Microsoft Business Applications MVP Rick McCutcheon regularly speaks with members of the Microsoft Business Applications channel, including Microsoft leaders, partners and ISV leadership.
Today, Rick and Adam Berezin, Microsoft DynamicsWorld Trade Magazine's co-founder, talk about the future of trade shows, multimedia marketing and targeting audiences.
MSDW's newsroom digs deep into the Microsoft Dynamics channel's latest news and its DemandGen programs offer ISVs and Partners targeted marketing data.
RICK MCCUTCHEON – Thanks for joining me today, Adam. Why don’t you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do?
ADAM BEREZIN – Thanks for having me, Rick. I’m one of the co-founders of Microsoft DynamicsWorld (MSDW). If you’re not too familiar with MSDW, we’re the largest news and information resource in the world for Dynamics channels. We’re also the world’s largest demand generation program resource for Dyanmics Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Partners.
RM – What’s your readership like? How big is your subscription footprint out there?
AB – We have more than 80,000 active members in our community. Around 70 per cent of those are executives in the Dynamics channel, so we target a much different audience than some of the other (online) forums out there. Really, we’re a professional news publication. We have several dozen writers and professional editors who work with us and, as I said, we mainly write for decision makers and decision influencers in the Dynamics space.
RM – Adam, let’s talk about the changing world we’re in. It doesn’t look like we’re going to have that many trade shows in 2020, so I think your platform is going to play a crucial role in the dissemination of the Dynamics community’s content. Talk a little bit about the content you build for Systems Integrators and ISVs.
AB – We’ve always been in sort of a unique position. We’ve cornered the market in terms of online demand gen. programs and we’ve always been a virtual business, so we’ve differentiated ourselves from traditional marketing outlets. We’re seeing a major shift right now. Everybody is working remotely and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. Even if it does, I think the fundamental landscape in which Partners and ISVs choose to market is also going to change. I don’t think the trade show market is going to recover quickly from this and that’s why we’ve seen an influx of ISVs and Partners coming to us to run their marketing campaigns.
RM – I teach a lot of courses online and I’ve been telling the Partners I teach is that the people you’re trying to reach are a captive audience right now. They’re sitting at home at their computers consuming a lot of content: videos, articles and podcasts. If you’re trying to reach somebody, this is the time to do it.
AB – I agree. From an ISV and Partner’s standpoint, it’s going to become increasingly critical for them to create the content you mentioned and to see it reach their prospects in the right moment. As things continue to shift to the online space, the importance of including videos, podcasts and other downloadable content like white papers and case studies will only grow. It’s essential to work with the type of branding you do, Rick, through social media. Especially LinkedIn.
RM – Thank you very much for spending time with us today, Adam. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for both you and MSDW.
AB – Thank you for having me.
The preceding interview has been edited for clarity and abridged for concision.