, a dozen formats worth trying, and how to run a collaboration so that both sides want to do another one. ## Finding the right partner The best partner serves the same kind of customer you do, sells something that sits next to your product rather than on top of it, and has an audience roughly your size or a little larger. A partner far bigger than you will rarely say yes, and if they do, the effort will be lopsided. A partner much smaller will not move your numbers. Shared standards matter as well. Your name will be attached to their content and their behaviour, so look at how they write, how they treat their customers and how they handle data before you approach them. The fastest source of candidates is your own customers. Ask them which other tools they use for the same workflow, either in onboarding, in a short survey or on sales and success calls. The answers will cluster around a handful of products, and those are your shortlist. Integration partners are the next obvious group, since you already have a technical reason to work together. Beyond that, look at companies from the same accelerator or founder community, and at the newsletters, podcasts and creators your customers mention following. Creators are often easier to work with than companies, and their audiences tend to be unusually engaged. ## Twelve co-marketing formats worth trying ### A joint webinar A webinar on a topic that matters to both audiences is the classic co-marketing format, and it remains one of the most reliable. Each company promotes it to its own list, and both receive the registrant list, provided registrants are told clearly that both companies will contact them. Keep the session educational. Audiences leave webinars that turn into product demos, and partners stop agreeing to do them. A good structure is a practical problem, two perspectives on solving it, and a short, honest mention of where each product fits. ### A content swap Guest posts on each other's blogs or newsletters are the simplest place to start. The rule that makes them work is that each piece has to be genuinely useful to the partner's readers, written for their audience, not adapted from something you already published. A thin post with a link back to your homepage costs the partner some of their readers' trust, and they will not ask you again. ### A co-authored guide A guide, checklist or template that you build together carries both companies' expertise and gives both a reason to promote it for months. It suits partners whose products cover adjacent steps of the same process, because each side can write the part it knows best. Gate it if you both need leads, or publish it openly if search traffic and links matter more to you. ### An integration launch If you have built an integration together, launch it together. Coordinate announcement posts on both blogs, a feature in both newsletters, social posts on the same day and listings in each other's marketplaces or integration directories. An integration launched by one side alone tends to disappear quietly, while a joint launch gives both customer bases a concrete reason to try something new. ### A bundle or joint discount A deal for customers who use both products works well for targeted audiences such as startup programs, accelerator cohorts or a particular niche community. Keep the mechanics simple so neither side has to change billing, and set an end date so it stays an event rather than a permanent discount. ### Newsletter cross-promotion A short, sincere recommendation in each other's newsletters is low effort and often surprisingly effective, because newsletter readers tend to trust the sender's judgement. Write it in the newsletter owner's voice and keep it to a few sentences. ### Shared research Running a survey together lets you combine audiences into a larger sample and gives both companies something original to publish. Original data also attracts links and press coverage more easily than opinion pieces do. Be transparent about how you collected the responses, how many people answered and who they were, because shared research is only as credible as its method. ### A podcast or video series Appearing on each other's podcasts is an easy first step. A short series on shared topics, recorded once and released over a few weeks, gives both sides a run of content from a single production effort. ### Social collaborations LinkedIn Lives, co-hosted audio sessions, joint posts and shared carousels all let you borrow each other's reach on the platforms where your buyers already spend time. They are lighter to produce than a webinar, and they work well as a warm-up before a bigger collaboration. ### Community events Meetups, office hours and small workshops, online or in person, build a deeper relationship with a smaller group. Two companies co-hosting can fill a room that neither could fill alone, and the conversations afterwards are often where the best customer insight comes from. ### A joint customer story If a customer uses both products, a case study showing how the tools work together is persuasive in a way single-vendor stories rarely are. It answers the question prospects actually have, which is how this fits into the rest of their stack. Make sure the customer is comfortable being featured by both companies. ### A resource directory A curated list of tools and resources for your shared audience, featuring each other alongside other genuinely useful options, can rank well in search and earns links over time. It works only if the list is honest; a directory that includes only the two partners reads as an advert. ## How to pitch a partner Keep the first message short and specific. Name the audience you share, show that you understand their product, propose one concrete idea and say exactly what you will handle. Something like this is enough: > Hi [Name], we both serve [audience], and a lot of our customers also use [their product]. Would you be open to a joint webinar on [topic]? We'd handle the slides, the landing page and the recording, and we'd promote it to our [newsletter or community]. The pitch lands when it makes the partner's decision easy. Lead with what they get, offer to do the heavier lifting on the first collaboration, and avoid asking for a call before they have seen a specific idea. ## Agree the details in writing Most co-marketing friction comes from assumptions nobody said out loud. Before you start, agree the goal of the collaboration, who is responsible for each piece of work, how and when each side will promote it, how leads will be shared and what registrants are told about it, the timeline, and how each brand may be used. This does not need a contract. A shared document or a clear email thread that both sides confirm is enough, and it saves a lot of awkward conversations later. Lead sharing deserves particular care. Make sure the sign-up form tells people plainly that both companies will receive their details, and agree how each side will follow up so that new contacts are not hit with two sales sequences on the same day. ## Measure what happened Decide before launch what you will count, then count it the same way afterwards. That usually means registrations or downloads, new leads and signups, how many of those became customers over the following months, and any growth in your own audience such as newsletter subscribers or followers. Share the results with your partner, including the disappointing ones. A partner who sees honest numbers is far more likely to try a second format with you. ## Where co-marketing usually goes wrong Most failed collaborations share a few causes. The audiences were not as closely matched as they looked, so the content suited one side and not the other. One partner promoted heavily and the other barely mentioned it, which leaves the harder-working side reluctant to repeat it. Nobody agreed how leads would be handled, so contacts were either left untouched or followed up twice. Or the content was too promotional, and the audience treated it as an advert. ## Start small and build trust You do not need a large launch to begin. A content swap or a newsletter mention takes a few hours, tests whether the audiences really overlap, and shows each side how the other works. Once a small collaboration has gone well, a joint webinar, a co-authored guide or shared research becomes a much easier yes, and the partners who stay with you over several projects often end up as one of your most dependable sources of new customers. ## Keep reading - [A Content Calendar for a Two-Person SaaS Marketing Team](/blog/a-content-calendar-for-a-two-person-saas-marketing-team) ## Frequently asked questions ### What is co-marketing in SaaS? When two companies jointly create and promote content, events or offers to reach each other's audiences. ### How do I find co-marketing partners? Look for complementary companies that serve the same audience, such as tools your customers use alongside yours. ### What are easy co-marketing ideas to start with? Content swaps, newsletter cross-promotion and joint webinars. ## About Comppound Comppound runs SEO and AI search for B2B SaaS companies: a person sets the plan and reviews samples and every high-risk page, and AI speeds up production. - [See SEO Growth](https://comppound.com/services/seo-growth): Buyers compare before they book a demo. Are your pages there when they do? - [See pricing](https://comppound.com/pricing): Want the content written, reviewed and published for you?