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  • When Free Is Just Too Expensive

    Offering free stuff as a marketing tactic is an accepted practice in most industries.

    However, in most cases, the party offering the free information or bait is actually interested in charging for it. Even if that charge is the exchange of a name and email address. So, for some, free isn’t free and may be too expensive. Take the “free” evaluation. Free in this case might mean that the recipient must take time, accept an appointment and sit through veiled sales presentation.

    Free is one of the most powerful marketing words on the planet but, what makes free really free is trust. In order to use this tactic effectively the recipient must trust that you won’t abuse their permission. If you have no previous relationship with a prospect you cannot go overboard assuring them that you won’t misuse their information. You must actively sell your free information by communicating just how valuable it really is.

    Taking steps to build trust with testimonials and referrals, providing great free information with no strings attached and being consistent is how you lower the barrier to free. Once this is done effectively, and you haven’t abused the trust you’ve earned, you can move to steps that provide greater education and demand greater involvement.

    In fact, now your free information might actually be something they would pay for.

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    Posted by: John Jantsch on Feb 05, 07 | 10:10 pm
    Category: Marketing Strategy | Tags:

    Comments
    • I so much agree. It's interesting how we all assume that free means I have to pay nothing. Well, if you're giving something you have in exchange for the 'free offer,' then it's not really free. It costs you something. Often an email address or your contact info. To me, that's paying.
    • Mattheweb
      Thanks for the article - I also agree. My company recently had a somewhat difficult time giving away tickets to $500 conference (including airfare and hotel!) The cost of taking time out to go was a barrier but for most folks, they didn't believe the trip could be that valuable. If the conference was so great, why would we give it away for free?
      It can be tough to give freebies without removing the perceived value, especially with subjective items like content at a conference.
    • <pingback>...ellas: “Gratis” es una de las palabras más poderosas del mercadeo… …pero lo que la hace poderosa, es la confianza Para usar esta técnica, nuestro prospecto debe estar convencido de que no abusaremos de ...</pingback>
    • Agreed. Also, let's not forget to assign "Value" to free items. An offer that is free, versus and offer that is "free, with regular value of $97" is always better promotional positioning.
    • John Jantsch
      Aliso,

      Great reminder on the value assignment. Sometime people don't pay attention to this but I love it when I can offer a hot prospect something that they can clearly see others are paying for.
    • <pingback>...It always has the potential to be positive. from  DuctTapeMarketing ...</pingback>
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