The marketing budget you didn’t know you had

You have a list of initiatives; events you want to run. Campaigns you want to launch. Training your team actually needs. But when budget time comes around, operational costs take priority and your list gets shelved. Next quarter arrives and it happens again. Some initiatives never see the light of day.

As a Microsoft partner, that story doesn’t have to end the same way. There’s funding available specifically for the activities that keep getting shelved. And most partners have no idea it exists.

It’s called Microsoft co-op funding, and this guide explains what it is and how it can help you.

The funding is called co-op. And if you’re a qualifying partner, there’s a good chance it’s already been building in your account without you knowing.

Microsoft runs a partner incentive programme. A way of rewarding qualifying partners like resellers, solution providers and MSPs, for selling and supporting its products. When you earn through that programme, your earnings don’t all come back to you the same way. They’re split into two parts.

The first is a rebate. Cash returned to you directly, yours to use however you see fit.

The second is co-op. A separate portion of your earnings, typically around 40%, that Microsoft sets aside specifically for your marketing, sales development and skilling activities. A dedicated pot, earmarked for the exact kind of work that keeps losing the budget conversation.

It builds automatically as you engage with Microsoft. Which means that budget may already exist, waiting to fund the campaigns, events and training that keep getting pushed to next quarter.

Co-op is approved for three broad categories of activity. And if you look at your list of initiatives, there’s a good chance at least one of them is already on it.

Demand generation

This is where most deferred initiatives live: digital advertising, lead generation campaigns, content marketing, webinars, and customer events. Activities that build awareness and drive pipeline. The campaign you’ve been putting off, the event that’s been sitting in a slide deck for two quarters. This is exactly what demand generation covers.

Market development

If there’s a market your business has been wanting to move into, or an existing one you haven’t been able to invest in properly, this is where that activity lives. Targeted campaigns, partnerships and market entry work that expands your reach and deepens your presence.

Partner skilling

Your team’s ability to sell and support Microsoft products effectively directly impacts your revenue. But training and certifications are easy to deprioritise when budget is tight. Partner skilling covers those programmes. So your team stops losing ground to partners who are investing in theirs.

These are the exact activities that keep losing the budget conversation. And the ones co-op was designed to fund. But despite that, most partners never see a single rand of it.

Knowing co-op exists is the first step. Accessing it is where most partners get stuck.

That’s the gap we close.

We run Africa’s first co-funding help desk for Microsoft partners. Helping you understand what you’ve earned, plan activities that qualify, and manage the claims process from start to finish. So the budget that’s been building in your account actually gets used.