Have you ever been tasked with launching a new product? When launching a new product offering at InterDyn Artis we increase our possibilities for success by entering a campaign into Microsoft Dynamics CRM. As marketing manager at InterDyn Artis I was recently tasked with launching ). Following is an outline that may be helpful for any marketing manager when launching a new product in .
- Create Campaign - First start by entering a campaign. In the marketing area of Microsoft Dynamics CRM click on Campaign and New. I use a consistent naming convention which usually starts with the year and then the name of the campaign, in this case 11-ProclaimCRM. Make sure to set your start and end date of the campaign – this will be helpful when running your Campaign Performance report.
- Planning Task - After saving the campaign you are ready to start planning tasks associated with the specific campaigns. For example, identify the following: collateral pieces to be created, who the product was designed for, list acquisition, website additions, social media sites, industry associations, supporting materials, networking groups and identify top companies in the industry. In our case we identified the top 100 fastest growing churches.
- Campaign Activities – Campaign activities are similar to tasks, but include additional, campaign-specific information, such as budgets and vendor names. Early campaign activities may include the following: contact design agency to create collateral, create or refine target marketing lists, and contract website vendor. You can add additional campaign activities as you mark initial tasks and activities as completed in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You will be able to assign them to other members of your team.
- Implement the campaign – As you complete each planning task and campaign activity the campaign begins to take shape. You can use the Campaign Performance report to track the progress and completion status of tasks and activities in your new campaign.
- Track progress and measure success – Even though the launch is well under way, you may have many more months of tasks and activities planned. In addition to the Campaign Performance report , you have other reports you can use to track progress and measure success: (1) The Campaign Activity Status report displays a summary for one campaign, including planned and actual time parameters, parent campaign details, and definition status. (2) The Campaign Comparison report identifies your most and least successful campaigns. The report compares two campaigns based on parameters such as cost effectiveness and number of responses.
With ProclaimCRM I continue to create new campaigns in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and depend on its reporting capabilities to determine which campaigns are working and which campaigns needs tweaking. For any product launch to be success using a CRM system is critical.
As a marketing manager at I would like to share my experience launching ProclaimCRM as a new product offer and how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 was instrumental in its success. Please contact me on my direct line at 704.321.3881 or email at [email protected] or [email protected].
InterDyn Artis established in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1989, is a Microsoft Partner dedicated to the implementation, training and support of the Microsoft Dynamics line of products including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, ProclaimCRM, Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains), SharePoint, and Business Intelligence.
By InterDyn Artis, North Carolina Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner
