Everyone loves free, except for the people who must pay for it. This is the unwritten truth that hides behind any “free” marketing method or campaign. There is normally, though not always, a real cost in terms of time and expense.
So when you’re tempted to offer something for free, make sure and count the cost in each and every way you need to, so as to make sure your free content, bonus gift or other promotional label you chose to give is affordable. It’s time for you to take a hard look at the costs you’ll incur on the road to a freebie.
So what “free” promotions are we talking about?
The biggest places we see free work its way into our businesses is with the act of gathering email addresses. Offering a freebie is standard operating procedure, and will not be changing anytime soon. Most of the time we are offered a free ebook, report, video series, e-course, webinar or email series in return for our email address and other contact information.
If you’ve ever created any one of these, you understand the true costs involving them. Unless you’re a one-person business operator who loathes to outsource, you’ll be faced with the prospect of paying someone to create and set up for delivery your freebie. Just so you know…
- Creating the content – Someone has to write, film, record whatever content you are producing. Unless that’s totally you, you’ll pay for this.
- Designing the squeeze page or landing page – There are some great softwares out there, but they cost as well. And we know how much designers cost.
- Production costs and shipping – If you want to manufacture a hard product, chances are you’ll have to pay to get it where it’s going.
- Marketing funnel hard costs – Email autoresponders, setup costs for technical aspects, webinar charges. GoToWebinar for instance, charges at the bare minimum $99 a month for their lowest plan, which allows only 100 attendees. (to be fair, there are other lower-priced services)
- Advertising – Are you taking out ads for this freebie to draw the widest possible audience?
Using a freebie, or freemium content as people are referring to them these days, continues to be an excellent way to build a list or audience for your products and services. We just thought you ought to know you’ll want to count the cost of “free” when producing your freebie.