Should we start using SMS marketing?

Photo: Jaime Salazar

TL;DR:


For those who want to know more:

As you may have read in the most recent edition of Cliff Notes, I’m sunsetting our Instagram and Twitter accounts because Zuckernerd and Musky are predatory ding dongs and we don’t want them to profit off Variable West labor.

The problem with that choice is that their platforms have become pretty dang useful. In the visual art world, it’s safe to say that Instagram is the top source of information about art news, networking, and community building.

Still, Meta sucks. So I’m trying to figure out a new way to get information to your beautiful brains.

Cliff Notes, aka our email marketing, will resume blessing your inboxes very soon.

However, if your inbox is anything like mine, the newsletter/substack boom has made email unwieldy at times.

SMS marketing, aka text sent to you by companies, is an option I’m considering. It wouldn’t be like campaign texts asking you for donations or votes, or retailers sending you sale updates every two seconds.


I imagine it being a text version of Cliff Notes sent once a week. There will be tile or banner ads included in the same way I place them in Cliff Notes.

There will occasionally be story-based sponsor content texts, like this edition of Cliff Notes, because we need to make money and this is how we do it (cue Montell Jordan).

If you’ve made it this far, head back to the top of the page and vote. We want to hear from you!