Metaverse Marketing for Microsoft Partners

Metaverse Marketing for Microsoft Partners

Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes 

Intended Audience: Marketing Strategists, Microsoft Partners

Microsoft and Meta announced their plan to collaborate in creating immersive experiences for the future of work and entertainment through the metaverse. The metaverse will venture into many Microsoft applications, ranging from Microsoft Teams and productivity apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint, to Meta Quest devices.

Let’s take a deep dive into the metaverse and dissect what it entails for you as a Microsoft Partner.

What is the Metaverse?

The metaverse is a virtual world that exists on the internet and includes virtual/augmented reality spaces and the internet itself. It provides a space where people can interact and engage with each other and even share digital content across platforms, from the virtual to the physical worlds.

As the technology surrounding the metaverse continues to advance, the metaverse is becoming an increasingly popular platform for marketing and advertising efforts investment. Organizations can use the metaverse to connect with their target audience in a new immersive and interactive way, creating a more engaging and personalized experience. For Microsoft Partners, the metaverse presents a unique opportunity to reach their audience, showcase their products and services, and create a brand-new immersive experience for customers.

metaverse headset showing how metaverse can be used in marketing
Diving into the World of Metaverse Marketing

The Growth of the Metaverse

The concept of the metaverse is attracting attention and questions are being raised about the potential value it can provide for B2B companies and Microsoft Partners to incorporate into their marketing strategies.

How Microsoft Partners can Utilize Metaverse Marketing

Here are some key ways that a Microsoft Partner can take advantage of metaverse marketing:

  • Virtual Advertising / Marketing: As a Microsoft Partner, the metaverse offers a novel space for your business to advertise and promote your products and services. From virtual billboards to sponsored events, the metaverse provides a plethora of opportunities for effective virtual marketing that can reach a more targeted audience. In addition, the metaverse gives you new ways of hosting virtual events in the format of conferences, trade shows, and product launches, providing a unique, engaging, and interactive experience for attendees on a global scale.
  • Virtual Meetups and Events: In 2020, Microsoft Teams implemented ‘Together Mode’ to enhance virtual meetings and make them feel more like in-person gatherings. However, the metaverse takes this a step further by allowing global conference attendees to participate in events without the need for physical travel. This can be particularly useful for webinars, conferences, and virtual booths, as attendees can explore your company’s offerings and interact with products in a realistic manner without the need for travel.
  • Virtual Retail: In 2022, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Cloud for Retail designed to enhance customer experience throughout the buying process. As the metaverse continues to grow and evolve, virtual retail is expected to become an increasingly important part of the retail industry. In addition to retailers, partners can also take advantage of the feature by listing their solutions in the Microsoft Cloud for Retail AppSource Catalog. By incorporating virtual retail into their marketing strategy, their business can create a unique and personalized shopping experience, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
 

The possibilities are endless. As the metaverse continues to grow and evolve, so will your opportunities for marketing within it.

Virtual Reality in 2023

It’s important to understand that the metaverse is more than just a virtual reality space. It is a fully immersive digital world where people can interact with each other and digital objects in real-time. This new concept opens a whole new world of possibilities for marketing and customer experience landscapes as companies can create fully immersive brand experiences that engage their customers in a way that was only found in science fiction before.

 

Overall, the metaverse is an exciting new space for businesses to explore as part of their marketing strategy. By leveraging the unique capabilities of the metaverse, businesses can reach new audiences and create immersive and interactive experiences for their customers.

The World of Metaverse Marketing for Microsoft Partners

As a Microsoft Partner, you have the opportunity to tap into the potential of the metaverse and use it as a platform for marketing your products and services. From webinars to advertising to interactive product demonstrations, the metaverse offers a range of possibilities for reaching and engaging with your target audience. By staying up to date on the latest developments in the metaverse and exploring how they can benefit your business, you can stay ahead of the curve and position yourself as a leader in the industry. Don’t wait – start exploring the metaverse and see how it can take your marketing efforts to the next level.

How Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP) Can Elevate Your Business

How Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP) Can Elevate Your Business

Estimated Read Time: 3 minutes 

Intended Audience: Microsoft Partners

Revised August 2023

Microsoft provides Partners with various benefits, including access to the Commercial Marketplace, the CloudAscent Program and Digital Marketing Content (DMC) OnDemand, the Co-Sell Program, and Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP). Let’s dive further into how Microsoft provides support for Partners, what Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners entails, and the benefits that come with it.

Microsoft Partner Support Plans

Being part of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program automatically comes with benefits, and depending on the Solutions Partner designation, includes technical pre-sale and deployment services (TP&D), go-to-market services, product benefits, and eligibility for incentives. However, while Solutions Partner designations provide various benefits, they are limited in that they are self-service benefits, meaning Partners are expected to familiarize themselves with the services provided all on their own.   With these benefits, Partners are not given any management or a ‘navigator’ to help them understand the various facets of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. While the benefits are available, they are quite general and may not represent the specific interests of the organization. This is where Microsoft’s Partner Support Plans come in:

Microsoft Premier Support for Partners

Premier Support offers complete end-to-end managed support for Partners across the entire Microsoft platform to meet their complex needs, expand their cloud capabilities, and strategically collaborate with Microsoft. With Premier Support, Partners are given an account manager and a full catalog of proactive services, but this plan can be quite cost-prohibitive for many organizations.

Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners

We will focus on Advanced Support for Partners, as it offers a managed cloud-focused service experience but at a fixed price for every partner, no matter where they are geographically located. Advanced Support, starting at $16,500 USD yearly (2023), is at a more accessible price than the Premier Support plan, and is a good fit for organizations looking for elevated support to help grow their Microsoft practice.

Chart showing comparison between Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners and Premier Support
Comparing the Microsoft Partner Support Plans

The Value of Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP)

Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners comes with plenty of benefits, including:

  • Technical Cloud Support: Gain access to prioritized technical break-fix support for Azure, Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365, for both you and your customers, giving you the opportunity to resolve issues as soon as they come up.
  • Account Management: Gain direct access to a Partner Success Account Manager (PSAM) who will advocate for and represent your organization within Microsoft and act as an extension of your team, helping you with your top cloud priorities and escalation management.
  • Cloud Enablement Services: Accelerate cloud adoption and growth of your business by accessing Cloud Consults, Cloud Optimization Reports, or Support Practice Enablement.
    • Cloud Consults: One-on-one technical consultations with a Microsoft Cloud Expert, designed to guide you on best practices to optimize your cloud projects.
    • Cloud Optimization Reports: Review a monthly in-depth view of your Advanced Support partnership, offering insights on customer renewals, deployments, and seats sold.
    • Support Practice Enablement:  Optimize your support, help your business plan, and enable your team to better support customers.

Is Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners a Good Fit for Your Business?

Microsoft Advanced Support for Partners is the right choice for Partners looking to accelerate their cloud business, as they can benefit from cloud enablement services and best practices guidance. By having a Partner Success Account Manager (PSAM), Partners can have a closer relationship with Microsoft as the PSAM can act as a trusted advisor and help with resource coordination.

 

If your organization is looking for proactive cloud enablement services, elevated technical support benefits, and a closer relationship to Microsoft, then Microsoft Advanced Support is a good fit for you, especially if you are a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) working directly with customers.

Leverage All the Microsoft Benefits for Microsoft Partners

With all the benefits Microsoft offers to Partners, it can be difficult to decide which ones are most relevant to your organization, which is why we are here to help.

 

Engage the Mavens to help you elevate your brand with our measurable expertise in Microsoft Partner marketing and knowledge of the Microsoft ecosystem.