The Knot Forever ❤️
The Knot Forever ❤️
Help to make The Knot sustainable. Support our mission.
Hey Knotters,
6 months in. 25 weeks of good news, events and things to do. A general election, development plans and heritage updates. 2,132 subscribers. The Knot is part of life within Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire.
Today, we’re announcing how you can support The Knot and keep our mission growing by paying to support us and how businesses can become a sponsor.
In the last two weeks we’ve brought Helen Dalley onto the team to bring you weekly Good News and What’s On editions. Chris Altham is bringing you Cartoons with The Larks. Hannah Hiles is joining us to write feature topics on issues that you believe matter. Jenna “The Red Haired Stokie” is sharing her writing on history and heritage as it happens, along with other guest contributors like Paul Williams.
The Knot News will continue to be free for everyone. We believe in community-supported business models like The Guardian, Wikipedia and Bristol Cable. Other major cities have their own independent news outlets like Manchester Mill that are redefining regional news, it’s time for us to do the same.
From today, it is your contributions which will make The Knot sustainable and give us a platform to grow from.
Different options to support The Knot 💸
VIEW ALL SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS HERE
Monthly: £5 per month
Annual: £50 per year
Founding member: £50 - £250 per year
Gift subscriptions to friends or family in Stoke and Staffordshire.
You can also make a one-time contribution of an amount you choose to support The Knot.
Businesses can support The Knot
Choose the level at which you’d like to contribute to The Knot’s mission. Use this option to contribute any amount you’d like.
Reach out to me directly james@theknot.group to make sure your employees receive The Knot.
We can share with you our brand assets so you can announce that your business is supporting The Knot (good for your employer brand and brand perception in Staffordshire).
Respond here if you’d like to explore sponsorship opportunities with The Knot, we currently have no intention to “sell advertising space” however we are open to selective sponsors and funded partnerships that support our journalism.
Why become a paying subscriber? 🥨
You’re supporting local people to write about regional topics ✍🏼
You’re supporting one of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire’s ONLY independent media outlets covering news and events ✅
You’re bringing a fresh, positive perspective to Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire 🗣
You’re making it known that you want The Knot to exist and showing your support to the team putting it together ❤️
You’ll have the opportunity to vote on what topics we cover 📈
You’ll be first to know about any Knot events 👀
You’ll get the chance to share your feedback and shape our membership offer ✋🏼
When we cover exclusive, hotly anticipated events, you’ll get first dibs on tickets 🎫
What do we need and what will your support get us? 💰
For The Knot to to do the basics of good news and what’s on. We need £500 per month, £6,000 per year. ~100 paying members
For The Knot to produce good news, whats on and 2-4 feature pieces of journalism per month. We need £800 per month, £9,600 per year. ~160 paying members
For The Knot to produce good news, what’s on weekly, 2-4 feature pieces of journalism per month and have a social media presence that reaches more people across our region. We need £1,000 per month, £12,000 per year. ~200 paying members
To do all of this, plus the The Knot Podcast and really take our mission to change the narrative about Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to the world, we need all of the above and one headline sponsor that would have exclusive sponsorship of The Knot for a year.
We are changing people’s experience within Stoke and Staffordshire and I want us to do more of that. I want The Knot to grow, inspire, inform and help more people. We need your support to achieve that mission.
If you value The Knot and want to keep bringing it to people in our area, please consider becoming a Knot Member, starting at £5 per month, make a one-time contribution to support our work or consider your business sponsoring The Knot. You’ll be playing your part in changing the narrative about Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.
Cheers,
James
What happens if we don’t reach these numbers?
We’d assess what the team can produce on a voluntary basis and whether we felt that would be satisfying and impactful enough for everyone. I really believe we will find a way for The Knot to be a part of life here long term. I do think it’s important to be transparent about money and people’s time, especially when journalism and writing is becoming so undervalued - we have to communicate the time and effort that goes into creating this news and information for everyone. In short, I don’t know - we’ll just have to find another way to keep The Knot growing.
What happens if we do reach these numbers?
It’ll give us the confidence boost to do more. I am currently funding The Knot with my time and money and this isn’t sustainable forever. With your support it’ll prove that there’s a desire and viability to grow The Knot beyond what it is now. There are more topics for us to cover, forums for us to create for discussion, events to put on and perks to provide our paying members.
The future I see for The Knot is that it’s a full scale media outlet, creating video, audio and written news and information across Staffordshire. We’ll shine our light bright and make Stoke and Staffordshire come to life with our energy and positivity. We can then bring more benefits to our readers - like great local deals, discounts and access to events.
As our movement grows momentum we’ll help boost the reputation and improve the culture in our region which is good for people, for business and for future generations to come.