Small Businesses get a treat from Microsoft with Marketing and Invoicing tools

Microsoft has launched three new tools for businesses, viz. Microsoft Connections, Microsoft Listings and Microsoft Invoicing. Along with existing tools for small businesses like Microsoft Bookings and Outlook Customer Manager, these new tools will be joining in.

Microsoft Connections allows users to create marketing campaigns using Mailchimp-like emails. The new service is available on the web, Android, and iOS and has the usual email marketing tool. This also includes ability to manage subscribers, monitor campaign performance, and of course allows you to do actual campaigns. In addition to this, Microsoft also offers a certain set of predesigned templates for newsletter, which are simple ways for people to join your mailing list or unsubscribe.

It should also be noted that, the new tool comes to you at no extra cost. Microsoft puts forth a point that getting started with email marketing ‘can be quite overwhelming!’ The users will be tied to Office 365 ecosystem and provides them with alternatives to MailChimp. Although there may be heads nodding in disagreement by competitors, the small businesses who already use Office 365 will gladly accept the new tool to take their digital marketing a step further.

When it comes to Microsoft Invoice, it does what its name suggests, creates invoices and estimates! Invoice is a straight-to-the-point service, which offers features wherein businesses could integrate with payment systems like PayPal, and they can easily accept credit card payments. This also features a QuickBooks connector which lets users connect to accounting software.

And lastly, Microsoft Listings. This allows the users to manage their business listings on sites like Facebook, Google, Bing and Yelp. It also allows you to monitor online views and reviews. Although there are other tools which provide the same features, Microsoft uses this to keep users in its ecosystem.