Outsourced marketing services for Microsoft IT resellers should do one thing above all: turn channel marketing into qualified lead generation and steady growth. Resultful's full-service marketing is built for exactly that, combining Microsoft partner marketing know-how with managed marketing services and B2B technology marketing experience that IT reseller marketing teams rarely have in-house.
Most Microsoft resellers we speak to aren't short of marketing activity. They're short of marketing that adds up.
There's a blog going out most months. LinkedIn's ticking over. There's a campaign running because a programme was open, a webinar somebody's been chasing since March, and a website nobody's had the time to rewrite. It all looks like a marketing function from the outside.
Then someone asks which of it brought in business last quarter, and the room goes quiet.
That's the gap outsourced marketing is supposed to close. Done badly, it just adds more activity to the pile. Done properly, it gives marketing a whole job, a clear direction and somebody accountable for whether it worked.
Key takeaways
- Most Microsoft resellers already have plenty of marketing activity, but struggle to say which of it actually brought in business last quarter.
- Generalist agencies often need educating on co-op, MDF, distributor programmes and Microsoft designations, and that education is paid for by the client.
- Agencies unfamiliar with the channel tend to default to vendor-supplied campaign material, which is free and approved but makes every partner using it look identical.
- Full-service outsourced marketing should join up four things: positioning, demand generation focused on two channels done well rather than twenty done badly, content in the partner's own voice, and agreed measurement of a qualified lead.
- Deciding what the firm stands for, setting the year's two marketing objectives, and attending the monthly numbers review should always stay with the partner, not the agency.
Why generalist agencies struggle in this channel
Partner marketing has plumbing that other B2B marketing simply doesn't have.
There's co-op. There's MDF. There's a distributor with a programme running, and usually another vendor somewhere with a pot you could apply to. There's an approved messaging library, a claims process, and a set of windows that open and close whether you're ready or not.
A good generalist agency can write, design and run campaigns beautifully. But if they have to learn what co-op is in quarter one, why your distributor has an opinion in quarter two, and why a Microsoft designation matters to a customer in quarter three, you're paying for their education, and you're the one funding the tuition.
There's a second cost that's harder to spot. Agencies who don't know the channel default to what's available, and what's available is vendor-supplied campaign material. It's free, professionally produced, approved, and it's the easiest thing in the world to claim funding against.
It's also the exact same content hundreds of other partners are putting their logo on that quarter. So you end up with efficient, well-executed marketing that makes you look identical to the partner you're on the shortlist against.
What full service actually means at Resultful
Resultful only works with Microsoft partners. That's a deliberate decision, and yes, it means turning work away, but it's the reason we don't need a briefing on how the ecosystem works.
Full service, for us, covers four things that need to join up.
Positioning
Most partners have something genuinely unique about them: real depth in an industry, an unusual combination of capabilities, a type of project they've done forty times. The issue is almost never that it doesn't exist. It's that nobody's brought it to life in the marketing. Our starting question is a blunt one: could a competing Microsoft partner put your homepage claims on their site tomorrow without lying? If yes, that's a category description, not a proposition, and it's doing none of the work you think it's doing.
Demand generation
Two channels run properly, not twenty run badly. Most channels have a level below which they produce nothing at all, and spreading the same hours across ten activities keeps every one of them under that line. We'd rather resource the two you can evidence and pause the ones that are only running because they were already running.
Content and campaigns
Your own point of view, your own customer stories, your own language, with vendor material used in a supporting role rather than as the lead actor. There's nothing wrong with co-branded content. There's plenty wrong with it being the only thing you publish.
Measurement
A written definition of a qualified lead that sales and marketing have both signed. One place where the source of every enquiry gets recorded. One number in front of the board every month, same slide, same format. A number reported monthly becomes a trend within a quarter, and a trend is the only thing that survives a budget conversation.
The funding bit, which nobody enjoys
Claiming vendor money well is a skill, and a genuinely valuable one. Knowing which programme covers which activity, what evidence gets asked for, when the windows open and how claims actually get approved converts money you already qualify for into marketing that actually runs.
We do that work as part of the job, because there's no point building a plan that can't be paid for.
But here's the thing we'll push you on. If every pound of your marketing is claimed against somebody else's programme, then your calendar, your messaging and your priorities all belong to somebody else too. And the work vendor funding is least willing to pay for, your own proposition, your own research, your own point of view, is usually the exact work that makes you distinctive.
So we'll always argue for a floor. A defined share of marketing that's yours, funded from your own accounts, spent on the things no programme would cover. It doesn't need to be large. It needs to exist, and it needs protecting.
What stays with you
Three things, and we're upfront about them from the first conversation.
Deciding what your firm stands for. We can draw it out of you, but we can't settle that argument for you.
Deciding what marketing is for this year, in two objectives rather than ten.
And turning up to the monthly conversation where the numbers get looked at.
The partners who get the most out of an agency are the ones who keep somebody internal owning the thinking. That's true of Resultful, and it'd be true of anyone else you hired.
Where we'd start with you
The first ninety days should produce four things you can point at: your lead claims tested and rewritten from a real customer project, every activity listed and honestly marked as evidenced, assumed or inherited, a lead definition agreed with sales, and one monthly report established.
No new budget required for any of it. That's deliberate. For most partners we meet, budget isn't the binding constraint. Competing internal priorities and having nobody whose whole job is marketing usually are.
Frequently asked questions
What should outsourced marketing for a Microsoft IT reseller actually include?
Full-service outsourced marketing should join up four things: positioning that brings out what makes the reseller genuinely different, demand generation focused on two channels run properly rather than many run thinly, content and campaigns written in the reseller's own voice with vendor material used to support rather than lead, and measurement built around a lead definition that sales and marketing have both agreed. Done well, this gives marketing a clear direction and someone accountable for results, rather than adding more disconnected activity.
Why do generalist marketing agencies struggle with Microsoft resellers?
Partner marketing has plumbing generalist agencies rarely know: co-op, MDF, distributor programmes, approved messaging libraries and funding windows that open and close regardless of readiness. An agency that has to learn this as it goes is effectively being paid to educate itself on the client's budget. Agencies unfamiliar with the channel also tend to default to vendor-supplied campaign material, which is free and approved but is the same content hundreds of other partners are using that quarter, making the reseller look identical to competitors.
Can co-op and MDF funding pay for outsourced marketing?
Yes, and claiming it well is a genuine skill: knowing which programme covers which activity, what evidence is needed, when windows open and how claims get approved. This turns funding a reseller already qualifies for into marketing that actually runs. The caveat is that if every pound is claimed against someone else's programme, the calendar, messaging and priorities all end up belonging to that vendor too, so it's worth keeping a defined share of marketing funded from your own accounts.
What should stay in-house when a Microsoft reseller outsources marketing?
Three things should stay with the reseller: deciding what the firm stands for, deciding what marketing is for that year in two objectives rather than ten, and turning up to the monthly conversation where results are reviewed. An agency can draw out positioning and run execution, but it cannot settle these decisions on the reseller's behalf. Resellers who keep someone internal owning this thinking tend to get more out of any agency relationship.
What should the first ninety days of outsourced marketing produce?
Four concrete things: lead claims tested and rewritten from a real customer project, every current marketing activity listed and honestly marked as evidenced, assumed or inherited, a lead definition agreed with sales, and one monthly report established. None of this requires new budget, because for most resellers the binding constraint isn't money, it's competing internal priorities and nobody having marketing as their whole job.