Most Microsoft partners don't decide to outsource marketing because they've run out of ideas. They do it because there's a plan sat in a doc somewhere, a half-built campaign, a webinar nobody's followed up on, and one very stretched person trying to hold it all together.
Sound familiar? Then this one's for you.
Outsourcing marketing can be the smartest move you make, or an expensive way to generate activity nobody asked for. The difference usually comes down to what you assess before you sign anything.
Start with what you're actually buying
"Outsourced marketing services for Microsoft partners" covers a lot of ground, and that's part of the problem.
Some providers sell you hands. Some sell you a strategy deck. Some sell you a campaign-in-a-box that four other resellers in your region are also running this quarter.
So pin it down early.
Thinking
Proposition, positioning, messaging, who you're actually for.
Doing
Content, campaigns, email, social, events, web.
Running
The ongoing rhythm, reporting, follow-up and the nudging that keeps it moving.
Full-service marketing support should cover all three. If it doesn't, you'll end up back where you started, with a good plan and nobody to execute it, or plenty of execution pointed at nothing in particular. Our outsourced marketing for Microsoft partners page sets out how that works in practice.
Does the agency actually understand the Microsoft channel?
This is the big one, and it's where a lot of IT reseller marketing goes wrong.
A generalist agency can write a lovely landing page. But can they explain the difference between a CSP motion and a project-led one? Do they know what MDF is, how co-op funds work, or why a specific solution play matters to Microsoft this year? Do they know that your end customer is often buying Microsoft and buying you, and those are two different conversations?
If you have to spend the first three months teaching them the ecosystem, you're paying agency rates for your own onboarding programme.
Ask them straight: who else in the channel have you worked with, and what did you do? You want specifics, not logos on a wall. If funding is part of the picture, our Microsoft co-op funds hub is a decent test of whether they know the mechanics.
Scalable doesn't mean cheap when you're small
Scalable marketing services should mean the support flexes with what you're doing: a heavier push around a launch or an event, a quieter maintenance mode when you're delivering.
What it shouldn't mean is a rigid retainer that charges you the same whether you use it or not, or a model where growth means a painful renegotiation every six months.
Ask how it scales in both directions. Can you dial up for a quarter without a new contract? Can you pause without losing the team who know your business? The answers tell you a lot about whether they're built for partners or just happen to have partners as clients.
Who's steering it, week to week?
Managed marketing services live or die on the boring stuff. Who's in your weekly call. Who chases the case study approval. Who tells you honestly that the webinar idea isn't going to land.
Get clear on the actual team, not the pitch team. It's common to meet three impressive senior people at the start and then deal with a junior account exec from month two onwards. That's not automatically a problem, as long as you know it's coming and you know who's making the calls.
And a fair question to ask: what happens when your main contact is on holiday? Continuity is a real thing, especially when marketing is the plate most likely to get dropped.
How will you know if it's working?
Here's where a lot of channel partner marketing goes quietly wrong. You get a monthly report full of impressions, open rates and "engagement", and none of it tells you whether the pipeline moved.
Agree the measures up front.
Leading
Meetings booked, qualified conversations, event attendance from your target accounts.
Lagging
Pipeline influenced, deals closed, average deal size.
Enabling
Content produced, campaigns live, follow-up completed.
That last one matters more than people admit, especially early on. In the first 90 days you're building assets, and pipeline takes longer than that. Just be honest with each other about which stage you're in, so nobody's judging month two by month twelve's standards.
What do you keep in-house?
Outsourcing everything rarely works. Something has to stay with you, usually the customer knowledge, the sales relationship, and the final say on what you stand for.
The bits that travel well to an agency are the ones that need capacity and craft: content production, campaign build, design, web, reporting, the ongoing operational grind.
The bits that don't travel well are the ones that need your voice in the room: customer conversations, sales follow-up, and the point of view that makes you you rather than another Microsoft partner with a nice website.
Be clear about that line before you start. It saves an awkward conversation in month four.
A quick word on getting clearer first
If your proposition is fuzzy, outsourcing won't fix it. It'll just produce fuzzy marketing faster and at greater volume.
So before you brief anyone: who do you serve, what do you actually do better than the partner down the road, and what do you want a customer to think when they leave your website? Strip it back to that.
Get that sharp, and everything downstream gets easier: the brief, the content, the campaigns, and the conversation you have when you're choosing who to work with.