Three ways to work with us
Every Microsoft partner we meet is at a different point. Some need one thing built properly and then they're away. Some need marketing to keep running every month without them chasing it. Some need a whole department they don't have to hire.
So we work in three operating models. Same team, same standards, different commitment. You can start in one and move to another as things change - most partners do.
The three models
Pick the one that matches where you are, not where you think you should be.
Ad-hoc project work
A defined piece of work with a start, an end and a fixed fee. A proposition sprint, a website, a launch campaign, a marketplace listing overhaul.
Retainer
A monthly scope with agreed outputs. Always-on campaigns, content, search and reporting, run to a rhythm you can plan around.
Embedded team
Named people, defined days a month and a monthly operating cadence. Your marketing department, without the payroll.
See the embedded teamHow they compare
The honest version, including where each one falls down.
| Model | Best when | Commitment | What you get | Where it falls down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ad-hoc project work | You know exactly what you need built and you've got the internal capacity to run with it afterwards | Fixed fee, typically six to twelve weeks | One senior lead plus the specialists that piece needs, a clear scope and a defined output | Nothing keeps running once the project ends. If nobody picks it up internally, the momentum goes with us. |
| Retainer | You need consistent activity in market every month and you don't want to rebuild the brief each time | Rolling monthly, usually a three-month initial term | An agreed monthly scope, one account lead, monthly reporting and quarterly planning | Scope discipline matters. If priorities change weekly, the month gets eaten by re-planning rather than output. |
| Embedded team | You have no marketing headcount, or one person doing five jobs, and you need a whole function | Six months to start, then rolling with 90 days' notice | Named roles with defined days a month, a fortnightly stand-up with sales and board-ready reporting | It's the biggest monthly commitment of the three, and it only works if someone senior on your side owns the relationship. |
How we decide together
We'd rather put you in the right model than the biggest one.
A conversation, not a discovery phase
Fifteen minutes on what you're trying to hit this year, what's already in place and who's doing the work today. That usually tells us which model fits.
A scope you can read in one sitting
Outputs, who's doing them, what it costs and what we'd expect to see by day 90. No 40-page proposal.
Review it properly at the checkpoints
We agree the checkpoints before we start. If a project should have been a retainer, or a retainer should be an embedded team, we'll say so.
Moving between models
Plenty of partners start with a project because it's the lowest-risk way to see how we work. A proposition sprint or a website is a fair test - you'll know quickly whether we understand your business.
From there, a retainer keeps the work in market. And when marketing becomes a function rather than a set of campaigns, the embedded team model takes over. You can see the full range of what any of these models can cover on our capability matrix.
Funding matters here too. Co-op and MDF can pay for a serious chunk of activity in any of the three, but only if the work is scoped to qualify from the start. We build that in rather than retrofitting a claim later.