Marketing via Text Message: Is It for You? Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2016 Says Yes!

No matter how great your business and services are, you won’t be successful if people don’t know about them. And the savvy marketers know that since today’s world relies heavily on mobile technology, it only makes sense that your marketing strategy should too. You have to meet your audience where they are, which includes texting. And if you aren’t texting them, you can bet that your competition is.

To that end, Microsoft has added advanced capabilities for SMS (text) marketing in its Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (MDM) 2016 release. MDM makes it easier than ever to stay connected and engaged with your clients and prospects.

Note: Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (MDM) is a robust marketing engine designed for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It was created to help marketing teams make the most of Dynamics CRM by extending the core features. Don’t have MDM? You may be entitled to it and don’t even know it. Contact us to help you find out.

Going mobile with your marketing makes it more accessible and more visible; it increases your customers’ exposure to your brand and makes it easy for customers to opt in and out.

SMS/Text Marketing Features

In the release preview guide from Microsoft, the SMS marketing features are described as follows:

“In this release, Dynamics Marketing will support both outbound and inbound SMS marketing in select markets. This means ability to:

• configure inbound SMS campaigns with SMS keywords to get SMS opt-ins
• maintain a database of opt-in and opt-out preferences of your marketing contacts
• send outgoing promotional SMS messages to opted in contacts for SMS
• tracking performance of your SMS campaigns”

Let’s dissect each of these components to really understand how they fit into your business.

If you’ve configured inbound SMS campaigns with SMS keywords to get SMS opt-ins, a potential client can opt in to your marketing campaign anytime and anywhere from their cell phone. It could be as simple as someone seeing a sidebar on your website (or any website) that tells them to text “YES” to 123456 to get unique tips and tricks about your product delivered to their smartphone monthly.

1. Maintaining a database of opt-in and opt-out preferences of your marketing contacts is absolutely necessary. And now, Microsoft Dynamics Marketing makes this insanely easy for you. If your client wants to hear about new promotions, but not receive weekly texts highlighting the good you’re doing in the community, you can give them the choice. They can choose this, but not that. And it doesn’t take extra time on your part.
2. Sending outgoing promotional messages to opted-in contacts for SMS allows you to contact your audience quicker. You don’t have to hope they take the time to open and read an email. You can do something as simple as send a text of “hi, we’re offering a cool new promotion, click here to learn more” and include a link to your website with details. They’ve already chosen to receive your SMS messages, and it takes all the work out of it for them. They can quickly glance at it and decide if they want to participate, but at the very least, they’re aware of your promotion.
3. Tracking performance of your SMS campaigns is vital. Microsoft Dynamics allows you to see how many people you’ve touched with your message, and how many people clicked a link in the message, etc. You can get an understanding of how you are engaging your audience and what messages work. This will help you craft better offers and other communications in the future.

This update allows you to create multi-channel marketing campaigns and reach wider audiences more regularly. Show everyone what they need to know about your business and services, and stay on top of the mobile marketing game with the Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2016. Want to see MDM in action? Contact us for a free 15-minute demonstration.

by,  Patrick McLean, xRM

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