optimizing marketing efforts

reaL WorLD sCenarios

Volume 3Cases 9 - 12

understanding the Customer

Campaign management

marketing automation

measuring suCCess

transforming marketing CommuniCations

optimizing marketing effortsmarketing has reached far beyond the days of simple direct

mail, radio, television and print communication. the way

that we communicate with customers has changed and in

turn has evolved the role of the marketing department. to

continue to grow and communicate effectively, companies

need to have a clear view of their customers and prospects.

today, we have the ability to engage with customers

through a wide variety of channels such as, email,

phone, print, and social media. the ability to harness

these connections is critical for any company in order to

stay connected with its customers. But often times, the

challenge with multichannel marketing can be the ability

to measure the success of a campaign. knowing what

works and what doesn’t will allow your business to invest

time and money in the right places, while improving team

effectiveness and sales alignment.

the following case studies illustrate how Columbus has

helped companies address marketing issues by utilizing

microsoft Dynamics together with appropriate tools from

the ColumbusServices solution set.

Case 1:Understanding the Customer

Issue

a national boat distributor was looking to gain a better

perspective on its customers by understanding what

they were interested in. this would allow the company to

engage with them in the right ways.

Problem

the company was utilizing outdated software to manage

marketing campaigns and customer data. With little to

no knowledge into customer interests, the marketing

department struggled to keep up with customer

communication. they needed to find a way to better

manage their data in order to strategically reach new and

potential customers.

Remedy

several options were considered before deciding to

implement microsoft Dynamics Crm. the company now

has the ability to customize the application to fit its unique

needs and demands. Customer data is now relevant and

easily accessible to all departments in the company,

creating a unified business system.

Benefits

once microsoft Dynamics Crm was deployed, several

benefits were realized:

the complete lifecycle of a customer can now be

tracked and analyzed, giving the company a 360°

view in to its customers.

marketing is able to identify qualified leads and

instantly create targeted marketing lists with

powerful segmentation tools and conditional

formatting rules.

embedded data cleansing capabilities allow the

quality of data to be improved and expedited.

marketing communications to customers and

non-customers can be personalized, tailored

and automated based on their preferences and

interests.

the company is able to deliver a seamless and

consistent customer experience across all channels

of communication.

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Case 2:Campaign management

Issue

a manufacturer of specialty foods boasts more than

6,000 wholesale accounts nationwide. in addition, they

have thriving catalog and web divisions, 11 retail company

stores, and a staff growing in to the hundreds. With so

many divisions, marketing was responsible for supporting

new growth by creating, managing and executing detailed

marketing campaigns.

Problem

as they began to increase marketing efforts across a

larger number of channels, marketing struggled to keep

up. Campaign budgets were recorded and tracked in excel

spreadsheets. targeted mailing lists took hours to compile

due to inaccurate data and manual processes. Campaign

assets were spread out among multiple locations. they

needed a solution that could help them plan, automate,

and monitor their campaigns quickly and easily.

Remedy

the company chose to implement microsoft Dynamics

Crm since it was already utilizing microsoft Dynamics

aX as their erp (enterprise resource planning) solution

for financial and manufacturing operations. microsoft

Dynamics Crm was flexible enough to meet the company's

current and future needs.

Benefits

the company now has a streamlined, reliable, and highly

automated marketing solution that:

Defines budgets, tasks, activities, and marketing

materials for the entire campaign lifecycle.

allows collaboration across marketing department

and business units to maintain and enhance the

consistency and power of their brand.

Drives closed-loop campaign execution by tracking

responses to every campaign activity.

manages catalog requests using website form

integration and automatic lead creation.

improves on the effectiveness of telemarketing

campaigns by ensuring consistent follow-up and

lead conversion.

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Case 3:marketing automation

Issue

a leader in compliance solutions for the casino gaming

industry was growing rapidly. the company was using a

variety of tools to manage marketing and automation,

with many of the processes being manual, cumbersome,

and slow. the marketing team lacked a cohesive and

strategic marketing plan.

Problem

Because they were using multiple programs, all on

different platforms, they were adding extra work and

unnecessary time to their day-to-day marketing functions.

gathering analytics from email marketing efforts posed

issues with accuracy and reporting. supplying leads to the

sales team was often delayed creating poor follow-up with

prospective customers. they needed to find a solution

that would increase efficiency and take their marketing

strategies to a new level.

Remedy

since the company was already utilizing microsoft

Dynamics Crm for sales, it decided to implement a solution

that would integrate seamlessly. this would unify the

sales and marketing teams allowing them to share data

and analytics. the solution chosen enabled the company

to add email marketing, web tracking, lead scoring, form

integration, landing pages, and much more, directly in to

its Dynamics Crm system.

Benefits

adopting an integrated marketing automation solution

has allowed the company to generate and qualify high

quality leads, while easily measuring results. a multitude

of benefits have been experienced including:

increased follow-up with leads.

the ability to have interactions including emails,

web visits, page views and form captures directly

linked to the Dynamics Crm campaign records.

sales and marketing are now working from the

same platform, reducing redundancy.

a complete view of leads with an insight in to what

interests them on the website.

Detailed reports providing the metrics needed to

determine the roi of each campaign.

focused attention now on the strategy and

creativity of marketing efforts instead of spending

time on unnecessary manual processes.

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Case 4:measuring success

Issue

a California based retail company wanted to realign its

marketing strategies. it had been working with a small

home-grown Crm system that it had quickly out-grown. it

needed a solution that could help keep marketing efforts

aligned while providing the analytics and reports needed

to show accurate campaign results.

Problem

trouble with reporting had become a major issue with

the company's outdated solution. the system lacked the

flexibility to measure campaign analytics and marketing

was using excel spreadsheets to define leads. Data was

often wrong and not updated quickly, giving management

an inaccurate view in to campaign results.

Remedy

to address these issues the retail company deployed

microsoft Dynamics Crm. it has since been able to take

advantage of the reporting and analysis capabilities

built directly in to Dynamics Crm to track all information

pertinent to the marketing efforts. management is now

able to generate detailed real-time reports that track key

performance factors including roi, response rates, and

cost per response. marketing has reinvented the way they

work, spending less time on manual tasks and more time

on creating campaign strategies.

Benefits

since realizing that its home-grown solution was no

longer able to support its growing needs, the retail

company has seen many benefits after implementing

Dynamics Crm, including:

appropriately allocating marketing resources based

on trends and opportunities.

identifying buyer history in order to manage

customer interests and to upsell.

the ability to create insightful dashboards for

executives that highlight key performance

indicators and marketing metrics.

results displayed in real-time, and generated

directly from the information within Dynamics Crm,

eliminating manual processes.

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ColumbusServicesthe issues and challenges presented here and many more

are addressed by ColumbusServices. We’ve developed

deep industry expertise in meeting the unique needs of

service organizations across an array of industries including

entertainment, marketing and advertising, financial services,

manufacturing, and other demanding disciplines.

ColumbusServices helps service organizations achieve better

control of processes and improve the ability to exploit new

business opportunities. this powerful solution brings your

people, operations, and project management processes

together to help manage the complexities of a global

network. our solution takes a holistic focus, taking into

account both administrative and operational requirements.

this ensures that information sent to the employee in the

field, is also used for billing and monitoring, projects, and

contracts.

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ColumbusServices allows you to utilize the solutions and

functionality you need. to learn more about the various

components, visit www.columbusglobal.com/us

> Microsoft Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL

> Microsoft Dynamics CRM

> Columbus BI (Business Intelligence Software)

> Columbus Development (SharePoint Services)

> Integration Tools

> Columbus SureStep+

7

introducing ColumbusSureStep+at Columbus, we have the very best people working

with our world class solution to ensure your success. our

proven SureStep+ methodology ensures a faster and less

expensive implementation.

a successful implementation means:

> Your business will be able to reap the rewards of

your new solution with value delivered early

> Your project will be delivered on time

> Your project costs will be managed with no

unforeseen overspend

> Your users will be proficient and excited about their

new solution

> You will improve the operational efficiency and

increase the competitive advantage of your

business

SureStep+ has been developed from years of product,

industry and implementation experience. We have taken

the standard microsoft sure step methodology and

significantly enhanced it based on over 6,000 Columbus

projects.

SureStep+:

> Ensures that all member of the implementation

team are aligned and working towards the same

goals and expectations

> Ensures that everything is well documented

> Includes a number of different project types so

that your implementation methodology fits your

implementation

> Is a methodology that Columbus uses across all the

40 global offices to ensure consistency

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about CoLumbus:

Columbus currently employs over 1,000 dedicated professionals working out of

41 offices in 21 countries. With more than 20 years experience and 6,000 successful

implementations, microsoft recognizes Columbus as a top global partner and has

presented the company with virtually every award and certification available.

’Columbus’ is a part of the registered trademark ‘Columbus IT’

for more information on Columbus, our client’s experiences

and our solutions, please visit www.columbusglobal.com/us

the ColumbusServices real World scenario series

DELIVERING EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER CARE

REAL WORLD SCENARIOS

Volume 1Cases 1 - 4

BUILD THE FOUNDATION

STREAMLINE SUPPORT CASES

GAIN A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

kNOw yOUR CUSTOMER

wINNING THE HEARTS OF yOUR CUSTOMERS

AMPLIFYING SALES

REAL WORLD SCENARIOS

Volume 2Cases 5 - 8

DRIVING SALES EFFICIENCY

MANAGING OPPORTUNITIES

LEVERAGING MOBILE PRODUCTIVITY

IMPROVING DECISION MAKING

MANAGING YOUR PIPELINE WITH PRECISIONOPTIMIZING MARKETING EFFORTS

REAL WORLD SCENARIOS

Volume 3Cases 9 - 12

UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER

CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT

MARKETING AUTOMATION

MEASURING SUCCESS

TRANSFORMING MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Volume 1Cases 1 through 4

Volume 2Cases 5 through 8

Volume 3Cases 9 through 12