How MapTiler Doubled The Number of Countries They Sell In Through Strategic Partnerships
From 2015 to 2020, MapTiler increased the number of countries where it has customers. It is a Swiss-based SaaS company now helps governments, enterprises, and SMBs in over 120 countries through providing Map APIs for websites as well as mobile developers.
I had a chat with Tom Armitage, MapTiler's Senior Technical Writer, about how MapTiler makes use of strategic alliances to expand its global customer base.
1. Use Affiliates As Local Sales Partners
MapTiler maintains developer documentation in English which is the main business language around the globe, it works well for most of its customers.
"But there are parts of the globe that would like to conduct business in a different manner," Tom explained. "Maybe the documentation available to developers is excellent, but they'd like to be guided by someone who speaks their local language."
That's why Tom's team is looking for affiliates that can be local MapTiler specialists. Through understanding the region's indigenous languages and cultures These strategic partners could provide a single point of contact for sales and marketing support.
MapTiler has witnessed significant growth in revenue in countries with active affiliate partnerships. As an example after they enrolled as an affiliate partnership in Japan the sales of their business in Japan have risen to over 30%..
It will also help to increase sales and increase revenue in new markets.
2. Look for Partners at Global Events and Social media
MapTiler makes a point of attending developer-focused as well as other tech-related conferences to increase the word about its brand. "We have a very engaged team of employees who make connections all the time speaking to people and educating them on how we can help their product."
The team is also using in-person events to find affiliates and form strategic partnerships with other companies.
Industry events and conferences are useful when you want to reach out to see who's keen to collaborate. However, if you're searching for something specific, that's where social media can also help.
"If we know that there's an area that needs this kind of service, we take an eye on who may be in a position to provide this service to us. Sometime, they contact us via our site, but we also spread our message via social media channels that we're looking for affiliations with companies."
MapTiler maintains an partner page on their website for interested parties and is constantly looking for potential partners.
3. Be Certain Your Prices and Checkout is Localized
If you're using affiliates to enhance sales within your local area, ensure that the customers are able to easily checkout in their preferred language currencies, and payment methods. It will make your partner' jobs a lot easier.
Based on our internal studies, we found that displaying local currency and payment options could boost local conversions up to 50%.
4. Identify Your Champion Users
"Every time we'll get a star customer who really appreciates what we're doing. They truly appreciate us and so do we. them," Tom explained.
This is especially useful for users who are an influential person in their industry. "That will really help promote your products without it being any kind of paid relationship."
MapTiler's team encourages these advocates by ensuring that they're properly supported by the software. However, they make sure that sharing and promotion is a mutually beneficial process.
"If they're a blogger or something like that, then we'll obviously be sharing their work and helping to spread the word about the work they're involved in Also."
5. Facilitate It to Begin
A big part of the MapTiler's popularity is how user-friendly it is. Tom's team has put in a lot of energy designing support materials to allow a new company to start as well asfor current users to come up with ways to make use of the platform in new ways.
"You visit our site and you'll discover a wealth of information about how to develop, integrate, and incorporate the maps into your own services: loads and tons of code snippets as well as codes.
Based on a growth-by-product (PLG) model that is based on a product-led growth (PLG) model, there are free tiers that cover all three of MapTiler's subscription services that are designed to offer "quick results" for new users.
If you sign up to MapTiler Cloud "there's a code sample which you can drag and drop straight into whatever you're doing so that you can very quickly, and very easily get started."
If you're interested in including maps in your website or apps, you can get a free trial.