Welcome to the 22nd issue of Always Be Learning. The newsletter that tastes just as good the next day, after popping it in the air fryer for 3-5 minutes.

If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe by clicking below:

Friend of the program:

Today's ABL issue is brought to you by Bright Cellars.

Bright Cellars is a monthly wine club that matches you with wine you'll love. It's pretty sick how it works. You select your taste preferences and their algorithm will recommend wines specifically for you.

I've never been disappointed with a bottle from them. It's no surprise really. Their quiz funnel is next-level stuff. Here's a screenshot of the first question they ask:

So if you're looking to stock up your wine fridge, make sure you grab 50% off your first 6-bottle order by clicking below 👇

Today's Marketing Breakdown:

In today's issue, I'm going to show you how to get started with SMS marketing.

You'll learn:

1. Why you should be using SMS marketing

2. My preferred SMS partner

3. How to hit the ground running

Why you should be using SMS marketing:

First, let's look at some stats related to SMS marketing.

As you can see, there is a gap between the number of companies offering SMS marketing and customers interested in signing up for texts.

And almost every business using SMS marketing is saying it's driving revenue.

It's a golden opportunity.

I've used SMS marketing at my last two companies - PetHonesty and The Beard Club.

In both cases, our SMS channel scaled faster than email marketing. It didn't take long for SMS to drive more revenue than email (with far fewer subscribers).

My preferred SMS partner:

Now that you know the benefits of SMS marketing, let's talk vendors.

3 of the main players are:

1. Attentive

2. Postscript

3. Klaviyo

While the 3 vendors above are all suitable options, Attentive is the top choice, in my opinion.

Their homepage sums it up perfectly: "The most comprehensive text message marketing solution"

What sets them apart is their:

• Automated journeys

• Lead collection popup

• Two-way conversational messaging

• Best-in-class account management support

If you want to get a feel for what they have to offer, run through our popup --> welcome series text flow at thebeardclub.com:

How to hit the ground running:

Okay, now you know the benefits of SMS marketing; you've selected Attentive as your SMS provider; it's time to get your SMS program up and running.

First, you'll want to nail down your lead magnet offer:

I've chosen a free item as our lead magnet in the screenshot above. We send this in the form of a Buy 1, Get 1 Free discount upon signup.

I have tested this against Free Shipping, xx% Off, $xx Off, etc.

The "free" language always wins.

So if you can find a way to work a "free" offer into your lead magnet, I highly suggest you test it.

Second, you'll want to set up your welcome series:

One thing that is different between email and SMS marketing is that you really need to consider cadence with SMS marketing.

You can get away with daily emails if you're providing solid value. But even the best SMS marketing programs would be hard-pressed to get away with sending their customers a text every single day.

I recommend a max of 2-3 texts per week to your customers.

Keeping that in mind, here's the ideal welcome series you'll want to set up:

• Day 1 - welcome offer

• Day 2 - offer reminder

• Day 5 - upgrade to new offer

That's the bare minimum setup I would put in place.

This journey alone will be a CASH COW for your business. Because SMS subscribers are, by default, your most engaged customers.

Think about it: you don't give your phone number to just anybody, right? But you're more likely to dish out your email on a website at the drop of a dime.

Customers care more about their SMS inbox than their email inbox.

This will naturally lead to higher conversion rates with SMS. i.e. an SMS subscriber is worth more to your business than an Email subscriber (at least in my experience).

(Note: Attentive's popups allow you to collect both email and SMS. There's no downside.).

Third, send emails to promote SMS signups:

You've got your welcome funnel set up. Now, all you need to do is fill that funnel.

Send 2-3 emails to your current customers and prospects letting them know they can sign up for SMS and get an exclusive offer.

Attentive will set you up with a landing page specifically for email campaigns to which you can drive people to sign up.

And just like that, you're off to the races with SMS marketing.

Bottom Line:

There's much more to SMS marketing than just these steps.

There are other automated journeys to set up, a campaign schedule, two-way conversational messaging, etc.

But those are topics for another newsletter. 😉

Early on, the welcome funnel will easily generate over 90% of your revenue from the SMS channel.

And sooner than later, it should become a marketing channel that makes up at least 20% of your overall revenue.

There you have it! 1 marketing tip to help grow your DTC business.

Here’s what else I’m checking out in the DTC marketing world:

1. Shopify lays off 10% of its workforce (link)

2. SMS vs. Email Marketing: Which Channel Wins? (link)

3. 10 proven copywriting frameworks to write high-converting copy (link)

Hope this has been helpful!

If you enjoyed it, please forward it along to your marketing friends.

See ya next Thursday,

Joe

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Join the waitlist for my Email Marketing 101 course (click here).

2. Apply to join my free slack community of DTC marketing leaders (click here).

3. Sponsor my newsletter and get your brand or business in front of your fellow ABL subscribers (reply to this email).

P.P.S. And if you want to start writing your own newsletter on beehiiv, get started here!