IMA, Microsoft join forces to advance digital marketing education in Dynamics CRM partner ecosystem

Microsoft announced this week that it is teaming up with the Internet Marketing Association (IMA) to deliver its online Certified Internet Marketer (CIM) education program to Microsoft Dynamics business partners and employees.

Participants in the CIM program will be introduced to a wide range of interactive marketing programs including an overview of internet marketing, online acquisition, online conversion, online retention, online analytics, and data-driven marketing, according to IMA officials. It will also highlight the advantages and challenges of Internet marketing, including identifying the key differences between online and traditional marketing.

Adding theory to the practice 

The partnership could prove to be a useful step toward elevating the Dynamics CRM partner community's business-level understanding of online marketing concepts and theory, experts say.

"Digital marketing is the fastest growing part of the CRM business and one of the most diverse in terms of approaches," says Barry Givens is the Director of Product Management for CRM at Avanade. "It is also an area where the Microsoft Dynamics CRM channel, as a whole, hasn't had a great deal of experience; where that knowledge exists it has often come as the result of learning about marketing by getting educated on a particular digital marketing product."

For that reason, this training opportunity from the IMA represents a great opportunity for Microsoft partners to increase their knowledge in this space by learning about the latest practices in digital marketing as a business discipline, Givens says.

Kevin Miller, vice president for solution strategy at