Text Clubs | Ep 041

John: What's going on everyone? How are you doing? Today we are back with another short video that's gonna give you these gems that you need to grow your business while you're sitting on the beach sipping on whatever you wanna sip on. 

Kristiana: I like this 

John: intro, right? Yeah. And we have Kristian back, our resident expert.

I'm expert. I'm, I think at the beach. We should be doing one on the beach. Yeah. We should maybe next 

Kristiana: time Yeah. Have bags will travel. 

John: That's right. But this one is about text clubs. Yeah. Right. And how text clubs can, um, help grow your business and market your business. And the beauty about it, because everyone's on their phone.

So why is text clubs important? 

Kacie: Text message marketing so important? Yeah. Such a big thing that I think a lot of businesses, especially small businesses, have not even dove dived. Dove dove into yet we need a vacation. Dove. Yes, dove. Um, so we're gonna get into all of the texts, the text message, marketing, let's, oh, that's the 

John: proper terminology.

Text, text message, marketing, text clubs. We call it text 

Kacie: clubs. It's more fun.

The Business Project podcast business can be complicated. We break it down so regular people like 

John: us can understand and find success. I'm John Crespo, accountant and 

Kacie: consultants. I'm Kacie Bryant, marketer and event planner. If you run a business or want to run a business, welcome to 

John: the 

Kacie: show.

So we're, I'm gonna beat you to it 'cause John always says, let's give a description. What's, what is a text? Clever text message marketing. Let's 

John: ask our resident expert. 

Kristiana: Aw, you're also sweet. So, let's see. Text message marketing is, I need my phone. I'm just kidding. Uh, text message marketing, what a great tool because what you're actually doing is similar to email marketing, is you're basically having a person text.

A code word to a number, and you're added into a list, and then what that provides is an opportunity not to email them, but to actually send them a text message. Yep. And Casey, you do an excellent job with Tech Club and I know you've got some examples and things that you're really, would be the expert on this.

I'm familiar. We use this with clients. Mm-hmm. But I feel like you've really. Implemented this with your whole local Clarksville 

Kacie: and local in my city. Yeah. Well, thank you. It has been, that's one of the reasons we wanted to talk about this is 'cause it's been so successful for my business. We, just to give you an idea, we started doing the text club.

I would say seriously doing it probably about six months ago, six or seven months ago. We've talked, so the 

Kristiana: first of 2023. 

Kacie: Yes. Okay. Yeah. Um, prob November, December. Yeah. We, um, we are now up to 5,000. We have 5,000 people using our tax club. Wow. 

Kristiana: That's awesome. Now, and I have to tell you, I think some people are leery.

About text message marketing. Same went on with email marketing. Right. You know, back in the day and mm-hmm. I, I, I struggle with that topic because a lot of times people think, oh, well, email marketing is dead. Mm. But text message marketing, I mean, you're going right to the device, the person's holding in their hand.

I'd hate to say how many hours out of the day. 

Kacie: Yeah, right. I would say too, one thing that I can't stand about, text message marketing, which is what I'm gonna ask y'all not to do, is, 

Kristiana: oh, this is gonna be good. 

Kacie: Don't get spammy. I feel like the more people that get, I get spam messages all the time. I feel like the more, it's like one of those things, right?

The the people that take advantage of it to take all the good stuff away from all the people that are using it, right? Mm-hmm. So, Don't get spammy with it. Don't just pick up business cards and random phone numbers and add 'em into your text club just to do that. This can really be a very valuable tool if you use it to provide value for your people.

And just like everything else, social media, email, like the more value that you can provide the people that are following you and using your tools, the more successful it's gonna be. So that would be my, my biggest takeaway for this entire video is, Figure out how to provide 

Kristiana: value. Well, but the thing that you've done with yours is people are texting to join.

Basically, I'm putting my information in and authorizing you to contact me, and I think that is definitely a hundred percent the way to do it, not just take people and dump them into your database. Mm-hmm. And start sending messages. Also, I think what you just mentioned too is the value part and. A strategy with it.

Mm-hmm. Strategy, important. Something every day, depending on your business, not something every day. Maybe it's not even every week. Depends on what you're offering. 

Kacie: Intentionality. Yes. Your text messages. It's not like your social media where you go in there and you just share. I'm drinking a cup of coffee or I'm doing this.

It's, it's not that your text message marketing, it's going straight to their phone. This needs to be something that people, I mean, it is pinging their phone. They're picking it up to look and if they see something that is disappointing to them or that is interrupting that their day that they're not excited about, they're gonna be mad at you.

Kristiana: Well, and the thing is, I'd like to throw in here is a software by far. You've got to give people an opportunity to get out. You've got to give them a way to. Stop. Mm-hmm. Which is most of the time what you put in to get off of a list. Very similar with email marketing. You know, you have to give an unsubscribe option.

Now, I, legalities wise, I'm just saying as a strategist in this, for your own business, Give people a way to get off your list if it doesn't apply to them anymore or they're not interested anymore. 

Kacie: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So let's give an example. Some examples from businesses. 'cause a lot of them are probably thinking like, oh, I'm a dentist, or I'm a restaurant, or I'm.

A electrician, like what would, how would this benefit my business? So, um, there are lots of different strategies that you can use. I think there are a lot of things that you can do to get creative and think outside the box with text message marketing. What has worked really well for us is partnering with.

Other businesses to help provide a resource for them. So that, and I think we need to probably talk about collaboration in a future podcast. I know we're doing one for you. Mm-hmm. So we'll maybe when that's ready we'll link it here. 'cause collaboration I think is so important with businesses. Um, but, but thinking outside the box, how can I involve other people in what I'm doing?

So say you are a dentist, um, dentists work really closely with orthodontists. Dentists might have, you know, certain people that provide certain products that they use that are beneficial. I'm not a dentist, so I'm just, you know, giving you some examples. But getting together with those businesses and saying, okay, how can, as a circle, how can we use this to provide value for people that care about their teeth?

And, and then you guys are all three marketing to the same. Text club and um, and it just gives you three times more, provides them three times more value and gives you three times more reach. So really thinking about your business if you're a restaurant. And you have, you know, say you're a bar that has other breweries that you provide beer for in your restaurant.

Um, so thinking, you know, Hey, let me partner with these breweries. We can have one big text club. Anytime one of these breweries come out with a new drink, we will, you know, put that in the text club or we'll all do a special together. Or this Saturday or next Saturday, we're gonna have, you know, come in and get.

Um, buy one, get one free or whatever, and you guys all do it together. Your reach is then going from just you and your little bar and the people that are, you're reaching to now having, you know, five different breweries, marketing to your people. So thinking of, of ways that you can collaborate with your text club.

That has been what has worked for us. And then thinking of things that you can offer that people are excited to see when they pick up their phone. I 

John: love that. I think collaboration is huge. If you, if you can combine. Resources to, um, better reach out to your community, your, your clients. Um, you're not just kind of like pushing yourself, uh, on them.

You're providing the actual value of saying, Hey, look, this is what you're getting. By having that relationship with us, you're getting access to all of this other stuff as well. And I think people appreciate that more. I definitely appreciate those when I can say, Hey, look, it's not just about, let's just say local, right?

But I can see now I have this, this restaurant just opened up. Right. Or this store just opened up that I've been willing to kind of check out. But you get that because of the, the relationship you have with that. So collaboration is a good way to get that, um, that maximum reach Yeah. That you're saying. I love that.

Kristiana: Well, and let's talk about, um, the generations. I mean, let's talk about the younger audiences out there. You know, f. I, there was a day, I remember there wasn't email marketing, there wasn't websites or Google. And my point to this is I really find that a lot of the younger generation, they're not talking on the phone as much.

I. The, they're doing research online mm-hmm. About products and services, and I think text message marketing is a way to really reach that audience, because they're used to doing a lot of things on their phone. But the best part about text message marketing is this is something for really any age group, not just younger, not just older, but really everyone.

It's simple. It's easy to do and it's honestly easy for the end user that's getting the message. And in the marketing world for small businesses, how often. Is it 

that 

Kacie: simple? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So let's get into how to get a text message. Marketing plan started. Oh, good. I segue you right into it. You did. I know.

Thank you. So good. You're welcome. We're talking about how great this is Christina. We're stealing her. Um, so we, um, there are several tools out there to that you can start. Um, I know. We are currently using project broadcast, which is a great tool. Uh, but we we're wanting to do, have some other features and so I think we're about to go from Project Broad broadcast to Constant Contact, which I know offers that as well.

There are a lot, if you just go into Google and Google, you know, text message marketing, they're, they'll give you some, some options there. Just compare the pricing and compare the features that each one has and read the reviews. Mm-hmm. Read the reviews. Mm-hmm. As 

Kristiana: constant contact, I can speak up. I've been a partner with them since.

Okay, you ready for this number? 2008. Uh, so you know, they did not jump on the text message bandwagon. They really waited to get it fine tuned for them. So that is a software that you can utilize email marketing. Text message marketing and things like that. So really make sure you check out the pricing because some of 'em do a monthly fee.

Some of 'em do by text message, but. I can't wait till you talk about the next part because utilizing it and implementing it, it's not a 

Kacie: lot of steps. It's not, it's so easy. It's the simplest thing. And I think a lot of businesses don't realize too, that you can, you can send links, you can send pictures.

And it's just so flexible, and you can get creative with your text message. Um, and then you can track all of that. So you put a link in your text message and you can track how many people actually clicked on it. So, um, so what you, what you do is you get, you pick a platform and then you come up with, Some possible collaborations and you come up with a plan.

What, what value, whoever our target market is, or our customers, what value can we provide them by, by having them subscribe to our text club? Another thing to think about is this isn't, my stomach is growling. Can y'all hear it? Mm-hmm. I can hear it over the, over the headphones? 

Kristiana: No, when you were sitting here talking about this.

I looked over at you because I was like, Hmm, ai. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Well, because so many people worry about the length of the text message. Yeah. So you're trying to take your message. So if you're not familiar with ai, did you miss the last podcast episode? I. 

Kacie: So good. Get outta 

Kristiana: your cave. Yeah. But that is something that crosses people's mind.

'cause you don't wanna send a whole book right. Basically, but a link to a book, but not an entire book 

Kacie: is the message. Yeah. Short, sweet, and to the point. Yes. So you, you get a platform, you create a plan and then don't bombard them. Give them value, provide them value, and, um, And then, yeah, give them fun things.

Give them free resources or free tools. And, uh, I was gonna say something else about that, but it just like totally, totally 

Kristiana: flew outta my brain. You can also do coupons or if you have specials. Specials, yeah, that's a great way to promote it. New releases. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh, so I'm gonna flip the script here for a second.

I've got questions. So, 

Kacie: How do you get a number? I remember what I was gonna say really quick. Okay. And then we'll go back to that. So the another, another cool thing about it is you can get, do different keywords. Okay. And yeah. So, um, if like we have, I probably 20 or 30 different keywords that people can subscribe to.

So once you get your number, which will go into in a minute, you get your number and you can set up. So say somebody is interested in, um, your coupons, they can, you can set up a keyword, coupons to that phone number and then they would only get information about your coupons. Um, and these are one thing to keep in mind too, is these are customers that most likely have already.

Purchased your product or services. So it's, it's very different strategy than social media. I think social media reaches that for an extent. Um, but this is really capturing the audience, people that have already purchased your product or service that already know, like, and trust you. The purpose of the text message marketing is to.

Re reintroduce yourself and keep your business front of their brain connected. 

Kristiana: You're saying 

Kacie: connected. Yes. Yes. So it's a, it's a little bit different than, than social media strategy, but, so you can come up with different key keywords based on, you know, what they're wanting to follow, which also helps you target them better with ads or with with messages.

Kristiana: A couple things I have on that, sorry, John. A couple things is I don't believe people may have realized until they heard you say that, that it's not just one database, like you're using one keyword with one number and that's it. Being able to segment your audience, to be able to get them the direct information that they want is a great, definitely a great strategy to use.

And that was gonna be my question. So you would share. They don't have to jump through hoops to get a number a keyword. The program that you decide to go with really helps set all that up for you. Yeah, it's really easy. Walk you through it, I should say. Not necessarily set it up for you. Don't wanna give the wrong impression.

Yeah. But kinda, it's really walking through. It's not that many steps to do it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

John: I think what I'm hearing as well, you know, if I'm a business owner listening to this, I'm hearing that it's a, it's another avenue that I don't have to necessarily rely on social media. I can build a tribe outside of social media with this.

So, you know, as people, as social media changes their algorithms and something that you're putting out there is not working, it's not resonating or it's not reaching the masses. You can utilize this as like building your tribe outside of the social media 

Kacie: world. I'm so glad that you mentioned that. Mm-hmm.

Because that is, I knew we had you around for a reason. I gotta provide value somehow. That is such, you're a keeper. That is such an important, an important note. I mean, we probably should have started with that. 'cause how many times, Christina, you work with so many business owners, John, you work with so many business owners, how many times.

Has a business owner lost access to their social media mm-hmm. To their Facebook page. They lost their password or somebody came and stole or hacked or whatever. I mean, if you are putting all of your eggs in that basket and you, they changed the algorithm or you get hacked, you lose everything. Yeah.

Let's just talk about 

Kristiana: what if it was gone tomorrow, what would you do? What, what guarantee there is there that Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest. I hate, like, I'm not even gonna mention Google 'cause clap now I use Google. Oh, I, yes, I'm familiar. But what if those were gone? You don't own those.

You have a profile on them and they're great to use for your business. But what you do own is your website, your text messaging database, your email mm-hmm. Database. You'll own that information. Yep. That's yours. And I think it's so important as we see communities. Evolve more memberships. You've seen a movement of people of starting memberships, their tribes.

Mm-hmm. Because with the algorithm changes, it's a lot harder not only to reach new people, but to stay connected mm-hmm. To your existing clients. And if you're not top of mind, let's be honest, we live in a fast-paced world. I can't believe if I was honest and admitted, how many people that I know and see fairly regularly will say, well, I didn't know you did that.

Oh gosh, really? Mm-hmm. How? You know? And that's just all the time. We live in a fast-paced world, so I believe that text message marketing allows a stronger connection than social media can provide. That is more secure. And what I mean by secure is if those other ones were gone tomorrow, you still have that.

Yeah. 

Kacie: Yeah, just don't sell on it. Yeah. Don't be spammy. And I know you 

Kristiana: didn't want, you thought about starting about that, but honestly, I really think that's a great way to wrap it up because at the, the whole time, the whole point with small businesses is you're trying to stay relevant, top of mind with new people.

And your existing audience, and I think text message marketing is a great avenue. I think it's an affordable marketing tool for all different types of industries. There's a way to utilize it for 

Kacie: your business, for sure. I feel like the amount of time that you put into social media, if you are strapped for time and trying to figure out marketing.

The amount of time investment for a text club is a hundred gives you a hundred times more return than the amount of time that you invest in social media. For the most part. As a small business, you still need to do both. Social media is very valuable. There are some things, it's a great way to reach new people, but if you're a, like, I'm a business owner and I haven't done any of this.

Or I'm overwhelmed with all of this, or I only have 10 minutes a week to spend on this. This is what you need to be spending your time on. 

John: One thing that I uh, strategize with, with the businesses that I speak to is how are you gonna get repeat business? Right? Um, it's not just about getting a new client, but it's about getting the people that have visited 

Kacie: you back.

A penny earned is a penny saved. Exactly. So I never understood that, but that's what such a good thing. And how do you get them back? Penny saved. Is a penny earned you? Penny? I said it backwards. A penny 

John: saved as a penny. A penny saved is a penny earned, but you use this 

Kristiana: a minute. Saved is what A minute.

Saved is is. Woo. Yeah. 60 seconds. That's a lot to a small business owner. That was true. You, oh my God. Sorry I took you off. Topic. R O

John: I R O I. So in essence, right? You wanna get those clients back and this is a medium that allows you to stay in communication with them, to, you know, to just provide them information.

So, like you said a little while ago, stay top of mind so that they come back so you get repeat business. And that's easier than getting new business. Yeah, this costs less to get repeat business than it, than it does to get new business. So something to consider. 

Kristiana: See, he might not say a whole lot when I'm here, but when he does, it's valuable.

That's good. Let's go. Yeah, 

John: I'm just a 

Kristiana: fly on the wall. Not really intros, but Closers really good. Yeah. 

John: Well, where's the mic drop 

Kacie: sound? So thank you guys so much for joining us. We're gonna get outta here because we are trying to keep these short or short summer series. Christina, as always, we just love having you check out the description of this podcast to figure out how to find more on Christina, learn more about her and the things that she's doing.

'cause it's 

Kristiana: great's. But don't forget about finding information about Casey and local in my city and I'm, oh, it was the text number. I'm sorry. What was, what was your name? John, my name's John. Sorry. No, I'm just kidding. John was C, f, d. Because you know what? We don't always plug ourselves, do 

Kacie: we? We don't. No, I'm not great at that.

So what's 

John: the text 

Kristiana: number? Oh yeah, yeah. She's gonna try to close it out without plugging it. I know, I know. So for a great example, you can share your text number. Yeah. So you can test 

John: it 

Kacie: out. Let's do it. I'm trying to think of what keyword, I'm trying to think of what keyword to do. So local Am my city is my business.

This is the one that I was talking about that does. Um, social media, all things locally. Well, yeah. So if you guys wanna just kind of see a sample of how this works, we'll put you on our rewards program. Sure. Why not? Um, we are coming to a city near year, near you. Super soon. Christina just helped us get our new website and app up and running.

Right now we're just in Clarksville, Tennessee, but we are expanding quickly over the next couple years. So text. Thank you, John. 9 3 1 2 9 7 19 83. Text words, rewards. Rewards. R E W A R D Ss. To 9 3 1 2 9 7 19 83 and you'll see example of how that works and we'll make sure that you know and stay up to date on when we're coming to your city.

I'm so 

Kristiana: glad that you have that because then they can go through and see Yeah, just how easy it is. 

John: Mm-hmm. Yeah. How beneficial. Yeah. Love it. Good stuff. Cool. 

Kacie: Thank you guys. We will see you next week. Have a good one. We'll see you.