It seems crazy that I spend hours and hours giving away free content on my podcasts, videos and updates in social media. Sometimes I question myself about it, too.
“Chalene, this is some of your best stuff. Should you just be giving this away?”
The reality is, though, this practice isn’t crazy at all. I’ll get to why that is in a moment. But — how much content should one really be giving away for free?
Almost anyone with an online business struggles with this decision. How much is too much? Listen, the trick is you must constantly remind yourself to have an abundance mindset.
With that in mind, here are some benefits that you’ve gotta remember every time you ask yourself, “Should I be giving this away for free?”
Number one: Attract your very specific target audience.
The reason you would consider putting all these things out there —blogs, YouTube videos, presentations and freemiums — is you’re trying to attract the attention of your ideal lifer. The kind of individual who’s a lot like you!
Think about it like this: you’ve got to give and give and give and give in order for someone to trust you.
Number two: People will share.
Any time you offer free content other people will share it. They have friends / colleagues / people in their industry who do exactly what they do. And some bit of relatable knowledge gained is going to inspire them to spread it along…
“Dude, have you listened to Chalene’s episodes on Build Your Tribe about outsourcing and hiring a virtual assistant?”
By sharing free content, you turn your free users into free promoters.
If your content is locked away — only available for people to share once they’ve purchased it — then the ability to share is limited and, therefore, so too is your exposure.
Number three: Differentiate ourselves from other people in the market.
The only way to stand apart from people in a similar industry, is for audiences to experience you before they buy. They’ve got to test drive the car before they make an investment!
Hence, free content can actually inform your audience of your value.
Truth alert: It’s going to be tough to get people to make an investment in you if they don’t know what you can do for them.
By giving people free content and they, in return, get great results, you’re building trust, rapport and proof.
So, your next question might be,
“Well, what if I’m giving away all my great stuff, like my best stuff, why would anyone buy something from me if it’s all available out there for free?”
Logical question, to be sure.
We will pay top dollar for easy access to the expert. Of course, you can listen to hundreds of hours worth of someone’s podcasts, scour through their Facebook page, read a bazillion of their blogs — but, ultimately, what you want is a shortcut.
So yeah, maybe you could cultivate a lot of (probably 50%) of an Influencer’s best content for free —by doing the legwork. If you’re serious, though, want to save time, and get the most specific and direct way to achieve results… you’ll make a monetary investment one day.
Lifers crave all the information in one place, delivered step by step, where they’re able to go much deeper than free content would ever allow for.
You just have to grab them with the free stuff first and make it a point to always sprinkle it in.
For much more on this topic, like:
- The major difference between premium content and free content
- How to differentiate ourselves from other people on the market
- How to get people to invest in your product / service after they’ve already consumed it for free
Then, check out the Build Your Tribe podcast below now:
And don’t forget to subscribe to BYT for weekly episodes dedicated to helping you crush your brand online!
