The customer journey is changing, and partners have more opportunities to influence technology decisions across it. But taking advantage of those opportunities requires more than individual campaigns or one-time investments.
Recent Omdia research maps 28 critical presales touchpoints, with additional customer success opportunities after the sale. Yet 62% of partners surveyed invest 10% or less of their marketing budgets in demand generation.¹
For FY27, we see three areas that can reinforce one another: build the expertise customers increasingly expect, invest in sustained demand generation around the challenges they need to solve, and apply those capabilities to opportunities such as Microsoft Copilot and Frontier Transformation.
1. Build the expertise customers increasingly expect
As AI becomes part of more business decisions and processes, customers are looking for partners that can connect technology to specific industries, workflows, and business challenges.
That makes skilling a business investment. Marketing teams need enough technical and industry fluency to communicate value clearly. Sales and presales teams need to connect customer priorities to solutions. Technical teams need the depth to design and deliver them, while customer success teams need the expertise to drive adoption and identify opportunities to extend value.
Start with the customer opportunities you want to pursue, then identify where your teams need greater depth. The Microsoft Partner Skilling Hub provides partner-focused learning across Microsoft Cloud solution areas, roles, and technical certifications.
For partners that have earned co-op, eligible Partner AI Adoption activities may also provide an opportunity to build AI capability within your own organization. Applying AI and agents to your internal workflows can give your teams practical experience that strengthens customer conversations. Review the current Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide for applicable eligibility and requirements.
2. Invest in sustained demand generation around customer challenges
Expertise creates more value when customers can discover it throughout their buying journey.
Omdia's research shows that buyers use sources ranging from AI tools and search engines to social media, events, peer groups, partners, review sites, and digital marketplaces. A single webinar, email, or paid activation is unlikely to carry that entire journey. That makes isolated tactics less effective than a connected program that builds relevance and trust over time.1
Nathan Selby, CEO and Founder of Resultful, has seen the same shift among Microsoft partners his agency works with.
"We need to be treating marketing as a longer-term program over a 12-month period, because that’s where we’re going to see the greatest growth. One-time tactics are no longer as effective as they used to be because customers demand more than seeing one message advertised to them. They want to see real evidence that partners understand their needs – and Co-op provides a great way for partners to build programs around that exact mindset."
- Nathan Selby, CEO and Founder of Resultful
Start with the customer problem. Who experiences it? What outcome are they trying to achieve? What expertise, services, intellectual property, or delivery capabilities differentiate your approach?
Then build connected interactions around that story. A customer might discover your point of view through search or social, attend a webinar, receive relevant nurture content, explore a customer story, and later join a workshop. Each interaction should build on the last.
For eligible Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partners, Partner Marketing Center Pro provides Microsoft campaign content and AI-assisted capabilities that can accelerate execution. Use those resources as a starting point, then tailor the campaign around your customers and your differentiated value.
Planning matters here too. Omdia found that 43% of partners surveyed use less than half of their vendor-funded marketing allocation, while 46% do not measure the impact of vendor-funded marketing investments.¹ Before you spend, define the audience, customer problem, desired outcome, sequence of interactions, and measures of success.
Existing customers can be a strong place to start. For small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers, Microsoft CloudAscent can provide propensity insights to inform targeting. You can also use AI Business Solutions & Security Partner Experience (ASPX) to surface customer signals and identify growth opportunities across areas such as Copilot and secure productivity. Combine those signals with what you already know about your customers to focus investment where there is relevant opportunity.
3. Apply those capabilities to Copilot and Frontier Transformation
Microsoft Copilot provides a timely opportunity to put capability and sustained demand generation to work together.
The customer conversation should not stop at adopting an AI product. Frontier Transformation describes the shift from targeted AI pilots toward AI becoming a repeatable, governed capability embedded in work, business processes, and customer engagement.
For partners, that can expand the conversation beyond an initial Copilot opportunity into agents, security, data, applications, infrastructure, business process transformation, adoption, and managed services.
For SMB customers, Microsoft 365 Business with Copilot provides one practical place to begin. The Copilot in 30 kit (download kit) offers resources for building customer conversations around that opportunity.
The same principle applies to your marketing: lead with the business challenge rather than the product alone. Where are employees losing time? Which workflows could improve with AI? What security or governance concerns need to be addressed? Then show where Copilot fits and what your organization brings to the broader transformation.
Connect the three investments
You do not need to change your entire go-to-market model at once. Start with one customer opportunity and connect these three investments:
- Build the expertise required to address the problem with depth.
- Create sustained demand around that problem and your differentiated value.
- Apply those capabilities to relevant Copilot and Frontier Transformation opportunities.
For eligible partners, consider how applicable co-op investments across skilling, demand generation, and market development can reinforce that plan. Review the current Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide before making planning assumptions.
The goal is a reinforcing cycle: build capability, create relevant demand, deliver customer value, measure the outcome, and use what you learn to guide the next investment.
Make Microsoft Ignite part of your plan
Join us November 17–20, 2026, in San Francisco to explore the latest innovations across AI, cloud, and security, learn from real-world implementations, strengthen your skills, and connect with the Microsoft community. Register now for Microsoft Ignite, then extend the value of the event through customer outreach, shared insights, and follow-up conversations that support your broader growth strategy.
Plan today around the business you want to build tomorrow.
¹ Source –– Omdia, Mastering the Modern Customer Journey: The Partner’s Path to Marketing ROI, June 30, 2026. The research draws on Omdia market data, Candefero Partner Community polling, partner and vendor interviews, and analyst expertise. Results are not an endorsement of Microsoft. Any reliance on these results is at the third party’s own risk.
Co-op, incentives, program benefits, and related activities are subject to applicable eligibility requirements, program terms, geography, partner type, solution area, availability, and approval requirements. Review current Microsoft program guidance before making investment or claim decisions.