Explore the Marketing Content Tab

In the Outbound Marketing area of Dynamics 365 Marketing, the Marketing Content tab provides tools for organizing and reusing the assets that support your marketing activities. While Marketing Execution is where you create marketing emails, customer journeys, and social media posts, Marketing Content helps you manage the resources used to build that content. Key features include:

• Library
• Keywords
• Content blocks
• Videos
• Personalized pages

Organize Assets with the Library

The Library consolidates shareable marketing assets such as images, videos, documents, PDFs, and logos. Users across your organization can access, upload, search, and reuse these assets. This is especially helpful when the same images or other files need to be used across multiple emails, marketing pages, or social media campaigns. Within the Library, you can:

• Upload new assets
• Select multiple assets
• Filter assets using keywords
• Sort by criteria such as creation date, file type, and size
• Create customized views with columns and filters
• Choose a default view

Images and files added to marketing pages, social media posts, or emails in Dynamics 365 Marketing are automatically added to the Library. Likewise, previously uploaded Library assets can be selected when creating new marketing content. At the time of this Fast Class, JPEG images were required for social media posts, while other media types such as GIFs and videos could also be used in emails and marketing pages.

Use Keywords to Keep Assets Organized

Custom keywords provide a practical way to organize the images, documents, and other assets stored in your Library. Keywords can be as broad or as specific as you need, and a single asset can be associated with multiple keywords. Within an individual keyword, you can review general information, edit its name and owner, and manage the assets associated with it. Keywords become especially valuable as your Library grows. Instead of scrolling through a large collection to find the right asset, you can use keywords to organize and narrow down your options.

Build Reusable Content Blocks

Content blocks are reusable elements that you can build in advance and add to emails, forms, and pages created in Dynamics 365 Marketing. They're particularly useful for content that appears repeatedly, such as:

• Email headers
• Landing page footers
• Recurring campaign content
• Text and button combinations
• Images
• QR codes
• Code snippets

Reusable blocks can also help maintain consistency when multiple people create marketing content. They can even be incorporated into email templates to make future email creation easier.

Understand the Two Types of Content Blocks

Dynamics 365 Marketing provides two types of content blocks: element content blocks and section content blocks. Element content blocks copy the block's content but do not preserve a preset layout. The content adapts to the layout where it is placed, which makes this type useful for elements such as text, buttons, or combinations of the two. For example, the same element block may look different depending on the column or section where you place it. Section content blocks preserve their configured layout. When they're added to an email, page, or form, the section's established design is maintained. To create an element content block, begin by adding elements such as text, images, or buttons directly to the design canvas. To create a section content block, begin with a section layout and then add your elements inside it.

Be Careful When Updating Content Blocks

Content blocks are not dynamic. If you edit a content block after it has already been added to an email, page, form, or template, the updated version does not automatically replace the existing one. Instead, you'll need to:

1. Edit the original content block.
2. Make the updated block live.
3. Open the email, page, form, or other content using the old block.
4. Remove the previous version.
5. Insert the newly updated content block.

Content blocks must also be made Live before they can be added to other content in Dynamics 365 Marketing. You can return a block to draft status when you need to edit it, but those changes will not retroactively update copies that you've already placed elsewhere.

Control Editing with Protected Content Blocks

By default, content blocks are set to Protected. When a protected content block is placed into an email, page, or form, its content cannot be edited there. This can help protect standardized content and maintain consistency. If you want users to edit the block after it has been inserted, you can turn the Protected setting off.

Manage Videos in Dynamics 365 Marketing

The Videos area lets you organize videos that you want to use in marketing content. Dynamics 365 Marketing handles videos differently depending on where they're displayed. On marketing pages, a video can be embedded so visitors don't have to leave the page to watch it. In emails, many email clients don't support embedded video. Instead, Dynamics 365 Marketing uses the video's thumbnail with a link to the video's URL. Before adding a video to the Marketing Library, it must already be hosted by a service such as YouTube or Vimeo. When adding a video, you'll need:

• The video URL
• A thumbnail URL
• The video's embed code

Once that information has been added, you can save and manage the video in the Marketing Content area. When you're ready to use it, select the Video element from the content designer and choose the appropriate video from your Library.

Create Personalized Pages

Personalized pages work much like other marketing pages created in Dynamics 365 Marketing, but they can display information tailored to known contacts. For this personalization to work, visitors must have cookies enabled when interacting with Dynamics 365 forms, landing pages, or subscription centers. When a visitor submits information through a form, for example, the cookie can become associated with that person's contact record. After a personalized page is created and made live, JavaScript can retrieve relevant contact information and connect it to the marketing page. Dynamics 365 generates a code snippet that you add to the page, allowing it to connect with contact data and retrieve the appropriate field values.

Get More from Your Marketing Content

The Marketing Content tab brings reusable marketing resources together in one place. By maintaining an organized asset Library, applying useful keywords, creating reusable content blocks, centrally managing hosted videos, and taking advantage of personalized pages, you can make content easier to find, improve consistency across your marketing materials, and streamline the process of creating future campaigns.