Over the last year, The Kerr County Lead worked to provide quality journalism and community conversations across multiple platforms — from email newsletters to our morning webcast.
Our plans focus on continual improvement of our newsletter and our future product offerings, but we can't do that without a strong base of subscribers. We are working on expanding our subscriber base and encouraging our free subscribers to consider upgrading their accounts to a paid plan.
What does that get you? The morning newsletter is now a five-day-per-week offering, but Monday through Wednesday is for subscribers only. We will likely expand that paid offering to all five days by the end of 2022.
In the last year, The Lead produced more than 800 articles and newsletters — many of them to subscribers only. We believe email is still among the most effective tools in reaching our audience and for the audience to stay connected to our content.
We've produced more than 250-morning webcasts at Pint and Plow Brewing Co., and we're continually improving the show. Over the last year, we've hosted a week of nonprofit interviews — featuring 38 nonprofit groups and 71 people associated with that work. We've interviewed more than 600 people since Aug. 9, 2021, and our plans for the show continue to grow.
Of course, we can't do this without the investment from our sponsors and subscribers. So, we're asking you to consider a monthly or annual subscription.
You can subscribe for free, but to truly unlock all of our advantages, we encourage you to subscribe via Facebook or by using your email. There are two paid models — $5.99 per month and $54.99 per year. As a comparison, that's a 70% savings from other media in the Hill Country. To read the content, you do not have to belong to Facebook. If you want to pay but not through Facebook, we're offering an annual $60 subscription through Square.
- To subscribe for $5.99 per month or $54.99 per year, please follow this link: https://kerrcountylead.com/subscribe
- To subscribe through Square for $60 per year, please follow this link: https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLEWCF2K4ASZZ/checkout/SSD7F5CF2Z6FWOF3NPQFGPCG Here's the catch: If you want to subscribe, you still have to register for a free account here: https://kerrcountylead.com/subscribe
For organizations and nonprofit groups
We are offering a one-time opportunity to sign up your organization, company or nonprofit with our group subscriber rate. If you have multiple email accounts, we have a plan to keep your organization informed about Kerrville and Kerr County. Please email Louis Amestoy for details at louis.amestoy@kerrcountylead.com.
More ways to help grow The Lead
One direction we are taking is crowdsourcing our efforts to match a $6,000 one-time grant from Google to ensure we have a sustainability plan for our future growth. That plan includes hiring a business development manager, transitioning to a new content management system and improving our live video production efforts. We believe we're on the right track and have a model that will deliver in the future, especially in the shifting winds of the media landscape. So far, we've raised more than $4,100 — about 70% of our goal.
JOIN OUR MISSION: If you're interested in helping us match those dollars, please donate at https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLEWCF2K4ASZZ/checkout/YE5IHXVYW4GJ5HUOOKXJDI4E
We aim to build a matching fund to augment our paying subscribers and sponsors. The funds from this effort will go toward:
- Building capacity for further business development.
- Expanding our offerings in the digital video studio.
- Acquiring a new content management system to replace our current Facebook-backed system.
All that we ask is you consider making a donation to reach our goal of matching our $6,000 grant. We appreciate your backing of The Kerr County Lead.
Can we share a word about advertising?
When it comes to the future of reaching your customers in Kerr County — and beyond — there's no place better than The Lead Live! That's right, The Lead's weekday webcast is the leading local media source for Kerr County residents — reaching more than 10,000 viewers per month.
And the reason for our success is apparent — consistency. We continue to grow our brand and reach with our regular schedule, making us a destination for news, information and entertainment.
Part of that success is the presence of our founding advertisers, who saw the value in The Lead. We're expanding our effort to include more voices by opening up to more advertisers. The plan is simple:
- For just $25 for a 30-second slide in the show that tells us about your business, event or organization.
- There are 20 spots available per day.
- Purchase as many spots per day as you like, or you can join our recurring subscription plan for 20 spots per month for $400.
And with your help, we can continue to grow The Lead as Kerr County's leading source of multimedia news. Join us today!
For more information about advertising on The Lead Live, contact Louis Amestoy by email louis.amestoy@kerrcountylead.com
