Creator Encounter: Founder of Subtext

Hey Guys,

With all the buzz about Newsletters and Email marketing there’s another form of community that’s much more engaging, and it’s SMS texting.

In my explorations of the Creator Economy and while I am using Substack, I thought might as well get to learn more about Subtext.

This is joinsubtext.com

Subtext is a texting platform that has quietly scaled very well globally that connects you directly with your subscribers free from the chaos of social media and clutter of email. (their pitch)

I was lucky enough that its founder Michael Donogue was kind enough to give me some of his time. For the interview I encouraged him just to go off on tangents and really explore the value proposition.

As Creators we need to explore all of our options in how we engage with followers and build community. The obvious con of SMS is that it’s more expensive but the obvious pro is that it has a sky high open-rate. So it’s great for huge influencers, celebrities or super-fans like sports and music fans.

I am pretty bullish about the space since it’s also less cluttered and competitive as compared to how Newsletter platforms now must fight for influencers, social proof and features. With Web3 on the way, promising to give even more of the revenue earned back to the Creators, things will get interesting.

SMS marketing is not to be ignored, especially for live-events, AMA and real engagement of super-fans. I can see many implications of it and as they reach scale they can tweak the costs for Creators of different sizes. Substack puts a lot of emphasis on discussion threads, but what is more personal than a one to one text or the entertainment of an event with an exclusive backstage pass where text is more intimate?

It’s not just Email and Podcasts, it’s other forms of SMS too, like texting and micro communities as I covered Geneva the other day. For media professionals and journalists developing a personal brand, all channels must be diversified. If I’m a super follower of someone on Substack, I want to know the second they publish something new or are holding a unique #AMA.

I always want to push Substack to think harder about their product. What is a “Substack” for creators, without SMS? I am not quite sure. Essentially its a business model that’s relatively easy to copy and clone, without the ideological baggage and Medium-like promises. While promises can be a marketing hook, the reality of early-stage Creators is grim and discovery and scalability are immense challenges.

As the internet keeps evolving its ownership economy, whether that’s on Roblox or in VR, all of these other channels like Email, platforms and SMS will be important to create added layers of value both for audiences but for different monetization structures as well.

Even Meta is thinking of installing more paid subscriptions around its products of flagship Facebook and Instagram. This as Apple is disrupting its advertising business, and even Amazon and Microsoft get into digital advertising more seriously (including also Apple itself).

Many products have claimed to be able to disrupt Email, but it remains a staple of our digital lives, but not necessarily a successful channel. Churn is high and open-rates plummet. SMS and texting are far more immediate with open rates usually above 95%.

If you are a serious Creator, when you think of your stack of tools to promote your personal brand and build a core following, you cannot just rely on Newsletters or your favorite social media app. This is especially true once you begin to scale. Substack recommendations are not enough, the top Substack Creators have armies of tools and growth-marketers at their disposal as well as the majority of the traffic of peer recommendations.

Michael and Subtext reminded me that there is a whole other world out there. That perhaps SMS and texting can help Newsletter creations accelerate traction and be yet another revenue source in their tool-kit of streams of revenue with a relatively strong value proposition.

SMS Texting Platforms have a Serious Value Prop

The Creator Economy largely ignores the reality of text-messaging, but GenZ live on their phones. Not presumably to check their Emails many times a day. But instead, to react to the internet as an immersive real-time experience that connects them with the people and topics that matter.

On Linked Mike talks about #creators, #leadership, #smsmarketing, #creatoreconomy, and #startupfounders.

This was not a sponsored post, just a founder that agreed to be interviewed due to my own insatiable curiosity. It turns out, Subtext is a bigger startup than I had ever imagined with product-market fit in ways that shocked and surprised me.