Comparing 2 online businesses from one customer opinion.
Both Medium and Grammarly have a kind of freemium marketing plan with the goal of getting subscribers to fulfill their plan’s biz models. I discovered Medium as I believe Medium wanted me to, (subscribed annually) so now I don’t run out of reads per unit time on Medium, (or jump around to different browsers with no cookie history etc.) which is now psychologically a slight endorphin squirt in my brain, or whatever it is that online e-businesses wish to tap into to reach their respective subscription goals.
I liked what I saw and wanted more. I haven’t bitten Grammarly’s offers yet and I’m still on their version of freemium and consider their annual price a bit of a stretch, again, IMO. Different users seek different fulfillments I guess. The weekly or twice weekly pitches from Grammarly in the email or embedded in the freemium product I currently use, I tolerate, personally I think I’m waiting for an 80% off the yearly pitch and I’m there, mostly due to my personal opinion of what it’s worth to me, all opinion. Thinking about it, writers on Medium might wish a Grammarly subscription more than I simply to accelerate production and possibly a tax-deductible expense for a freelancer or contractor depending on how they are organized, including the tax laws. If I was a dependent Medium writer I’d certainly look into that. Obviously I don’t have an English style guide laser-etched into my frontal lobes as I’m sure some Medium writers do, still, I currently don’t see the value for me regarding the Grammarly product. (Overpriced IMO)
So both Medium and Grammarly have plans that cast a wide net and some percentage of those will get pulled into the subscription fold. Is it working? Apparently all those residuals not subscribed are at issue but the downstream collateral damage appears to also stop on the Medium writer's doorstep. I suppose some of the damage is based on Medium’s subscription plan and is considered the cost of doing business online. I’m not sure what my opportunity cost is to Grammarly’s bottom line but I’m sure if the Grammarly bean counters got me into an interrogation room they would use that opportunity to shame slap me silly and goad me into signing up. But it’s my perceived return value from these two companies that keeps me from pulling the trigger on Grammarly, so far.
Grammarly doesn’t have a similar third party structural component like Medium has, the writers, to the best of my knowledge, maybe they have certain royalties to run their product, I don’t know, but I still perceive it’s overpriced for my situation, compared to my perceived value of only $50 dollars a year for all the Medium content. (additionally, I might pay another $10 dollars a year to Medium if they got back into doing more audio stories where appropriate, but now that’s just more pie in the sky thinking).
Even though the 2 e-businesses are finding revenue in some virtual online space, those writers within the partner program on Medium also have their virtual position within Medium's overall subscription plan. What’s to be done? Will cracking down on subscription loafers accelerate Medium revenues? That’s where Medium writers might be hoping that the higher-ups are making the right marketing move for the times. Not rocket science but IMO the subscription landscape online is getting more crowded every day and apparently, there’s no end in sight, and I just mention 2 online businesses compared to all the others out there in a similar business game.
Apologizing for the book, sorry. My fingers have a better muscle memory than my brain muscle.
