A freebie or should you charge?

A freebie or should you charge?

Try not to “condition your list to expect freebies?” In other words, how can you help people, give stuff away when you desire, and still get paid well for what you do?

I know that I operate a free weekly newsletter, its purpose being to improve the lot of those wanting an online business they can run from home, and I do give free videos from time to time. But at the end of the day none of them expect free meals for all of their life.

First off, as mentioned before change your attitude if need be. Be confident. Treat your business like a business and not a hobby. Know that you are helping people and that they are grateful. Know that you should get paid for the help. Know that you in fact deserve to be compensated for what you do.

Next, feel free to give away freebies on your site, but make them relevant. Don’t give away 47 ebooks just to get someone to give you their email address. Sell someone on signing up to your free newsletter just as you would pitch them if your newsletter was a paid newsletter. Include free reports or ebooks as a bonus if you’d like.

Here’s the key: word this sales letter in such a way that people realize you are doing them a favor by giving away something valuable. Let them know that this freebie is a sample of your other work…it’s a way for them to try you out totally risk free.

Think about those free samples of food you get in supermarkets. First off, the people offering these samples are offering them to a targeted market. For example, if you see a woman offering free samples of pizza, you likely won’t see her sitting in the toilet paper aisle. Nope, she will be in the grocery section of the story – and likely she will be standing right next to the case that holds the pizza.

Second, you’ll notice that this free sample isn’t a “take as much as you want” type of sample. This isn’t the store giving you a free lunch as a thank you for shopping in their store. Indeed, in our example we have a woman there encouraging you to take a sample (just one, maybe two) – and she’s also prepared to tell you how to buy if you want more.

When you walk up to claim your free sample of this pizza, you are beginning this experience with an expectation. You know that you are sampling the food as a serious buyer who might just buy the pizza if you like it. In fact, you actually expect the person offering the samples to ask you to buy the pizza – even though you know that you are not obligated to buy, you are still sampling under the non-spoken agreement that if you do like the sample you will buy an entire pizza.

Do you get upset at her if she doesn’t give you an entire regular size piece or the entire pizza for free? Of course not. You are grateful for the sample she gave you, and if the pizza fits into your grocery budget you’re more than happy to buy one to take home.

This is exactly how it should work when you start a newsletter and offer freebies in exchange for email addresses. You are the one offering a “taste” for potential buyers. And yes, after they’ve consumed their sample, you tell them how to buy… just like the woman in the supermarket who suggests you buy the pizza.

If these potential buyers come to you with an expectation that you are offering a free sample, they won’t be upset or surprised when you ask for the sale. In fact, they’ll EXPECT you to ask for the sale. And better yet, when they know they are getting a highly valued freebie under the unspoken agreement that they’re a serious buyer, they WILL buy if they like your sample. For example, if they like your free report they’ll buy the related ebook.

Again let me stress this – make your freebies relevant to what you’re selling. Don’t give away tons of only partially related freebies just to get an email address. Make the freebies relevant, make them samples of what you’re actually selling, and yes…SELL people on exchanging their email address for one solid free report and your free newsletter.

After all, if you can’t sell someone on signing up for your newsletter without also giving away tons of bribes, then you’ll have a hard time convincing anyone to take out their credit card to purchase a related paid product.

If you do not already subscribe to my free newsletter J then why not give it a try. Check out my view of the balances and apply them to your business.