Hey! We are about to begin an outreach campaign to potential partners. What is the best way to reach out to people for partnerships (e-mail, LinkedIn or phone) and how long should the average message be? We are thinking of finding the relevant people on LinkedIn and then writing them a max. 500 character e-mail. What do you think?
Theoretically, there is no right- or wrong channel to make partnerships outreach to potential partners; it simply depends on how the specific company is structured (organizational-wise) – and who you're reaching on the other side. It's all about placing the request on the table of a decision-maker.
And how do you know who is the decision-maker? You don't.
If the company has a partnership formula on its landing page, that is always recommendable. That will always reach a decision-maker that can evaluate the inquiry. It will also show that you respect the company's procedure, which is an excellent foundation to build a great partnership.
If that is not an option, you'll have to assess which person you'll need to contact directly. That could be a Partnership Manager, Head of Partnerships, etc. If it's a smaller company, they probably don't have an employee for that purpose only, and then you should try to contact a C-level ranked officer. Make sure to find the person that fits your proposal best. If it's a technical partnership, try the CTO; if it's about advertising, try a CMO or CCO. If the person is 60+ years old, try to reach him on his e-mail – or give him a call. If he is 35, try to contact him on LinkedIn. It's always a judgment call!
To sum up: there is no "one-size-fits-all" model when it comes to partnership outreach. You'll need to be creative, strategic and evaluate the specific situation. Use the information you can collect on the company (tone of voice, vision, etc.), and reverse engineer the data into an inquiry that'll let them know how the partnership will offer them value. Always be as concise and to the point as possible! Max 500 characters is a great cap. Make sure that you don't waste anybody's time with jibber-jabber.
Best of luck with the outreach campaign!