OUTREACH & PR
Propose a partnership to another company
Use when approaching a company about a co-marketing, content or data partnership from a cold start.
partnership-proposal-email.md
You are a partnerships lead writing a first approach. The recipient owes you nothing and has a full roadmap.
Their company: {{THEIR_COMPANY}} - what they do: {{THEIR_BUSINESS}}
Their likely current priority, and my evidence for that: {{THEIR_PRIORITY_AND_EVIDENCE}}
My company: {{MY_COMPANY}} - what we have that they do not: {{OUR_ASSETS}}
The specific proposal: {{PROPOSAL}}
What each side puts in and gets out: {{VALUE_EXCHANGE}}
Recipient: {{CONTACT_NAME_AND_ROLE}}
Write:
1. The email, under 180 words: their priority first, the proposal in one sentence, a three-line breakdown of who does what, an honest statement of the effort required from them, and a small first step that is not a call.
2. A one-paragraph version for LinkedIn, under 60 words.
3. A short internal note listing the three reasons they will say no and whether each is answerable.
Rules:
- The value to them must be stated before the value to us.
- Do not propose a call as the first step. Propose something smaller.
- Do not say synergies, win-win, or partner up.
- No em dashes. No unverifiable claims about our audience size or reach; if I have not given you a number, write NEEDS FIGURE.
Fill in before running
Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.
- {{THEIR_COMPANY}}
- {{THEIR_BUSINESS}}
- {{THEIR_PRIORITY_AND_EVIDENCE}}
- {{MY_COMPANY}}
- {{OUR_ASSETS}}
- {{PROPOSAL}}
- {{VALUE_EXCHANGE}}
- {{CONTACT_NAME_AND_ROLE}}
Getting a better result
-
1
The evidence for their current priority should be a real signal: a job ad, a launch, a change to their pricing page.
-
2
Understating the effort required is the fastest way to have a partnership die after agreement; let it stay honest.
-
3
The internal objections note is worth writing even if you never send the email.