How MapTiler Doubled The Number of countries they sell in Through Strategic Partnerships
From 2015 to 2020, MapTiler increased the number of nations in which it is a customer. The Swiss-based SaaS company is now helping government agencies, companies, as well as SMBs in over 120 nations with Map APIs for websites and mobile developers.
I spoke to Tom Armitage, MapTiler's Senior Technical Writer about the ways MapTiler makes use of strategic alliances to expand its customer base across the globe.
1. Use Affiliates As Local Sales Partners
MapTiler keeps documentation for developers in English which is the most widely used business language in the world, this is working great for the majority of users.
"But there are regions of the world that want to conduct business in a completely different way," Tom explained. "Maybe the documentation available to developers is fantastic however they'd prefer to be guided by someone who speaks their local language."
This is when Tom's team is looking for affiliates that can be local MapTiler experts. In understanding a specific region's native language and culture These strategic partners could provide a single point of contact to localize sales and marketing support.
MapTiler has seen an increase in revenue that is significant for countries with active affiliate partnerships. In the case of Japan, for instance when they signed the services of an affiliate in Japan, their sales in the country have increased to over 30%..
s and boost revenue in new markets.
2. Find Partners at Global Events and Social media
MapTiler is committed to participating in developer-focused or other tech-related conferences to increase brand awareness. "We are a highly active team of people that are out there making connections every day: talking to people and explaining how we can improve their products."
The team is also using live events to locate associates as well as to establish strategic partnerships with companies of other kinds.
Events in the industry, such as conferences and trade shows can prove useful when you wish to broaden your horizons and find out who's keen to collaborate. If you're seeking something particular, social media can also help.
"If we find an area that needs the same level of service, we have to look around for companies that might be able to offer that service to us. In some cases, people contact us via our site and we spread the word through social media platforms that we're seeking affiliations with businesses."
MapTiler keeps an partnership page on its website for those interested and is always on the lookout for new partners.
3. Be Certain Your Prices and Checkout is Localized
In the event that you're working with affiliates to increase sales in a local area, ensure that customers can check out in their preferred language currencies, and payment methods. This makes your affiliates work a lot more easy.
In our own research our team found that showing local currency and payment options could boost local conversions by up to 50%.
4. Identify Your Champion Users
"Every now and again, we get a champion person who is really impressed by our work. They truly appreciate us, and we get the benefit of them." Tom explained.
This is particularly useful for users who are an influential person in their industry. "That will really help promote your product without the result of any type of payment."
MapTiler's staff encourages customers to be champions by making sure that they're properly supported by the software. However, they make sure that sharing and marketing is a two-way street.
"If they're a blogger or something like that We'll definitely be sharing and helping them spread the word about the work they're involved in, as well."
5. Facilitate It to Begin
A big part of MapTiler's success lies in how easy to use it is. Tom's team has put in many hours developing support tools that help a new company to start andfor current users to come up with ways to make use of the platform in new ways.
"You visit our site, you'll find a lot of information about how to create, integrate and incorporate the maps into your own applications: lots and tons of code snippets as well as examples of code.
Utilizing a model of product-led growth (PLG) model, there are no-cost levels to all three MapTiler's subscription services that are designed to give "quick results" for new users.
When you sign up for MapTiler Cloud "there's a code sample which you can drag and drop straight into whatever is being done to allow you to very quickly, and very easily begin."
If you are interested in the addition of maps on your site or apps, you can avail a trial for free.