In this webinar, our experts showcase a variety of demo use cases of how different components of the...
In Part 1, we looked at some key highlights coming this fall for marketers directly inside Microsoft Dynamics CRM. But as most marketers know by now, there are two other integrated products that bring Dynamics customers' marketing to the next level: Microsoft Social Listening and Microsoft Dynamics Marketing.
First let's review what these two products do for marketers (in 35 words or less):
Microsoft Dynamics Marketing is a web-based marketing automation platform for project management, marketing execution (multi-channel, multi-step campaigns) and analytics that integrates with Dynamics CRM, either online or on premises.
Microsoft Social Listening is a web-based tool that listens to Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, News and more to help see trends, key influencers and the impact of social media on their offers, surfaced in Dynamics CRM.
Both of these products are already being used by marketers and this fall their features and benefits get an additional boost. Let's take a look at what's coming, with some screen shots for the release preview guide [Download PDF]:
Microsoft Dynamics Marketing
Dynamics Marketing's email editor is updated to have a drag and drop interface for content and layout, and automatic preview for multiple devices. This makes creating professional looking emails and templates even simpler:
The existing drag and drop campaign flow designer in Dynamics Marketing also adds three key benefits: intuitive A/B testing, integrated offers for campaigns and programs, and even more flexibility in lead scoring to include events like webinars. This means marketers will have more confidence their campaigns will hit the mark with their audience and that leads will be ready for sales to connect:
Speaking of connecting marketing with sales, the Sales Collaboration panel is another key piece of functionality that is updated for Fall 2014. Now marketers will be able show the sales department which campaigns are in progress and coming for key contacts. In turn, Sales will have access to this calendar, provide input on campaigns, and have the ability to set alerts for activities like web visits, email clicks, and more.
To put a marketing plan into action, Dynamics Marketing has a robust functionality for project management as well as vendor and media management. That functionality also gets enhanced in the next release with a new look for the marketing calendar:
Now marketing teams can see which campaigns are planned and active, and drill in to manage assets, events and tests. Alongside this calendar, marketers can also use a drag and drop interface to design approval flows, track project status and make sure that campaigns are ready on time:
Microsoft Social Listening
Similar to the way Dynamics CRM users can pull Social Listening visualizations into their CRM accounts or contact, Dynamics Marketing now has the same functionality. This means that marketers can plan, execute and analyze their marketing efforts while keeping tabs on key social influencers, market trends and even get alerted to negative or positive comments. Making sense of the deluge of social data help shape messages and bridges making connections with the audience to social selling best practices.
So there you have it – between Part 1 (CRM specific) and Part 2 (Dynamics Marketing and Social Listening), marketers have a lot to get excited about for the fall release. PowerObjects will continue to update this blog and our customer resources to help marketers get started and get smarter with these tools. If you have any questions, let us know!