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Tips to success: Marketing automation with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Marketing automation tools, used in conjunction with a well-populated CRM database, allow businesses to automate marketing tasks. These include sending emails and highlighting the most engaged leads for sales teams to follow-up with. 

When used effectively, marketing automation systems can help drive sales by reducing time spent communicating with customers and ensuring that sales efforts are focused on the right contacts.  They also allow marketers to measure campaign ROI and provide deeper understanding of the customer lifecycle.

Marketing automation tools can also be used to track and manage individuals’ marketing consent and subscription preferences, which, with GDPR coming into force this May, is becoming increasingly important for businesses large and small. Click here to learn more about Crimson’s GDPR compliance app.

Functionality

Functionality typically offered by modern marketing automation tools includes:

  • Email marketing and preference management
  • Web analytics
  • Forms and surveys
  • Campaign automation and autoresponders
  • Lead scoring
  • Event and webinar management
  • Campaign and ROI reporting

Tips for success

Crimson’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM specialists work with several marketing automation solutions and providers and offer a range of tools to meet customers’ needs.  From simple integration options which allow email marketing tools (e.g. Mailchimp) to communicate with and update the CRM database, right through to more sophisticated fully native tools such as ClickDimensions, which enables marketers to manage the full customer journey through numerous communication touch points without leaving Microsoft Dynamics 365, there are options for businesses of every size and budget.

Becky Carr, from Crimson’s Cloud Services team, has worked with many customers to improve their marketing effectiveness using Microsoft Dynamics 365. She has a few tips to share with businesses looking to automate their marketing:

  • Data is still king. You could have all the tools in the world, but if your database is inaccurate you still won’t be able to target the right people with timely communications. Spend the time (or use a third-party data cleansing provider) to ensure that your data is up to date and accurate. People are changing jobs increasingly often in today’s world. How many people do you know who have been in the same job for 3+ years? If your company’s CRM data hasn’t been updated in a similar timeframe, it is unlikely to be of use in your marketing today.
  • Start small and measure results. Select one item or area that you would like to implement (e.g. setting up and promoting a subscription preference centre) and finish that task before moving on to the next. It is very easy, especially with a set of exciting new tools at your fingertips, to try and implement lots of new ideas at once. However, those customers we see achieve the greatest success in their marketing automation efforts are those who are continually measuring and learning/refining their processes and plans.
  • Work closely alongside Sales. The sales and marketing teams in some organisations appear to work in parallel worlds with very little communication between them. Marketing automation works best when everyone in the organisation is involved and understands the benefits.  If the sales team enter and maintain good quality data, marketing can then work more effectively. If the marketing team improves customer insight and understands which contacts are most engaged, they are then able to build stronger relationships with potential customers and pass better, more qualified leads to sales.
  • Set goals and track progress. What are you trying to achieve by launching your monthly newsletter or implementing a new lead scoring strategy? How can you measure your progress? The most successful marketers work to clear, planned objectives and measure results to understand what is working well with their customers.

Implementation

Crimson’s IT solutions team specialises in IT consultancy and support and is committed to helping clients find the right products and services to support their business.

If you'd like to explore the potential of Microsoft Dynamics CRM as part of your marketing automation project, we invite you to explore Crimson's free Art Of The Possible Workshop.

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