As a small business owner, you need to be a lot of things to make your business go—but you don't have to be a marketer alone. Join host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, and Kelsi Carter, Brand Production Coordinator, as they explore what it really takes to market your business. Even if marketing's not your thing! You'll hear from small business leaders just like you along with industry experts as they share their stories, challenges, and best advice to get real results. This is the Be a Marketer podcast! New episodes every Thursday!
Today on episode 59 of the Be A Marketer podcast, it's another Ask Dave episode, and I'm answering your questions about how can benefit from SMS marketing. This is the Be A Marketer podcast.
Dave:I'm your host, Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact. And I help small business owners like you make sense of online marketing. And on this podcast, we'll explore how to find the time to be a marketer. Remember friend, you can be a marketer. And at Constant Contact, we're here to help.
Dave:Well, hello, friend. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Be A Marketer podcast, and I am joined by Kelsi Carter. Hello, Kelsi.
Kelsi:Hi, Dave.
Dave:How are you doing today?
Kelsi:I'm doing really good. How are you doing?
Dave:I'm doing alright. You know, I'm curious. I know last time we introduced the fact that you are going to be a duck mom, and I feel like everyone is eagerly awaiting the next update. So where are we on duck journey?
Kelsi:The ducks have been ordered. They are scheduled to arrive the week of May 26th, and they ship the next day. So I should be getting them, like, 27th or 28th just depending on when they actually ship. So I am very excited.
Dave:For the ducks? Yeah.
Kelsi:I have to go to the post office to pick them up.
Dave:Oh, you actually have to go pick them up. They don't come to
Kelsi:your door. Wow.
Dave:No.
Kelsi:I have to go pick them up. So I'm very excited. We bought the duck home as well. Okay. And we just need to get the runner.
Kelsi:We have all of the duck grower, the starter feed, everything like that, the minerals, and so we just need the runner for outside when they're bigger, but they won't be outside for a few months.
Dave:So what is the runner?
Kelsi:It's like just a fence, and you use chicken wire. It's like a little coop area for them to just be able to run freely without worrying about predators outside.
Dave:Okay. Got it.
Kelsi:Just because, of course, you know, that's always a thing here, and I wanna make sure that my ducks live a long, happy life.
Dave:Excellent. I wish them nothing but the best. In this process of ordering the stuff that you've ordered, do we have any other kind of journeys marketing wise that ended up like, why did you decide getting the things on where you got them? Anything else to add to that kind of
Kelsi:Well, I did sign up for the newsletter.
Dave:Oh, good. Good.
Kelsi:So that is an update for that as well. So I will be receiving just updates in regards to stuff that hopefully is relevant information. I will let you know if I do receive stuff that is not relevant for me. So the newsletter has been signed up for. So, yeah, no updates regarding that.
Kelsi:They do have I did see a lot of great instructions for just literally step by step care of, like, the process throughout their entire life. So that's been something that I keep referring back to just as the process of getting them and as they're coming. So I have that already printed out. So it's just I have it's just for the 1st few weeks, and then I'm just gonna be following along with that. So I will actually be referencing that part of their site pretty often.
Dave:Yeah. So I am so in my head, I'm thinking through this that if I were the place that you're subscribing or buying these from, like so I guess my first question is 1, did you get a welcome email when you signed up for the newsletter or
Kelsi:the email? Get a welcome email.
Dave:Hooray. So everyone listening, please make sure that you've got the automated welcome email working. I think this is such an important piece of something that just allows you to, 1, like, have people confirm that they're receiving messages from you, but it's also an opportunity for you to customize that email and start to build that relationship on autopilot right away that so many people, I'm always like, no. Oh, oh, oh, when they don't do it because then you've got sometimes this huge gap between whether, let's say, you send, like, once a month and you sent your newsletter yesterday, but somebody joins today. Well, then you're waiting a whole month, if not more, but before you get that next email from someone or they hear from you for the first time.
Dave:So I think that welcome email is really important. Now the other piece of it is that, as you mentioned, kind of like the timeline now. Like, you're on a very particular timeline with these animals where I would envision a world where, okay, now if they know you've purchased these ducks, like, I would wanna get you in a, okay, you're at the beginning stages. This is all the information that you need to know, like, maybe on a a weekly basis or something like that, or I don't know what the right frequency is. Like, your expertise and what needs to happen would kinda help determine that.
Dave:But then even, like, have check-in points where, okay, then you're gonna hit this level. And I'm saying the check-in points because I think there's so, I mean, as you mentioned in the last episode where you get to this point where, potentially, one could potentially pass or something could happen where I think, like, let's say something happened and it wasn't like it gives you an option to, like, not have to be receiving more messages when you're, like, oh, crap. Like, you know what I mean? But, obviously, nothing like that's going to happen. But I think
Kelsi:No. My decks are gonna live forever.
Dave:Exactly. You can get to this point though where you say, hey. Here check-in. Would you like to get information now about this stage of the game and, like, the things that you should be thinking about and doing with the docs? And then that's a situation where I would do something like so for example, Constant Contact has click segmentation.
Dave:So you could say, I'm making up these ranges. Right? But, like, from 6 months to 12 months, do these things. So, yes, I click on the 6 months to yes. I wanna get information about 6 to 12 months.
Dave:They click on that. That automatically adds you the 6 to 12 month list, and that sets up the automation and the emails that take you through that time period. Right? And so all of this stuff can just be really set up individually, and then then just think about, again, if I'm that business, I'm giving you all the information that you need to know. And, of course, along the way, you're gonna need products and services that help you with this thing that you can also let me know about along the way.
Dave:And so that's how I'd start thinking about this. So it'll be interesting to see what actually happens, but that's how I'd start thinking about it. Like, woah. There's so many things I could do. You know?
Kelsi:Yeah. I think that would be that would be a really great opportunity, I think, for them in general. But, I mean, I know I personally would love that throughout every stage just because this is, like I'm also a first time, like, tech owner too. So it's like I would like to just have that extra material, honestly, throughout the journey just so I feel a little extra supported.
Dave:Yeah. And and I think that's it too. Right? Like, that's the point. It's, like, it's not about saying, like, okay.
Dave:Buy this thing. You're gonna need this thing. It's actually about educating you and helping you make the best of your situation and making you aware of these things may help you in that journey. And so it becomes a whole different kind of thing. So, anyway, cool stuff.
Dave:I'm excited to hear more. So with the mark your calendar for 20 7th. We'll get another update then when we find out more about the ducks arriving. Yay.
Kelsi:Yeah. I'm so excited.
Dave:Alright. So it's an Ask Dave episode, Kelsey. So why don't you ask Dave?
Kelsi:So today, we have a question from Joan, and she's the director at a nonprofit women's health organization. So Joan's question is, how do nonprofits benefit from SMS marketing? And that is a really great question.
Dave:Oh, I love that question because I think we just recently had an episode that, actually, we talked to somebody from in the nonprofit world, Nicholas Jackson, on episode number 58 of the Be A Marketer podcast, and he actually told us how he was using SMS marketing to do some things. So, Kelsey, maybe I'll turn it over to you. How is, Nicholas using that at the Parsippany library?
Kelsi:So he's using it for event reminders to increase attendance. So, say, he has cooking club and they're having an event, so he'll target that audience for SMS.
Dave:Yeah. I love that. So that's just like a simple way to just it's almost like those appointment reminders when you go to, like, a doctor or something like that where, okay, I'm signed up for this event, and I love that you'll hear more about this in episode 58 if you haven't listened to it already. But the problem Nicholas was trying to solve was that he'd get people registering for the events, but the attendance rates were lower. Right?
Dave:And so that obviously puts them in a situation where, oh, not everybody that was supposed to be there shows up, and then there are other people that maybe wanted to come, but they couldn't come because they already had those seats filled. And then it's like but this has really been working out really well for them just in terms of making sure that the day of, people get a reminder and, you know, more people have been showing up. So I love that as a way to start to think about that.
Kelsi:Yeah. And so maybe also another case for nonprofits for SMS would be if you're running charity auctions to raise money. So what could a nonprofit do in that situation?
Dave:Great question. I think this is one of those scenarios where not that you couldn't do this with what Nicholas is doing as well, but it's really if you start thinking about like, typically, an event has kind of 3 stages. Right? You're kind of pre event, during the event, and post event. And I think SMS is a great way to again, if we think about timely and relevant information, this is where SMS really shines.
Dave:It's these short messages. It's these things that are really relevant to the person receiving them because they have that time sensitivity to them, and they're something that's going to be of interest to that person. And so if you think of let's say somebody has already registered for the event, the pre event type of things could be things that maybe you maybe offer them a little behind the scenes peek of something or you do something to get them excited. Of course, you can do the reminder type thing, of course, like Nicholas is doing for the library to make sure that people show up, or you could start to preview what the, you know, people subscribe to the SMS. These are you're gonna get a sneak peek of the different items that will be available in the charity auction, like those types of things.
Dave:Right? So fun ideas that will be of interest to people that you can start kind of getting them excited about the event because one of the things about events, of course, is getting people, like, amped up about it. Like, yeah, by the time we get there, it's like, alright. I'm so excited for this event rather than it be a thing that, oh, yeah. We've got that event this weekend.
Dave:You can kinda bring people along and take them on that journey. And then you think this might not be right for someone like Nicholas, of course, but during the event, particularly when you have different things going on and there's different parts of the evening, for example, SMS is a great way at the event to let people know that, hey, such and such is starting. Like, this is something that maybe at this time, you should come over here to this place if you've got kind of multiple things happening at once, or maybe you've got a special item up for auction that you can be like, hey. This is a new item added that we didn't know we were gonna have. Or it's a way to engage people during the event and kind of point them to the places that they should go.
Dave:And, again, it's helpful here because, again, timely and relevant to the people there because you're sending it to the people at the helpful here because, again, timely or relevant to the people there because you're sending it to the people at the event. And ping, you're getting them on the phone. They're looking at it right away, and then they you're pretty sure they're gonna be able to see that message. And then post event, of course, is always a great way to just even at the end of the night, hey. Thank you so much for coming.
Dave:Just showing your gratitude and thanking people for supporting the organization and doing all of those things. And then maybe it's even something to follow-up the next day to say, engage in some way or, like, here's the link to the pictures that we took or something. Be sure to tag yourself. Doing those things to kinda just engage and follow-up with people, I think SMS really offers a really great opportunity, again, to be that timely, relevant thing. This is the big word you're going to continually hear me say about SMS, timely, relevant, and just important to people.
Dave:And on that fact, if you start thinking even beyond just kind of doing events or things particular to that particular situation where you have just your normal day to day operations where you start thinking about, again, that timely and relevant information where you run into a situation where, let's say, you have your volunteers, for example. Oftentimes, things will come up in a nonprofit situation where you need help rather quickly. And you could send an email, of course, which again is not a bad thing to do, but you've got a timeliness here and relevant to your volunteer list if they want to help out with specific things and you you need somebody to commit to something rather soon, you've got an opportunity to hit them with an SMS that will allow them to see that maybe quicker than they would maybe check their email, of course. And then, of course, donors, when you start thinking about when you're running particular campaigns and maybe there's that last push effort for people where you're trying to hit a particular goal. Those are types of things that you could fit SMS into.
Dave:I think community wise, if you've got new services or new offerings or even just thinking about relationship building type things that you're trying to do within the community, those could be ways you could share information there. I think an often underlooked thing or overlooked thing underlooked. Is that even a word? I don't know if that's a thing. Overlooked thing is even with, you know, you figure in many instances, you're working with vendors on a regular basis as well, and that could mean letting them know of things where you're gonna be hiring for events or letting them know when things are coming up.
Dave:SMS is a great way to start to kinda do that and keep things on people's radar. And then I'll use the term customers because I guess patrons, right, or the people that would use potentially the services that you offer if you're a nonprofit. It's appointment reminders. It could be changes in hours, things like that. Again, things that would be timely, relevant from the sense that, like, oh, here's a change happening right now.
Dave:I should probably let people know about this right away because somebody could be coming to the location or doing something like that. So those are all, like, some of the ways I would start to think about that and, in particular, in relation to the different audiences that you may have for a nonprofit. I don't know. Kelsey, anything else to add from your side?
Kelsi:I guess, just to add for me, like you said, it is a short message service, so you wanna be clear and concise with what you're sending. It's not an email. You don't wanna be sending them a bunch of text. You know, you wanna just be sending them exactly what they're looking for. And then, also, like, don't be afraid to get personal.
Kelsi:Of course, include their name, but, like, make sure you're sending them content that they wanna be seeing. Send them the content that's right for them.
Dave:Yeah. I love that. And I think that that's a great point. Lean into the strength of that channel. It's a very conversational and personal kind of channel and through that device.
Dave:And so take advantage of that and lean into that when you're sending your messages for that. So let's recap some of the things that we talked about here. Kelsey, let's see. We wanna think through how we're using SMS marketing through the different stages of an event, pre, during, and post the event. Timely and relevant information, of course, across all of the different audiences that you're reaching is really important with SMS.
Dave:And then as we mentioned, lean into the strengths of that channel by being concise, conversational, and personal where it makes sense. Joan, I hope that helps as always, and thanks for sending in your question. And listener, based on what you've heard today, I want you to take a moment to write down some ways that you might wanna use SMS for your nonprofit or your business. And then be sure to check out the resources that we're gonna have for you in the show notes for more information. Kelsey, if someone else has a question for me they'd love to send in, how can they do that?
Kelsi:Well, if you're a Constant Contact customer, you can head right on over to the Constant Contact community to post your where would they go? Well, they can also go to those show notes, or they where would they go?
Dave:Well, they can also go to those show notes or they can go just directly to rate this podcast.com/ bam, b a m, for being a marketer. And please do. We'd love to get those reviews and love to hear what you think of the show, And we really do look at that information and think of ways that we can make this a stronger and better show for you, so please do leave those reviews for us. We love it.
Kelsi:Yes. Love it.
Dave:Love it. Kelsi, as always, thank you so much for being here with us today. And listeners, we'll see you next time.
Kelsi:See you next time.
Dave:I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Be A Marketer podcast. If you have questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me directly at dave.charest@constantcontact.com. If you did enjoy today's episode, please take a moment to leave us a review.
Dave:Your honest feedback will help other small business marketers like yourself find the show. Well, friend, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and continued success to you and your business.