Microsoft Next Generation Partner Marketing

IDC Microsoft Next-Gen Partner Marketing
How to Meet Higher Customer Expectations and Win Their Trust

An IDC eBook, Sponsored by Microsoft | Refreshed June 2019
IDC eBook | IDC Microsoft Next-Gen Partner Marketing
Table of Contents
3
Click on any
page number to
go directly to
Introduction
that section.
7 Customer-Centric Marketing Practices

» Consent: Give me a reason to tell you about myself
» Personalization: Communicate on my terms
» Prescriptive Action: Anticipate my needs
» Continuity of Service: Know my whole relationship with you
» Mentor Marketing: Improve my professional life
23 Organizing for Success

» Marketing Teams: Roles and Resources
» Leadership: Hire and Nurture Talent
» Skills: Build a Culture of Competency
» Metrics: Measure in Moderation
» Technology: Simplify Marketing Infrastructures
31 Epic Fails: Essential Steps on the Path to Mastery Click “Contents”

on any page to
bring you back
to this page.
32 Action Plan: What to Do Now
Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 2

Introduction
This eBook presents findings from interviews IDC conducted with
seasoned marketers at a number of Microsoft partners around the
world. Our discussions covered a wide variety of marketing practices,
management issues, metrics, technology, and most of all, the
challenge of customer centricity.
There are many examples quoted directly from partners doing innovative work to attract, serve, and retain customers.
Participants include companies with no marketing staff to others with dozens of marketers -with many in between.
Regardless of size, region, market niche, or business model, they are all using marketing to drive growth and have
graciously agreed to share their successes, and in some cases failures, with you.
Partners
• A
xon IT (UK) • C ontent and Code • MediaValet (Canada) • RedPixie (UK)
• BE-Cloud (France) (UK) • P
TG (USA) • SiEBEN (Greece)
• Big Red Cloud (UK) • EMBEE (India) • P
ickit (Sweden • TechQuarters (UK)
• Bluesource (UK) • Insight and Ignia & USA) • Total Synergy
(Australia) • PowerObjects (USA) (Australia)
• Chef (USA)
• LS Retail (Iceland) • Qorus (USA)

Raising Expectations for

Competitive Advantage
The era of competing on expectations is upon us. The new law of
the land: the best experience a customer has anywhere sets the
bar for what they expect everywhere.
That means you are either raising the bar
beyond what your competitors can offer at
every interaction, or you are falling short of what
customers expect from you.
This is especially true in digital. Winning in this new
environment requires marketers to think differently
about their role in the customer relationship. If
you are just focused on messaging, then you will
be surpassed by those who have discovered the
power of accelerating customers’ ability to master
their challenges, systems, teams, and careers.

Marketing in a World of Constantly

Rising Customer Expectations
It’s easy to say customer expectations are rising, but what does
that mean for the practice and systems of marketing?
Mentor “Improve my
Marketing professional life.”
Continuity “Know my whole

of Service relationship with you.”
Prescriptive Action “Anticipate my needs.”
“Communicate
Personalization on my terms.”
“Give me a reason to
Consent
tell you about myself.”
IDC’s Hierarchy of Customer Expectations illustrates key aspects of the relationship from the customer’s point
of view. These expectations place specific demands on the marketing organization and infrastructure. Most of all,
they demand a customer-centric approach to all facets of running a business.

Today’s Marketing: Think Different

Marketers must build upon approaches and techniques
that worked for the last decade, and be more nuanced
about their marketing operations for the next decade.
They need to shift from thinking of marketing as a
volume-based numbers game, to considering the value
they can offer in exchange for consent.
You’ll see examples of how Microsoft partners are
starting to change the way they communicate and treat
their prospects and customers in the marketing process.
They are rethinking traditional approaches to blogs,
video, social, events, training and more.
Specifically, marketers should:

» F
igure out how every interaction enhances every other interaction, how each person that serves the customer can enable
the next staff member to do their job better on behalf of the customer.
» Move beyond targeting and messaging to teaching, guiding, and even mentoring your audience throughout their careers.
» Extend this thinking across your entire business.
» Keep in mind that how you treat your customer data is how you treat your customers.

Customer-Centric
Marketing Practices
Delivering Value
Prescriptive Continuity Mentor
Consent Personalization Action of service Marketing
“Give me a “Communicate “Anticipate “Know my “Improve my
reason to tell on my terms.” my needs.” whole professional
you about relationship life.”
myself.” with you.”

Mentor
Marketing
Consent
Continuity
of Service
Prescriptive Action
Personalization
“Give me a reason to tell you about myself.” Consent
Converting prospects from unknown to known used to be about opt-in.

Converting prospects from unknown to known used
to be about opt-in. Opt-in was a critical-path moment
for marketers to add a name to their database and
include it in campaigns until the recipient opted-
out. Instead of thinking about opt-in as a singular
declaration of permission, today’s best marketers are
thinking of consent as a process in which increasingly
valuable content is used to get increasingly valuable
information. You may think you already do that—and
you may to some degree. The difference is: your
marketing should be based on information customers
know they provided to you for that purpose.

Consent
“Give me a reason to tell you about myself.”
For prospects, there’s a big difference between deliberately providing marketers with Consent: The five
information to be used for their benefit, and marketers using surreptitiously acquired core activities
information for the same purpose. Each person that engages may have very different
Live Events
reasons for doing so, and marketers need to discover and act on those needs as
respectfully and effectively as possible. Webinars and Podcasts
To do that, marketers need increasingly personal information about the people they’re Video
trying to serve (aka customers they’re trying to acquire). In B2B that may be their industry,
company, location, name, title, email and social handles, professional network connections, Social
and decision insights like budget, authority, need, and timing, etc. It’s a list that gets
progressively more personal and valuable. Getting this information depends on how Blogging
much customers trust you to protect their data, use it for their benefit, and the value
they get in exchange for each disclosure.
It requires a new mindset, new ways of attracting and serving audiences, and new cultural Interactive
perspectives across all customer-facing functions. Challenging? You bet. But it’s also a
tremendous opportunity to differentiate your brand and drive customer expectations
beyond what your competitors can deliver. Click on the activities at the right to learn
about practical ways to add value.

Consent: Live Events

No other issue sparked as much Consent: The five

core activities
discussion among Microsoft partners Live Events
as events—both live and online. Webinars and Podcasts
Events are resource-intensive, expensive, and time-consuming. And
Video
they are not worth the effort unless the right number of the right kinds of
people show up. Social
It’s clear from our discussions with partners that events are moving online Blogging
to improve cost and control. In-person events are under greater scrutiny.
But in-person events can be effective if one or more of the following are
executed well:
Interactive
Vertical Attracts Games Keep The Specialized Topics Workshops Make Speaking Engagements
The Right Crowd Engagement Going Improve Turnout The Difference Go Further
Insight & Ignia, Australia PowerObjects, USA TechQuarters, UK RedPixie, UK Bluesource, UK
Partner Marketing Practice

Consent: Webinars and Podcasts

Online events are increasingly attractive Consent: The five

core activities
due to the far lower cost and greater Live Events
control partners have over them. Webinars and Podcasts
However, they also lack the drawing power of a major industry or vendor
Video
event. Therefore, some partners are stepping up the quality and the frequency
of their webinars, as well as exploring the potential of podcasts. Social
Marketing an online event is essential to success, both for the actual session Blogging
and in terms of repurposing the recording, transcripts, and clips in as many
ways as possible:
Interactive
Scripts Add Leverage Outside Podcasts Can

Professional Polish Experts For Content Showcase Your SMEs
LS Retail, Iceland PowerObjects, USA Insight & Ignia, Australia

Consent: Videos
Online video is exploding as a B2B Consent: The five

core activities
communications platform. Many Live Events
partners we spoke to are rapidly Webinars and Podcasts
increasing their investment in video. Video
Video is easy to produce and publish. It’s also trackable and measurable.
Social
Partners are finding that it’s a great way to demonstrate expertise and
express personality to liven up relationships. It’s also great for sustaining Blogging
engagement across a series of short episodes.
Interactive
Snippets Shine On Video email Episodes With Experts

Social Platforms messages stand out Drive Traffic
Content and Code, UK MediaValet, Canada TechQuarters, UK

Consent: Social
Social media presence is table stakes Consent: The five

core activities
in marketing. While there are seemingly Live Events
endless options, Microsoft partners have Webinars and Podcasts
been most successful by focusing on Video
Linkedin and YouTube. Social
Facebook, and in some cases Instagram are also being used but are not
Blogging
deemed to be as effective in terms of generating business. Social strategies vary
a great deal. Partners have to balance resources and results to find the right level
of commitment.
Interactive
Social Connects Personality Adds Execs Can Excel

With Gen X and Y Pop To Branding On Social
Big Red Cloud, UK BE-Cloud, France RedPixie,UK UK

Consent: Blogging
Blogging is one of the most popular and Consent: The five

core activities
effective marketing tactics employed by Live Events
Microsoft partners. Webinars and Podcasts

It’s a proven step in the customer’s decision to engage and identify themselves. Video
Typically, a good blog will direct a reader to a more valuable resource like a
free trial, or an event that justifies asking for registration. Social
However, blogging is no longer about frequency and presence. Now it’s about Blogging
quality. Partners are investing more time in delivering expertise to audiences
through their blogs.
Interactive
Leverage Experts Quality Is Better Blogging For

For Blogs Than Quantity App Installs
Total Synergy, Australia MediaValet, Canada SiEBEN, Greece

Mentor
Marketing
Personalization
Continuity
of Service
Prescriptive Action
Personalization
“Communicate on my terms.” Consent
Now that you know who your potential

customer is, the expectations rise.
As a marketer, you have to curate your content
and communications based on the customer’s
preferences. To do this, you need to capture
incrementally more information about your contacts at
every touch. Therefore, everything marketing creates
should be designed to bring data back. This could
be capturing the type and size of their business, their
title and role, their personal preferences for content
formats and communication channels; tracking
activities by time, matching email, phone, IP, and social
handles, finding connections on social networks, and
assessing their familiarity with your solution.

Personalization
“Communicate on my terms.”
In practice, personalization happens in stages as you

gain insight into your contacts. At first you may only
have a company name and email.
Then you might have a title, then solution interests, social handles, a phone number, and browsing
patterns. Until you have detailed insights into an individual, marketing has to work the fringes of
personalization by producing content based verticalization, localization, and personas.
Roles Power Vertical Personas Newsletter Topics Vertical Content Localization Goes
Event Marketing On Linkedin Inform Personas Lowers Ad Cost A Long Way
Content and Code, UK SiEBEN, Greece Bluesource, UK Total Synergy, Australia Insight & Ignia, Australia

Mentor
Marketing
Prescriptive Action
Continuity
of Service
Prescriptive Action
Personalization
“Anticipate my needs.” Consent
To strengthen your
relationships with your
customers, you need to
keep track of what they
already know and help
guide them to the next
part of your story.
Once they’ve seen your videos and read a white
paper, where do they go next? This is hard to do
and, as a result, can be a big differentiator for
marketers.

Prescriptive Action
“Anticipate my needs.”
Think of your content as a curriculum and guide customers

based on what they already learned from you.
One of the simplest ways to do this is to produce content in series like some of the examples we reviewed in
videos. In-app marketing is another great single-channel approach, where user behavior (or lack thereof) can be
used to deliver information on the next level of mastery or to highlight an under-used feature.
To really differentiate your brand, connect the data you collect in one channel and use it to enhance the customer’s
experience where ever they go. Use “learning trees” to design content as a progressive set of steps through your
value proposition. You might even publish these for customers to follow (e.g. from a web page to a video to a white
paper to an event.) Customer journey mapping is fundamental to success at this stage, as is greater coordination
among your marketing channel managers.
Free Trial To Customer Compelling Case For AI Guided Customer Learning Journeys Testing Sorts
Paid User Qbrs Drive Sales Analog And Digital Journeys Land Leads Out Next Steps
SiEBEN, Greece PTG, USA Content and Code, UK RedPixie, UK Chef, USA LS Retail, Iceland

Mentor
Marketing
Continuity of Service
Continuity
of Service
Prescriptive Action
Personalization
“Know my whole relationship with you.” Consent
As customers move
through their relationship
with you, they will interact
with different departments
such as marketing, sales,
services, billing, etc., each
one of which may have its
own systems.

Continuity of Service
“Know my whole relationship with you.”
The customer’s data should move with them so they

do not have retell their story every time they interact
with a different person.
Creating a seamless journey is what separates the customer experience masters from the pretenders.
But it requires coordination across departments, especially with respect to customer data. Common data
models and standard definitions for fields and attributes are key to making it all work. Data is, in fact, the
thread that weaves customer-centric culture.
Billing Can Set Sales Up Joint Efforts Foster Customer Data Models
Be Marketing For Success Customer Success Drive Alignment
PTG, USA PowerObjects, USA MediaValet, Canada Chef, USA

Mentor
Marketing
Mentor Marketing
Continuity
of Service
Prescriptive Action
Personalization
“Improve my professional life.” Consent
Microsoft partners have a

lot to offer their customers
beyond a single transaction.
There is tremendous
opportunity to accelerate their
path to mastery with your
solutions, prepare for their
next challenges, and acquire
skills to further their careers.

Mentor Marketing
“Improve my professional life.”
Not every product or solution, or provider, or even

customer, has the potential to support this kind of
relationship. But when it works, it creates customers
for life. Customers that take you with them as they
move up and on with their careers.
Training Is SMB Guides For Edu Boot Camps Management Guides

Marketing Greatness Create Stickiness Sell Software
Chef, USA Big Red Cloud, UK PowerObjects, USA Total Synergy, Australia

Organizing for Success
Marketing Teams Leadership Skills Metrics Technology

Marketing Teams: Roles and Resources

One of the toughest questions for small to mid-sized businesses is, How to build a modern marketing organization with
limited staff? The good news is it’s been done. Some Microsoft partners have been able to produce strong teams with
novice marketers, provided they have strong leadership and skills development programs to nurture success.
Before you hire your first (or next) marketer, consider leveraging and learning from freelancers, consultants, and
agencies. If the frustration levels on cost, control and deadlines becomes bothersome, start hiring. As you build your
team, keep in mind that the number and type of people you’ll need depends somewhat on your business. Do you sell
to a niche audience that requires specialized technical or vertical market knowledge? Do you grow from new customer
acquisition or account penetration, or both? How important is brand building versus lead generation?
These questions, along with the advice and experiences of your peers, will help guide you in creating a marketing
team that is best suited to your business. The following examples illustrate how to get started and grow your marketing
function to drive the business.
Key questions in considering your marketing team

» D
o you sell to a niche audience that requires specialized technical or vertical
market knowledge?
» D
o you grow from new customer acquisition or account penetration, or both?
» H
ow important is brand building versus lead generation?

Marketing Teams: Partner Examples

Partner A Partner B Partner C
Employees 37 Employees 100 Employees 100
Marketers 3+ Marketers 4+ Marketers 6
CEO CEO CEO
CMO Corp Comms Managing Director
Content Manager Brand (P/T) Digital Marketer
Image Designer Mktg Support Campaign Manager
2 Consultants Designer Content Manager
2 Freelancers Agency Alliances
Agency Inside Sales
n Internal n External n Internal n External n Internal n External

Marketing Teams: Partner Examples

Partner D Partner E
Employees 200 Employees 275
Marketers 8+ Marketers 31
CEO CEO
Mktg Strategy
VP Marketing
Digital Marketer
Product Team
Campaign Manager
Partner Team
Content Manager
Social Marketing Field Team Website
SEO Manager Events Team Social

Inside Sales (2) Revenue Team Mktg Operations
Agencies (4)
Training Team (7) SDRs
Consulants (2)
n Internal n External n Internal n External

Leadership: Hire and Nurture Talent

Marketing thrives under strong executive
leadership from both the CEO and CMO. The
CEO must understand the value of modern
marketing but must also fully delegate control
to the top marketing executive.
For larger businesses, career paths and proactive training are important to retain high
performing talent after the first year or two. Establishing and maintaining tight alignment
with Sales and corporate strategy are also critical to success.
Marketing Is Strategic Alignment Culture Of

Career Paths Executive Visibility
A Team Sport And Accountability Collaboration
PowerObjects, USA RedPixie, UK
Total Synergy, Australia MediaValet, Canada EMBEE, India

Skills: Build a Culture of Competency

The CMO needs strong vision for the brand
and modern marketing expertise so they can
hire and train younger staff effectively.
In today’s world of interdependent channels and complex buyers’ journeys, its critical
that CMOs establish a culture of competency and even cross-train marketers in different
channels and the tools used to run them. This enables different marketers to understand
how their output can enhance each other’s performance. It also creates a team that
functions well even when a member or two are out of the office.
Attitude Amplifies
Hiring Fresh Recruits Skill-Building Culture Nurturing Potential Cross-Training
Aptitude
BE-Cloud, France TechQuarters, UK Chef, USA Insight & Ignia, Australia
Content and Code, UK

Metrics: Measure in Moderation

There are three levels of measurement for marketers:
1. Execution: These are KPIs specific to campaigns, channels and resources. Examples include landing page
performance, social engagement, event attendance. They address questions like: what are the best SEO
terms? How is our Linkedin page doing? Are conversions trending up or down? These metrics are used to
optimize marketing activities, but they are not very useful for reporting to executives
2. Operational: These are indicators of the efficiency of marketing staff and processes. Examples include: staff
to program spend ratio, cost per lead by campaign, channel and resource. They address questions like:
Is video more effective than blogging? How did a campaign do by region or audience? Should we hire a new
person or an agency or buy some software? These are effective for allocating marketing spend and assessing
staffing needs.
3. Corporate: These are measures of marketing’s contribution to the business. Examples include: marketing
budget to revenue (turnover) ratio, contribution to pipeline, key account acquisition and penetration,
marketing impact on deal size. They address questions like: Is marketing providing sales lift? Is marketing
building brand awareness, market share, share of wallet? Is lead quality improving? Smaller companies will be
more lead oriented while larger companies will also have branding priorities to report on.
Contribution ROI vs. Customer Branding vs.

Lead Generation ROI And Funnel Flow
To Pipeline Experience Campaigns
Content and Code, UK RedPixie, UK
Chef, USA PowerObjects, USA Qorus, USA

Marketing Technology Stacks

There are as many approaches to building marketing technology stacks as there are companies doing so. There
are thousands of products to choose from. But for the most part, Microsoft partners—especially the small to
midsized ones—are able to support very effective marketing activities with a fairly simple infrastructure.
As shown in the table, two or three systems, including a CRM, a marketing automation platform, and/or an email
platform will suffice. The need for additional systems should be driven by your business model, your audience and
your marketing strategies.
Are your prospects on social media? Do they prefer video? Does web search drive high conversion traffic? These
questions will help simplify the confusion and propensity for distraction when planning technology investments.
And, of course, always experiment with free/freemium alternatives especially with analytics, social and blogging.
# of Mktg
Mktg Staff Systems CRM Email Mktg Auto Analytics Social Blogging CMS SEO Other
31 5 l l l l l
18 3 l l l
11 2 l l
8 7 l l l l lll
7 7 l l l l l ll
4 3 l l l
4 10 l l l l l l llll
4 2 l l
2 3 l l l
2 6 l l l lll
1 3 l l l
Total 9 7 5 4 4 3 3 3 13
*Other includes software for: web design, tracking, and testing; shopping cart; data integration; and video tools. Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 30
Epic Fails and Things That Go

Bump in the Night
Epic Fail Epic Fail

Epic Fail Epic Fail
Random Acts Email
Under Resourcing Bespoke Events
Of Marketing Blasts
Epic Fail Epic Fail

Epic Fail Epic Fail
B2B On Facebook Misalignment
Display Ads Banner Ads
And Twitter With Sales

Action Plan
What to do next depends on your business, your marketing team, your audiences, what’s worked in the past
or not. There are many examples in this report on how to run an effective marketing team. The most important
ideas to put into practice are summarized below:
Raise Customer Expectations: Manage your organization, culture, processes, systems and compensation models
so that every customer interaction can enhance every other interaction.
Customer centric culture: Data is the thread that weaves customer centric culture. Establish common customer
data models and governance practices across systems and departments.
Consent is the new currency: There are many ways to collect customer data but getting it from customers directly
in exchange for valuable content is the best way to build trust and transparency.
Staffing for Success: Before you hire your first (or next) marketer, consider leveraging and learning from
freelancers, consultants, and agencies. When the frustration levels on cost, control and deadlines becomes
bothersome, start hiring.
Simplify the Stack: Before you commit to your first or next marketing automation solution, try free or “freemium”
alternatives.
The Marketing Mission: To be most effective, the executive team should give marketing very clear goals and
establish the metrics by which its contribution to the business will be measured.

Message from the Sponsor
For more Microsoft Resources please visit the following:

All marketing resources for Microsoft partners: aka.ms/smartmarketing
Advice and training resources: aka.ms/gotomarket
Marketing content: aka.ms/pmc

Microsoft Next Generation Partner Marketing

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IDC Microsoft Next-Gen Partner Marketing

How to Meet Higher Customer Expectations and Win Their Trust

7 Customer-Centric Marketing Practices

23 Organizing for Success

31 Epic Fails: Essential Steps on the Path to Mastery Click “Contents”

32 Action Plan: What to Do Now

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 2

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 3

Raising Expectations for

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 4

Marketing in a World of Constantly

Continuity “Know my whole

Prescriptive Action “Anticipate my needs.”

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 5

Today’s Marketing: Think Different

Specifically, marketers should:

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 6

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 7

“Give me a reason to tell you about myself.” Consent

Converting prospects from unknown to known used to be about opt-in.

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 8

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 9

Consent: Live Events

No other issue sparked as much Consent: The five

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 10

Partner Marketing Practice

Consent: Webinars and Podcasts

Online events are increasingly attractive Consent: The five

Scripts Add Leverage Outside Podcasts Can

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 11

Partner Marketing Practice

Online video is exploding as a B2B Consent: The five

Snippets Shine On Video email Episodes With Experts

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 12

Partner Marketing Practice

Social media presence is table stakes Consent: The five

Social Connects Personality Adds Execs Can Excel

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 13

Partner Marketing Practice

Blogging is one of the most popular and Consent: The five

Microsoft partners. Webinars and Podcasts

Leverage Experts Quality Is Better Blogging For

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 14

Partner Marketing Practice

“Communicate on my terms.” Consent

Now that you know who your potential

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 15

In practice, personalization happens in stages as you

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 16

“Anticipate my needs.” Consent

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 17

Think of your content as a curriculum and guide customers

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 18

“Know my whole relationship with you.” Consent

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 19

The customer’s data should move with them so they

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 20

“Improve my professional life.” Consent

Microsoft partners have a

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 21

Not every product or solution, or provider, or even

Training Is SMB Guides For Edu Boot Camps Management Guides

Sponsored by Microsoft Contents Page 22