Giving your best content away for free is WRONG (?)

This isn't all that hard. Give enough good stuff away to get your prospects drooling over your paid stuff.

I think you're right and it depends on the market/niche.

I have a friend in the Forex niche and he gives away 95%
of his training for free and he does VERY well with signups
to his paid course. I call it the 'nice guy' marketing technique
(patent pending )

He modeled it off another guy in the same field and he does
some crazy numbers so it can definitely be beneficial in
certain markets.

Steve

You always want to give potential clients great information. If you were a plumber, you'd be wise in letting people know how to unclog toilets, etc. -- stuff that doesn't make or break your business. But to let them know every little detail about how your Business works isn't going to help you.

The fact is, you want to earn their trust and show them that you're knowledgeable, but you don't want to do the job for them unless you're getting paid.

There's millions of videos on YouTube that share excellent information on how to do [x], yet there's still millions of people who will pay to learn that same knowledge from someone who's earned their trust.

There are dozens and dozens of reasons why people don't buy.

Until you begin testing and keeping track of your results, you will never really understand what's happening. It may have nothing to do with the free things you've been giving away.

Steve

You have to give a ton of free stuff away before selling anything. That is why it is important to have a list. It takes me about 7 good emails before I really start getting a sale and most of those emails are educated literature or free stuff.

How is your call to action in your videos? Many times people don't buy because there isn't a clear call to action. Tell them what you have, tell them what it will do for them and then tell them how to get it. There will always be people that only want to consume the free stuff. But there will also always be people who are willing to buy your products if it is truly valuable and will solve their problem.

I agree with JohnMcCabe, you can't give away so much stuff that you no longer have anything that's worth purchasing. Give them just enough to make them want more. And if they want more they will have to pay.

you should NEVER give your best stuff away for free...all that does is move the free line.

Absolutely give value but if somebody wants the highest value information, they should generally have to pay for it...from a marketing standpoint

If you have something good to give to customers for free, I would suggest to give it for free so that you can create your repute and get a list of customers attracting to your paid stuff.........Cheers

OP,

You said,

And that is why they give away their best stuff free. Who in their right mind would pay for a second helping of nasty salami?

George Wright

You have to give good content for free so that you may be trusted, but you must have something better to give to those who will pay you for this information.

You cannot attract the public if you give away a free ebook with empty words.

Good content works like a traffic magnet. It’s very important to give away top content that you should charge for.

However, you must have something superior for those who will pay you because they want to learn more.

There's really not one set rule that works for everything.

You need to test.

If giving away large portions of your content free is not
working for you then test something else.

At the foundation of good marketing is building a relationship
of trust with your prospects and clients.

In some cases content can do that.

In most cases some kind of direct contact with your prospects
and clients can help enormously (email, responding to comments
on your blog, a phone or skype conversation etc).

If you're thinking in terms of who your prospects are and what's
likely to get them to take action...what's important to them and you
can brainstorm different things to test in your sales process.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Give them just enough to show them the money.

If you show them the money first .. they will show you theirs.

One of my best squeezes tells the reader I have something to sell and I plan on selling it to them. I tell them to sign up free and if I can't sell them what I have to offer then they don't need me coaching them anyway.

Giving away free stuff is fine for getting opt-ins and all, but when it comes to your BEST content, it'll be foolish to give that away.

People will simply take away what they need and leave. Probably, the problem is that you're giving away such a great information that your users are able to solve great part or their whole problem with it. Therefore, there's no need to buy.

You should always keep things so that there's always a strong URGE to buy.

Now, a tip: You will have no problem giving away great part or even all your information if you sell unique physical products, because that way your users can not use the information unless they buy your products. Though, don't bother if your physical products can be acquired elsewhere because everyone will prefer to take your information and buy from someone else. (And you can't keep working for other people, right?)

success 4 you, logilogitech.

I always give away a lot of really great content, really good stuff that people can actually use to get a result with, and sales are great on this end, it could just be your offer that your making, people might not be interested in the offer, or people just might not like your free content.

Jimmy D. Brown and John Reese always say this: "Make your free stuff useful but incomplete"

That will give you sales later down the road.

I love it. Why would anyone give away all they have got. People are not silly they are just displaying symptoms or a sickness free content created. Most people have so much free content it isn't funny. They have read none of it. They won't read it either.

They read what they buy because they paid for it. How much they pay for it is also an issue we have all helped create. Product value is low here and it has been for at least the last 3 years. It has nothing to do with what you pay for the WSO is has to do with how much you will end up buying long term from the product creator.

The reason a solid funnel with a great follow-up is important. Relationships matter and value can then be established through free content. It has to be top shelf fee content because if you can show someone how to make money imagine how much they could make with your expensive course.

Never give away the best you have.

I believe not because if you did not give the best , its hard to compete with other competitors.
Just that a good content you can separate it with lot of categories and you just sharing one part and not for all.

But if you are not selling content but service and product then you just share as much free content as you can .
People want see the value .

Hi

This is a subject often debated. I can tell you from experience that giving away free content on a regular basis is poor marketing. There is a danger of creating a list of freebie seekers making it very difficult to market effectively. A case in point is the current solo ad circuit, these lists are created with freebie seekers with the sole intention of selling clicks. They then only accept offers from buyers offering freebies in order to guarantee the clicks. As a result these lists are bombarded with free offers on a regular basis. Prospects are then conditioned into obtaining free information making conversion rates very poor and the list becomes worthless.

Initially to obtain the optin you can quite rightly use a quality free offer for maximum growth. After that you do not want to give any free products as such. Email followups are crafted in such a way as to provide information of value over a number of weeks. You then introduce paid high quality offers in the low cost price range of $5 - $9 to obtain buyers you then segregate. You continue with paid only products until you eventually make a sale. If not you can then use the remainder to sell solo's for the freebie click value or dispose of them.

Granted you will have a much smaller list but they have effectively qualified themselves and will be ten times more responsive to offers.

Having been online since 1998 and building lists in excess of 100K I can tell you that this method produces a much greater ROI.

In essence the free product is only used on one occasion to encourage the optin, after that paid products are used in passive marketing, in other words make it sound like you are not selling anything. But never give a free product more than once until they become buyers.

That's my experience of course others may not agree.

Regards
CD

Given your best contents might not be the reason, there are many reasons that can lead to buying decisions, is left for you to find the reasons.

You learned it the hard way, but at least you learned it.
There are no free lunches in the world mate.

Interesting topic right here.For me myself,experience teach me not to reveal all of my knowledge,my techniques for free.As people tend to take it for granted.They do notice you,but in the end,they are not willing to pull out their money for buying that knowledge.

Giving things:

For giving a good impression to you - yes,it works
But for long term,it is not good as it is.

Interesting topic mate!
Still debated!
As far as my personal experience, those who came to get a free stuff has a little chance to buy.
I do prefer to offer a discount, instead of totally free.

I think you need to give great stuff away for free but not all of it. People need to know that you provide great help on whatever niche you are in.

You get a taster and you want more.

I agree with Steve, you have to test and track to see what works best in your niche.

I think you are right, your customer need to know that you are an expert and that is all. When yiu gain their trust and respect, they open their wallets. Why? Because they know they will get a great return on investment.

When you keep giving the high quality content, you will get the result. It will not happen in one day or one week but at least, you have already got the good image and people know you.

Keep in mind that we are talking about your BEST content here, not good or great content.

There is a HUGE difference

they will check out free stuff sometimes for weeks and weeks and months before they buy, that's how it is now. Many products they are paying for not always info.

Matt Furey made this comment in one of his training (paraphrase) -

"Give away the 'WHAT' not the 'HOW' because if you give the 'HOW' away, there is no reason for them to purchase from you."

So you can still give content away. But tell them the what and not the how. lol

Giving away high quality content is actually WORK. But giving your best content is not a brilliant idea. It's make your product become invalueable (customers think so).

I've heard this idea of giving away your best information for free. To me, that means that you aren't a very confident marketer. I can give you very good free information and I can build on that and give you great paid information. I don't buy into this mindset.

I used to give away a free pdf and video for each week of the year.
You end up with some loyal followers, but also many people expect it all for free and won't buy.

I think you need to give away some valuable content to attract people to your list, but it is important to then convert them to buyers using your best content. If you whet their appetite enough, they should buy. However, you will, undoubtedly, end up with some freebie seekers on your list who will never buy anything at all. IM is a fun world isn't it!

In my IM personal opinion, I think you should give your best content away, why? Lets compare it to drugs, a dealer has the best drugs on market, and everyone wants it. Its addictive, its a rush and your customers come back for more and more. That is how you treat your customers, give them your best content for free, and they will love you and trust me they will comeback.

WOOOW! A lot of comments here and a lot of points of view! I think that in certain sense every body is right. My opinion is this: yes you must give your best content away for free. why? Because how would I really know that you are as good as you say in your niche? There are only two ways to know this: social proof, and checking it out by themselves. Now, that being said. if you want to make money, obviously you cannot give everything away. You just give the best and keep good info for sale. You must give something of real value so that people get interested in you. I am signed up in a lot of newsletters. But they all end deleted unread, except a few. Those few are from people I KNOW are great in what they do. i´ll give you an example, without naming the person. There is a great IM whom I highly respect and appreciate. Everytime he gives something away, I am there with my both hands opened, because when he gives something it is of first class. But I usually don´t buy his products. Because i think they are overpriced. But even knowing so a few days ago I coudn´t resist buying oine of his products, because there is no doubt in me about his expertise. get it?

It's not just about giving away great free content you know. It's about connecting with people. Building relationships. Entertaining them. Telling stories. Being personal.

So, on top of the content, you must be a person that gains their trust by being a real f***ing human being! I don't have to give my friends a sample of a product I'm recommending to them, do I? They can make their decision to invest in something based off my opinion alone. They trust me.

It's a myth that you have to give away your best content for free. The only people who believe this to be true, are the people who think money can buy you love Stop trying to BUY your subscribers attention by giving away the farm. They'll end up taking you for granted, and will have no respect for you as a marketer.

In my opinion, the best content is the content you pay for. Why on bloody earth would I not teach that to the people on my list if I believe it to be true? I'm not a hypocrite, so I'll SELL you my best content.

If you want your transformational content for free, then go read a fricking blog post and see how that helps you. Either way, I have a family to support, and I aint gonna do that by pandering to freebie seekers and tyre kickers.

Pony up the cash or get out of the way so I can help the people who actually realize you have to invest for success!

I would suggest to give it for free so that you can create your repute and get a list of customers attracting to your paid stuff.

I always give out my best stuff for free. I just enjoy sharing all my cutting-edge stuff with my following

I don't think you can ever run out of "stuff" to share

My paid stuff is usually more of the "done-for-you" type of things, like fill in the blank templates, worksheets, blueprints, specific detailed how-tos.

I do give away some information but I'd never give away my best stuff. What are you going to sell if do?

um...how do you know what your best content is? Ive written a ton of articles I thought were amazing that were duds, while ive written some real stinkers that were hits. You dont know until you get it out there.

This is a silly debate... people dont buy "content"...they buy the convenience of not having to search for it. Essentially....they buy time savings.

Interesting post and had to take part,

Everyone will have a different perception about giving away your Best content free. However there can be a powerful strategy which is linked into giving really good content away to people and building a positive reputation.

However over delivering in value and giving good content it important, but say for instance you spend months working on a new strategy and it works well, would you give away that content for free?

When starting out in IM and building my audience, i always give away really good content people can use and i always like to over deliver. However the best content is reserved for coaching and clients. Charging or putting a price on best content is because i value my time and my the knowledge i have.

There can be a point if you are always giving good content, you may under value yourself and people may also under value you. However i guess everyone will have a different opinion.

Do not be afraid to hold back on your best content as you also need to make money. If your good content is good and your prospect appreciates that and values you, they will most certainly want more from you.

In regards to the underlying issues of prospects opt-ing out and leaving without taking your offer, id love to know more. If you would like any help - id be more then happy to mastermind and share strategies

Whatever you do - right or wrong - All learning

Ali Chowdhry

definitely give away good value material, but definitely hold back some good stuff.

you really need a lot of content so you have plenty to give away, and as time goes by you will build up new content and so you might start to give away some of your old content to stay ahead of the pack.

Nobody can say that for sure; you need to test first. However, you have to prove that you are trustable first. So, try to build a relationship based on trust with your actual and potential clients. That should be work.

The big secret to succeeding online is NOT trying to be everything to everyone.

Have you ever read 1,000 True Fans?

The Technium: 1,000 True Fans

This single blog post has been mentioned in many speeches/keynotes the world over. I just watched a TED speech yesterday, by Seth Godin, where he referenced this.

Giving away my best content for free lead to being quoted in Forbes, CIO, Entrepreneur, Website Magazine, Internet Retailer, etc., becoming the top ecommerce expert in Google/Bing, TV commentary on the cable business news networks, and interviews on national radio, and now my only clients are nationally recognized brands.

There's more than one way to monetize your knowledge. Help the little guys make money, and the big guys notice you.

Great topic. How do you test whether

1. Your content is good enough to be shared as free content?
2. Your content is good enough to be shared as paid content?

Can you give clear methods to draw both lines?

I am talking numbers, ie for instance when this amount of users come back to the site, it's good content.

One mistake you do NOT want to make is to think because you're giving something away for free that means it doesn't have to be good quality.

So many think because they give away something for free it can be any old garbage and no one will mind because "it's free".

People will look at that freebie and judge your paid content.

If it's bad they'll never buy. If it's so good they can't believe it's free you'll have them wondering how good the paid stuff must be and dying to buy it.

A good example of someone who gives away the best possible content for free is Matthew Woodwards blog (I can't seem to link to it?) in fact he doesn't charge for any of his content and it's some of the most indepth and best IM stuff I've seen on the web.

He makes his money through affiliate products which he promotes on the blog through tutorials and how to guides mostly.

He could charge a lot of money for these tutorials they are higher quality and better than most paid WSOs and other courses but by giving them away for free he's giving massive value to his visitors who then trust his recommendations on what tools, software and other items to buy.

You are right. It's sure a balancing act to get it right and then you get it right and something changes again and you have to start the dance all over again!

When I was trying to link to it WF was adding http://www.warriorforum.com to the front of the link no matter what I did.