One of our last articles looked at how Microsoft Dynamics 365 is used in sales. However, in order for the sales department to have enough “fodder”, the marketing must be right first. Microsoft Dynamics 365 also has a suitable module for this area. We show how marketing managers benefit from this professional customer relationship management (CRM).

Unlimited overview

For marketing, dashboards provide a detailed yet easily accessible view of all nurture flows, leads and pipeline. Both the big picture and specific information on the touchpoints of the contact history – such as a customer’s preferred form of contact – can be displayed here. This keeps marketing close to the customer and their wishes. In the dashboard, all activities and tasks are visible at a glance. Which campaigns and events are coming up? Which tasks need to be completed next? Useful reports and the most important key performance indicators (KPIs) show how successful the marketing measures are – so that the lead pipeline can always be well filled.

Automated campaigns

In a successful marketing campaign, many larger and smaller cogs mesh together according to a meticulous plan. Automated marketing or marketing automation can be the decisive key to success. Because all steps can be planned and programmed in advance, nothing is left to chance: For example, before a landing page for an event goes live, the automated emails for registration, reminders and an overview of the event programme can already be stored. Conditional programming is not a problem: for example, participants could receive a thank-you email, while someone who could not attend despite registering is informed that they have been missed.

Tailor-made customer journey

How communication with customers looks in detail can be very different with a good CRM: The customers are classified into segments based on their behaviour, for each of which a separate approach is defined. Filtering is done according to common characteristics, interests and criteria. These can be very sharply separated and very finely adjusted. For example, an (automated) mailing could only address customers who have made a purchase for more than 200 euros in a web shop or leave out those who have not clicked on a certain link. Playing out different, interest-based newsletters in this way also makes marketing more personal – and thus more successful. The customer journey thus becomes a customised journey.

Perfect integration

In Microsoft Dynamics 365, data is stored centrally – so it can be used equally by different departments. If Marketing passes on a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) as a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) to Sales, a new data record does not have to be created. On the contrary: the jump to the Sales module is hardly noticeable. As always when it comes to data, this requires appropriate maintenance, but this is easy to do in the clear profiles and dashboards. In addition to Marketing and Sales, Dynamics 365 also offers a Service module that rounds off the functionality of the CRM and also benefits from the stored data. Microsoft Teams is also fully integrated – an invaluable advantage for events that do not require a software change but can be supported directly from the CRM.

Social reach

Keyword integration: The example of the social business network LinkedIn shows how a successful integration of software that does not come directly from Microsoft can look. Campaigns can be run directly on LinkedIn without media disruption. The key figures on reach and interaction are automatically entered into the system. Conversely, social media posts can be planned directly from Microsoft Dynamics 365 and published on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. In this way, business contacts and potential leads grow organically and directly from the CRM – without detours, without copy-paste.

Use the overview and control of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for your marketing! We will be happy to support you: Call us or write to us.