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Microsoft Partner Marketing, Measured - USA edition 2026

The full results from 251 sales, marketing and business leaders at US Microsoft partners, surveyed by Censuswide for Resultful.

Our research shows that partners in the US invest more, measure better and see greater returns than their competitors across the Atlantic. But they're far less resilient - and the most at risk if Microsoft funding dries up.

This dedicated US edition shows where American Microsoft partners are spending, what holds them back and how confident they are about the shift to rewarding new growth.

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Nathan Selby, CEO & Founder at Resultful
Nathan SelbyCEO & Founder at Resultful
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Research data

Q1.Which, if any, of the following marketing activities does your organization currently run?

Currently doingPlanning within 12 monthsNot doing, no plans

SEO

73.7%24.3%2.0%

Paid search

44.6%53.0%2.4%

Paid social

59.4%38.2%2.4%

Organic social (company)

55.0%39.8%5.2%

Organic social (individual accounts)

46.2%44.2%9.6%

Email nurture campaigns

49.0%44.6%6.4%

Blogs and articles

46.2%46.6%7.2%

Gated content / longer-form assets

54.6%38.6%6.8%

PR and media relations

45.0%45.0%10.0%

Video

51.4%41.0%7.6%

Customer case studies

51.4%40.2%8.4%

Referral or advocacy

51.8%41.0%7.2%

ABM (account-based marketing)

52.6%41.8%5.6%

Outbound SDR or telemarketing

52.6%38.6%8.8%

Partner-to-partner co-marketing

51.4%40.6%8.0%

Microsoft marketplace listing and optimization

48.6%45.4%6.0%

Sales enablement collateral

52.2%39.8%8.0%

Marketing automation

51.8%43.0%5.2%

Basic reporting

60.2%31.9%8.0%

Enhanced reporting with attribution

51.4%43.0%5.6%

Q2.Thinking about your marketing, please indicate whether each statement is true or false for your organization.

TrueFalseDon't know

We have a documented marketing strategy covering the next 12 months

78.1%21.1%0.8%

Our marketing plan is directly aligned to our business goals

53.8%45.4%0.8%

We have a clearly defined proposition that sets us apart from other Microsoft partners

63.3%35.5%1.2%

We market our own proposition, not just Microsoft's products

48.6%46.2%5.2%

We have documented target personas or an ideal customer profile

55.4%39.0%5.6%

Our messaging is our own rather than adapted Microsoft campaign material

57.0%38.6%4.4%

We have a repeatable way of generating new business enquiries

56.2%39.4%4.4%

Our marketing consistently generates qualified leads

58.6%34.7%6.8%

We can measure marketing's contribution to pipeline and revenue

57.0%35.5%7.6%

Sales and marketing agree on which accounts we are targeting

55.4%39.0%5.6%

We could launch a new campaign within four weeks if we needed to

55.0%37.8%7.2%

We are confident we are getting good value from our marketing investment

56.2%38.6%5.2%

Q3.What, if anything, are your organization's top 3 marketing priorities for the next 12 months?

(Select up to 3)

Entering a new vertical or geography24.3%
Driving Azure or Copilot consumption23.1%
Growing revenue from existing customers22.3%
Strengthening the Microsoft relationship21.5%
Winning net-new customers20.3%
Aligning closer to funded engagements19.9%
Building brand awareness in a crowded market18.7%
Generating more qualified leads18.3%
Launching a new practice or service line17.5%
Improving win rates17.1%
Better utilizing Co-op funding16.3%

Q4.What, if anything, most limits your marketing today?

(Select up to 3)

Competing internal priorities35.1%
The complexity of funding rules27.5%
Over-reliance on vendor-supplied material24.7%
An inability to measure results23.1%
Leadership buy-in21.1%
Headcount or in-house skills19.9%
Difficulty standing out from other partners18.3%
Budget16.7%
Not enough content13.5%
No clear proposition12.0%

Q5.If you have won new business in the last 12 months, roughly what proportion came from each of the following sources?

26.6%
19.0%
15.7%
14.9%
14.5%
9.3%
  • Marketing you generated yourself26.6%
  • Referrals passed to you by Microsoft19.0%
  • Distributor or vendor leads15.7%
  • Customer referrals and word of mouth14.9%
  • Outbound sales with no marketing involved14.5%
  • Other9.3%

Q6.What, if anything, funds your marketing activity?

(Select all that apply)

Microsoft Co-op Funding51.4%
Microsoft MDF46.2%
Your own P&L33.5%
Distributor-funded activities33.1%
Other vendor funding28.7%

Q7.What, if anything, would happen to your marketing if Microsoft funding were withdrawn entirely?

Stop/reduce (Net)74.6%
Stop almost completely22.2%
It would reduce significantly32.3%
It would reduce slightly20.1%
It would continue largely as is6.3%
It would increase slightly13.2%
It would increase significantly5.8%
Don't know0.0%
Continue/increase (Net)25.4%

Q8.What proportion of annual revenue, if any, does your organization invest in marketing?

None0.0%
Under 1%0.0%
1-2%8.8%
3-5%62.9%
6-10%27.9%
More than 10%0.4%
Don't know0.0%

Mean: 4.94%

Q9.How, if at all, is marketing resourced in your organization?

(Select all that apply)

A generalist marketing agency38.2%
A director or owner covering marketing alongside another role32.7%
A dedicated Microsoft Partner marketing agency31.1%
A broad channel marketing agency29.1%
A single in-house marketer25.9%
Freelancers or contractors25.9%
A dedicated in-house marketing team23.5%
Your distributor20.3%

Q10.Microsoft incentives have shifted from rewarding retained licenses towards rewarding new license growth. How confident or unconfident are you in your organization's ability to maintain or grow its incentive earnings over the next 12 months?

Unconfident (Net)22.3%
1 - Very unconfident8.8%
2 - Somewhat unconfident13.5%
3 - Neither confident nor unconfident6.8%
4 - Somewhat confident36.3%
5 - Very confident34.7%
Confident (Net)70.9%

Mean: 3.75

Q11.Which, if any, of these statements best explains your confidence level?

We have a strong pipeline of net-new business opportunities32.7%
We have sufficient marketing budget to support new business growth30.3%
Our growth has come mainly from renewals29.1%
We have already adapted our approach26.3%
Our team is well structured and resourced to drive new customer acquisition23.1%
We do not have a repeatable way to generate net-new business15.1%
Our team is not structured for acquisition15.1%
We do not have the marketing budget to drive new growth10.8%
We do not fully understand how the new rules apply to us9.6%
N/A - No particular reason0.4%