Hello and welcome to another rib-stickin’ issue of MarketingProfs.
We’ve had some interesting exchanges this week with each other, and with a few of you, about our new Premium Subscription offering.
Some of you, it seems, feel a little put out by the shift to some fee-based content. One or two of you feel that we are abandoning our core subscriber base—that we are now filling our newsletter with the equivalent of cheap box wine while reserving the well-aged Zinfandel for our Premium subscribers.
But here's the skinny: For most of you, there’s been very little change. Each weekly newsletter now includes seven articles—six “free” pieces and a single “Premium” one. If you are a Premium subscriber, you can click through and read that piece in its entirety. If you are not, you can’t. But, just as always, you can still read the other six articles for free.
So is the free stuff worthless? Absolutely not—just as it never was before.
The Premium article is a different animal than the rest of the MarketingProfs content. It’s a longer research piece that digs a little deeper into a topic. But, at the same time, the “free” articles are of the same quality as they have always been.
Your favorite authors (and mine) are still writing “free” stuff for the site. The quality of their missives has not declined. And we haven’t moved any of their still-free good stuff behind the green door.
Our imperative is to continue with our original mission—to continue to fill the newsletter with good, strong, quality content (for free) and without alienating loyal, long-term subscribers. With the introduction of Premium Subscriptions, we are balancing that with the need to serve another audience: those willing to pay a few bucks a year to get a longer, more filling feast.
We need those bucks to continue operating and improving the site and the newsletter—AND to continue providing quality free content.
I’m excited about our new direction. And while I understand and respect the opinion of those upset by the change in content delivery, I don’t apologize for the change. We’re still giving you what you want, when you want it, at whatever price you are willing to pay—even if that price is nothing. (Last month, we added a record 8,000 new subscribers to the site, so I guess we’re serving up lots of good stuff!)
Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
MarketingProfs.com
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