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For a business to grow, you need to market it, and, as a small business owner, you want to ensure that your marketing efforts are worthwhile. By using the Marketing Campaign (Marketing Campaign: A marketing program that uses many communication vehicles, for example, ads and direct mail, to accomplish a specific result, such as increasing marketing share, introducing new products, or retaining customers.)  forms (form: A way to collect and distribute information for items in Business Contact Manager for Outlook.) in Business Contact Manager for Outlook, you can track the creation of and the customer (customer: A person or company to whom your company sells products or services.) response to your Marketing Campaigns. You can see how many new sales were generated by a flyer, for example, or the depth of interest created by an e-mail Marketing Campaign. Finally, you can easily check the financial results of your investment.

You can create a Marketing Campaign from almost anywhere in Business Contact Manager for Outlook. For example, when you are reviewing any of the reports, you can create a new Marketing Campaign based on one of these reports. Also, if you create a file in Microsoft Office Publisher* or Word*, you can turn it into a new Marketing Campaign from within that program.

The following overview provides a summary of how you can make Marketing Campaigns work for your business. For more details, click Help on the forms, or see the related topics.

Create a new Marketing Campaign

1. In Outlook, on the Business Contact Manager menu, click Marketing Campaign, and then click New to complete the form with details about your Marketing Campaign.

   To create a new Marketing Campaign in Publisher* or Word*, complete one of the following applicable procedures:

   • In Publisher 2007, on the Business Contact Manager for Outlook toolbar, click Create New Marketing Campaign.
   • In Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button  , point to Business Contact Manager, and then click Create Marketing Campaign.

    Note   If you have created a new Marketing Campaign from another source (such as Publisher* or Word*, or from a report), a Marketing Campaign form is automatically opened for you.

2. If the General page on the Marketing Campaign form is not displayed by default, on the Ribbon (ribbon: An element that replaces most menus, toolbars, and task panes. The ribbon features task-based tabs that contain tools and options organized into logical groups.), on the Campaign tab, in the Show group, click General.

3. What is this Marketing Campaign for?

   This section is where you begin to define your Marketing Campaign.
   • Enter a title for your Marketing Campaign. This is required information, and is used as the default subject heading if you send e-mail. For example, if you are marketing your new spring products, you can type Spring is Here.
   • Enter a campaign code (campaign code: An identifier, usually made up of numbers or letters, such as 1234 or Early Spring, for a marketing campaign. The campaign code is another way to identify a marketing campaign distinct from the name of the marketing campaign.). This is required information, and makes it easier for you to find this specific campaign in a list than by looking for the Marketing Campaign Title; for example, you can type Spring07 for your spring Marketing Campaign instead of Spring is Here.
   • In the Campaign type list, select the kind of Marketing Campaign that you want to run. Depending upon what you select, different options become available to you in other areas of this form.

      Note   You can use only one campaign type per Marketing Campaign.

   • In the Budgeted cost box, type the amount of money that you are planning to spend.
   • Enter the start and end dates for your Marketing Campaign.
   • In the Comments box, type any other comments (comments: A field in a Business Contact Manager for Outlook record that enables the user to write or paste notes about the Account, Business Contact, Opportunity, or Business Project.) about this Marketing Campaign.

4. Who will see it?

   If you have selected a Marketing Campaign type that is directed toward specific people, such as an e-mail or direct-mail Marketing Campaign, you need to create a list.
   • Create a list   Select whether to address your Marketing Campaign to all your Accounts (Account: A business or organization with which you do business. If a service is being provided, such as dental or medical, an Account can also be a customer.), Business Contacts (Business Contact: A person with whom you do business at a company or organization.), or leads (lead: A potential customer who must be contacted by a salesperson and either qualified or disqualified as a sales opportunity.), to use a predefined selection, or create a new list.
   • Total in list   See how many people will view your Marketing Campaign. You can change your list by clicking Review and Filter.

      Tip   Click the Advanced Filter tab in the Filter dialog box to remove the records of customers who do not want to be called, e-mailed, faxed, or mailed. The communication preference is must be selected on the Account and Business Contact record. The options are Do not call, Do not e-mail, Do not fax, and Do not mail.

       Notes  

     • If you have selected a Marketing Campaign type that is addressed to a list you cannot edit in Business Contact Manager for Outlook, such as a seminar or conference, the Other option is selected automatically.
     • The Already created option is available when a Marketing Campaign is opened from a report.

5. How will they get it?

   This section is where you select what delivery method to use. This method will vary depending on the type of the selected Marketing Campaign, but if you are creating a direct mail letter or e-mail message, you can use mail merge* or other customization capabilities in Outlook, Publisher*, or Word*.

    Note   The Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager E-mail Marketing Service is now fully integrated with Business Contact Manager for Outlook; you can use it to create and track targeted messages to a variety of mailing lists. For more information about the E-mail Marketing Service (E-Mail Marketing Service: An online service for your Marketing Campaign that allows you to acquire and manage e-mail lists, and to track the results.), see Using the E-mail Marketing Service in Business Contact Manager.

   *Mail merge requires Publisher or Word. The stand-alone edition of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager can be used with the 2007 or 2003 versions of Publisher and Word.

6. What will they get?

   Unless you have specifically chosen to create a document in Outlook, Publisher*, or Word*, the materials for your Marketing Campaign can be created in any application you want; just link to an existing file.
7. When your information is complete and you are ready to launch your Marketing Campaign, click the Launch Campaign button. Now you're ready to track the results of your Marketing Campaign.

*The stand-alone edition of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager can be used with the 2007 or 2003 versions of Publisher and Word. The option to create a Marketing Campaign from Publisher 2003 or Word 2003 is not available.

Track the results of your Marketing Campaign

As your Marketing Campaign is under way, you can track the results from the same form by manually linking the resulting leads, Opportunities, Accounts, and Business Contacts to the Marketing Campaign. The results are summarized in the Track view of the Marketing Campaign.

To track the leads, Opportunities, Accounts, and Business Contacts that are related to a Marketing Campaign, link the records to the campaign by completing the following procedure.

Link an Account, Business Contact, or Opportunity record to a Marketing Campaign

 Tip   A Lead (lead: A potential customer who must be contacted by a salesperson and either qualified or disqualified as a sales opportunity.) is a Business Contact record on which the Lead check box is selected.

1. On the Business Contact Manager menu, click Accounts, Business Contacts, or Opportunities.
2. In the list, double-click an Account, Business Contact, or Opportunity record to open it.
3. In the record, click Initiated By.
4. In the Select an Account, Business Contact, or Marketing Campaign dialog box, under Folder, click Marketing Campaigns.
5. In the list, click the name of the Marketing Campaign, click Link To, and then click OK.
6. Repeat this procedure for each Account, Business Contact, lead, or Opportunity that resulted from the Marketing Campaign.

   The total number is summarized on the Marketing Campaign record, in the Track view, in the Campaign results section.

Review the results of your Marketing Campaign

The total number of leads, Accounts, Opportunities, or Business Contacts is summarized in the Campaign results section in the Track view of the Marketing Campaign record.

1. In Outlook, on the Business Contact Manager menu, click Marketing Campaigns, and then select the campaign that you want to review.

    Tip   On the View menu, under Current View, select a view (view: Different ways of looking at the same information in a folder by putting it in different arrangements and formats. There are standard views for each folder. You can also create custom views.) that makes it easier for you to find your Marketing Campaign.

2. Open the Marketing Campaign form and, on the Ribbon, on the Campaign tab, in the Show group, click Track.

   The information that you see will vary depending on the type of Marketing Campaign you selected, but you can see the total number of new Accounts, Business Contacts, leads, or Opportunities that were generated by this Marketing Campaign if you link the individual records to the Marketing Campaign. To see more details about each total number, click Show Report.

   For more information about linking individual records to the Marketing Campaigns so that the results are tracked in the Marketing Campaign, see Link an Account, Business Contact, or Opportunity record to a Marketing Campaign earlier in this topic.

    Note   If you used the E-mail Marketing Service to generate your e-mail messages, you can also track the number of bounced messages, the number of times your messages were opened, and the number of times that links in the messages were followed.

3. Enter the current cost of the Marketing Campaign in the Actual cost box.

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