Hello, loyal subscribers/friends/content experts,
I’m sending you this one-time email to announce that Gerick News(letter) is now freemium.
If you have time to read nothing else, this is the most important part:
1) Free subscribers will continue to receive updates both Tuesday and Friday
2) If you’re leaning toward not paying, I have one request: Could you ask your employer if they would be willing to expense your subscription?*
*As a thanks to those of you who already subscribe for free, I have lowered the annual (-$10 | -16.7%) and founding member (-$50 | -20%) prices for a week
Now, here are the skimmable details:
CONTENTS
Newsletter Format
Tuesday Edition
Friday Edition
What are my subscription options?
Weekly
Monthly
Founding Member
What are the benefits of each subscription level?
How many weeks a year will you publish?
I’m still not convinced – why should I subscribe?
Newsletter Format
Tuesday Edition [Live Example]
Free to all: Tip of the week
A brief but practical tip related to Google Analytics 4, social media, search, newsletters or some other content strategy tactic.
Exclusive for Subscribers: In-depth analysis
A practical look at a current event or other content-strategy-related topic. This is where we’ll go more in-depth on the WWWWW & H, with detailed explanations and/or step-by-step instructions.
Friday Edition [Live Example]
While I don’t have a minimum number of updates I include each week, there are usually between 5-10. here’s how I’ll be doing the Friday edition going forward.
Free to all: Top 3 Stories
If you’re a free subscriber, I’ll continue to include what I think are the three most important digital strategy updates each week, with a “🛠 Why does this matter?” analysis of each one.
Subscribers only: All Weekly Updates
For paid subscribers, you’ll get all the important updates. The decision on what to include, and the order in which it’s published, is subjective, of course. But I really try to pare down the Friday updates to the most vital news, and how it could affect your work, whatever industry you’re in.
•
What are my subscription options?
$6USD/week
$60/year^, (which comes to $5/week)
$250^ founding member
^With the aforementioned one-week-only discount, these prices will be $50/year and $200, respectively
•
What are the benefits of each subscription level?
Weekly subscription
Access to all content every week, including full archive
10% discount to my online courses*
Annual Subscription
16.7% weekly discount vs. paying weekly (it’s like paying $5/week instead of $6 with the weekly subscription)
Access to all content every week, including full archive
20% discount to my online courses*
Founding Member Subscription
Access to all content every week, including full archive
Free access to my online courses for as long as you’re a paying member*
*I’m working with the online education platform Thinkific to create paid courses in digital content strategy. The first course will be a comprehensive Google Analytics 4 training.
The idea is to create other content strategy courses in the future. (I’m open to suggestions.) These will be super in-depth, step-by-step tutorials with exclusive, original resources to which you’ll have lifetime access, and which I’ll update whenever I receive feedback or there’s a change to the product. The price of the first course will be at least $500, so founding members would basically be getting the newsletter for free plus a 50+% discount to the courses1.
I will be looking for test users to receive early access and provide feedback.
•
How many weeks a year will you publish?
The only time I don’t plan on publishing is during major holidays (e.g. the Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas time) or if I’m on vacation. Otherwise, I plan to publish twice a week all year. Let’s say around 96 editions per year to put an approximate number on it.
(Consider that I started this newsletter Jan. 28 and I the only week I haven’t published was when I was on vacation.)
•
I’m still not convinced – why should I subscribe?
First off, if you don’t want to pay, I understand. That’s why I want to continue to include two free pieces of content each week. I work just as hard on them as I do the paywalled sections.
Secondly, if you would love to receive the full edition and are in a financially difficult situation – e.g. full-time students, out-of-work freelancers – let me know so we can confidentially work out a subscription for whatever you can afford, or for free.
Now, here is some more insight into why I would be honored to have you as a paid member:
I couldn’t give you the exact amount of time I spend on the newsletter each week, but both the Tuesday and Friday edition take multiple hours to put together. I scour social media, other newsletters and dig up my own discoveries on each of the platforms I discuss, at each step looking for what I think would be most beneficial to you and your work.
I do this alone and probably spend about an hour more editing each edition as thoroughly as possible since I don’t have a second set of pre-publish eyesI try to differentiate my newsletter from so many great ones out there by being both more selective and more practical. There are newsletters that include every update under the sun, and I think that’s awesome, but it’s not feasible for me
There are others that tease you to click through to links for the rest of the content. While I’ll always link out to sources (including my own site), I want you to be able get the full picture within the the newsletter itself. That’s why the Friday edition includes “🛠 Why does this matter?” analysis for every update
The paywalled content are things I don’t post elsewhere. It’s possible that you see a different version of an in-depth analysis pop up on my personal website later on, but I will never verbatim cannibalize newsletters you paid for to publish elsewhere
Lastly, I just want to mention again the fact that many companies will allow employees to expense educational content such as this newsletter. If you’re skeptical about paying out of your own pocket but still find the newsletters useful, perhaps your employer will foot the bill
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by responding to this email or commenting below.
I should mention that it’s possible an asteroid strikes me before I finish any courses. Because of the asteroid, or countless other reasons, they may never get completed. But it is my full intention to launch the first course by the end of the year. Just be aware I cannot guarantee these courses will exist, so if you subscribe to the newsletter for a discount/free access, they may never happen! But it’s more likely I get hit by an asteroid than that I DON’T finish them. I’m working on the first one every day and there is a good possibility that it will be ready in the coming months.