How the New Dynamics 365 for Marketing Will Improve Your Marketing Strategy

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Microsoft recently announced the public preview of Dynamics 365 for Marketing (not to be confused with Microsoft Dynamics Marketing) which allows full marketing automation from within Dynamics 365.

Our Betach marketing team has gone through the preview, and here is our summary - We'll share more detail about this new app in future posts but let's get started with some initial points to call out.

  • Core marketing
    As the name suggests Core Marketing is core to the product. This is where you get creative with emails, landing pages and customer journeys. There are lots of tools that make up the Core Marketing component. Think of it as a set of campaign automation tools that allows you to design a journey with triggers and actions. The triggers might be email reads and the actions might be sign ups, workflows follow up activities etc. As well as standard channels it is possible to create custom channels such as text (SMS) or for social media. Core Marketing also allows for lead scoring and behavior tracking. The email designer interface allows for full drag and drop email creation, as well as the ability to create your own from scratch with HTML to beautifully and simply customize your own collateral and design, no graphic design skills required. Template suggestions allow for clear structuring around common message types being pushed out to customers.  
  • Event management.
    Full event life cycle management. Event records are created within Dynamics 365 then surfaced to the potential attendees via a portal where you can manage your own profile and registrations. It is also possible to manage venues, speakers and schedules. At this point there doesn’t seem to be a pre-built way to handle payments for paid-for events.
    Webinars also come under the heading of events but you have to have an account set up with a third-party webinar provider to use this feature.
  • Voice of the Customer
    Microsoft’s survey tool, Voice of the Customer allows customers to interact with Dynamics 365 and by extension, the business. Forms allow the business to capture information which may range from simple contact request to surveys. Easily accessible, easily stored and no headache for your business trying to stay on top of lists with other tools that could eventually prove problematic.
  • Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms
    The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms allows you to automatically sync leads captured on LinkedIn with Dynamics 365 so that your sales and marketing teams can develop and nurture them.
    Lead Gen Forms are a way to capture lead data into pre-filled forms from your Sponsored Content ads or your Sponsored InMail campaigns. You have to be using Lead Gen Forms in LinkedIn for the connector to work. 
  • Dynamics 365 Portals
    The Marketing app uses Dynamics 365 portals to publish events. The event portal will be pre-configured but it will be possible to design the portal with your own branding. Portals are also used for marketing pages and online surveys and are available for non-marketing customers with Dynamics 365.
  • Dynamics 365 for Customer Insights
    Customer Insights is essentially a big laboratory in the Azure cloud to which data from various sources can be sent. Insights will then tie all the data sources together and analyse the customer information in order to produce an accurate holistic view of your customers. You can then use that data in whatever way you want such as creating segments for marketing. Metrics like lead age and lead interaction time-line are surfaced in Customer Insight widgets which can be embedded within Dynamics 365 for Marketing.
  • Power BI Content packs
    Dynamics 365 for Marketing includes several prebuilt content packs for Power BI.

Is that all?

This list touches on the basic foundations Dynamics 365 for Marketing can offer. Other features such as lead scoring and event management also bring a whole new dimension of digital marketing to the table.

Betach has knowledge in these areas and can help unlock the power of your team’s marketing capabilities. Contact us if you would like to learn about how we can help you business gain a competitive edge and increase brand awareness.

info@betach.com / (403) 984-2473

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BRITTANY LEMARO
Cloud Marketing Analyst, Betach Solutions

5 Signs Your Small Business Suffers From Groundhog Day Syndrome

5 Signs Your Small Business Suffers From Groundhog Day Syndrome

Today is Groundhog Day — a day when hundreds of people gather in the predawn freezing cold to find out whether a small rodent will see his shadow or not. Perhaps the only thing sillier than believing that a groundhog can predict the weather is believing that doing the same thing over and over can ever lead to different results. In the movie “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray is an unhappy weatherman who is doomed to repeat Groundhog Day over and over. Are you, too, suffering from Groundhog Day syndrome? Here are 5 common symptoms:

Got Office 365? Why opting for a non-SharePoint intranet is madness!

Got Office 365? Why opting for a non-SharePoint intranet is madness!

If you are using Office 365 in your organization, and there are many companies who are or are planning to, there are some clear advantages in implementing a SharePoint-based intranet. In fact. we’d go as far to say that opting for a non-SharePoint intranet-in-a-box solution when you have Office 365 really doesn’t make much sense at all.

Happy New Year & Recap of Microsoft's Top Priorities for 2018

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Happy New Year!

We’ve had a fantastic year at Betach Solutions and we wanted to take a moment to say thanks to our terrific customers and partners for your support and business. Here's to a successful 2018!

In other New Year related news, Microsoft recently released a written report outlining priorities for 2018, covering areas such as AI, immigration and coding in schools, although cybersecurity holds the number one spot.

Microsoft believes tech companies should join forces in 2018 and come to an agreement regarding best cybersecurity practices.

“The first half of the year should provide the opportunity for global technology leaders to come together and adopt a cyber-security tech sector accord. This would create a stronger basis for tech companies to act effectively as internet first responders in protecting customers from the full range of cybersecurity threats. Microsoft is committed to helping to advance this effort. Look for progress over the next six months,” the report, written by Brad Smith, Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, and Carol Ann Browne, Microsoft director of executive communications, says.

It also believes the government should do more. “We need governments to recognise where international law applies to cyberattacks and fill in the gaps where it does not.”

Microsoft says this is why it supported further clarification of current laws and called for the pursuit of a Digital Geneva Convention. “In 2018 we need governments to recognise that tech companies in effect need to act as medics in cyberspace and should protect people everywhere, regardless of nationality. “

The report also discusses things like diversity and tech, privacy and surveillance, and sustainability and the Paris accord.

You can find the full report on this link.