Recently I was participating in a Twitter space where we were discussing ethical monetization. It was a wide-ranging conversation of very thoughtful and intriguing takes about business, products and selling. One of the participants shared a story about growing up with a parent who owned a restaurant. Down the street from their restaurant was another restaurant that was pretty popular and did good business. Once a year that business would host an event thanking its customers and serving free food. On that day, this person’s parent would have an increase in profits by 15% due to the overflow of the other business and some people not wanting to deal with the mayhem of that celebration.
The lesson that this person shared was that they would never have free in any of their businesses. When I heard this story and left with a different reaction. I wanted to ask them about all of the other business days. Because from the story it was easy to figure out that the restaurant giving out free food one day a year was pretty popular throughout the year. Were they making more than this person’s parent because gratitude and generosity was a part of how they honored their clientele? In today’s podcast episode I’m talking about why free goods and services are such a profitable part of building an online brand and what people are getting wrong about adding free to their business.
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Creators Getting Paid
I share some additional strategies about how to approach the role of free in this week’s Creators Getting Paid resource. I even share behind the scenes how free shows up in my online brand. Don’t worry to access Creators Getting Paid it’s free or $5 a month (a cup of coffee) join other mission driven online business people building brands led by mission today. Go to https://creatorsgettingpaid.com/newsletter today.
Listen to the Episode
How Much Content Are You Creating
In all of the noise connected to growing followers on social media, being seen and the “aesthetic” of being online we don’t talk enough about the actual work of being online. And one of the key components of building an online brand oftentimes producing a lot of free content that is designed to do one, or several, of the following things:
- Educate
- Entertain
- Inspire
- Build community
And the last action for people who are building a business-those free experiences are designed with the goal of moving their ideal community members into a funnel. Think of the beginning stages of a funnel as the place where an online business deepens their connection with people that they would like to serve now and eventually sell in the future.
That free content could include, but isn’t limited, to the following:
- Hosting a Twitter Space
- Downloadable worksheets
- Free conferences-Denver has an incredible conference called Denver Startup Week that I attend every year.
Think of these free items as samples of what’s to come in the future.
Why Free Experiences Matter
Generosity in an increasingly cynical and stingy world will always stand out. Free experiences also are incredibly powerful. They have the ability to:
- Provide significant PR
- Scale the power of “Word of mouth”
- Make it easier to request and receive video, audio and written testimonials
- Grow an army of Brand Advocates
- A/B Test your messaging, copywriting and products that you’re working on
And the people who sign up for free become powerful data to use if you decide to run paid marketing campaigns on any social platforms. Your free community members are what the Facebook Pixel loves. Those retargeting campaigns optimize that data so that you have a better chance of getting in front of the right people for your products/services or tools.
What About the People Who Will NEVER Make a Purchase
You haven’t done the math or the research on why it’s ok for there to be people who don’t make purchases from you. There are so many reasons why people don’t say “yes” to an offer. I’m going to share a few.
- They aren’t ready
- The person isn’t the ideal audience for what you’re selling
- You’re selling something that isn’t the right fit for the moment that they’re in.
- They currently don’t have the money to make the purchase…yet.
- They would like to make the purchase but you don’t offer a payment plan
- Your community member has the money but need to build more trust in you that you’ll deliver whatever it is you’re offering. You’re not going to take the money and run.
- They’re observing how you “show up” in the world an as a human being
So What Do You Do?
There are a few strategies that you can embrace to help you grow your sales.
- Get clear on who your audience actually is. Have you met with them in office hours, Zoom meetings or in person when appropriate and safe?
- Look at the data. Ask the following questions:
- Where did they find you?
- What makes them say “yes” to items that you’re selling
- What makes people say “no” to what you’re selling
- Practice delivering your offerings and use the feedback to make them better
Free is the training ground for your paid offerings.
How Do I Feel About My Community Members
You know, the ones who likely won’t spend. I still treasure them. Because I’ve been the free community member for a number of reasons. But, if I love the product, the creator or their mission I am sharing the creator with other people that I think they should connect with. I’m sending them resources. If there’s a scholarship, award or cool thing that I think they could qualify for-I tell them about it. And I’ve had the same experience with community members doing the same for me. I’ve done the math and studies have also been done-you need a tiny percentage of community members to purchase from you regularly to make a solid income. There’s room to be generous in your business.
How to Make the Switch from Free to Paid
Setting boundaries around your free offerings and selling the items that make sense within your brand can be a really emotionally challenging process. Reflect on the journey you would like your community members to take with you based on the following:
- Where their business is developmentally-Do you want to work with beginners, intermediate level brand builders or people who are deeper into building their brands?
- Stay out of people’s wallet-I’ll never forget when LaTisha Styles said this in a workshop she was hosting. Instead provide products at different price points that allow people to spend how they would like to and where it makes sense.
- It’s Ok if you earn small amounts in the beginning
- With each sale you’ll learn a lesson about what your community wants from you.
- Understand your community/client avatar is and how they believe and observe you to be the person who can help them solve specific problems related to their lives, businesses, etc.
- Grow a list-But, remember that lists come in many forms these days.
- Email lists
- Newsletters
- Apps
- SMS messaging
- When we talk about lists we’re NOT talking about social media followers.
- I recommend using Flodesk for email list building. I currently use it and love it. I can also sell products using Flodesk. If you sign up for Flodesk using my affiliate link you’ll get 50% off the monthly price for your first year using the service! I’m also a proud affiliate and if you make a purchase I may be compensated in some way. Go to: creatorsgettingpaid.com/flodesk to sign up and start building your list.
- Sit down and work through and understand your numbers on a weekly, monthly quarterly and yearly basis.
- How much do you want to earn a year?
- How many people do you need to connect with in order to hit the conversion rate to make your sales?
- Set your intention-This is a little woo
- If you’ve been providing the following free services such as:
- Coaching
- Writing
- Copywriting
- Marketing
- Event planning
- Speaking
- You can be paid for these services
5 Steps to Take You From Free to Paid
(a mini-Workshop)
Want to get started getting paid for all of the free work that you’ve been doing? Aren’t sure what some of the initial steps are to get your mind in the right place? Watch the following mini-workshop “Free to Paid” go to the following link: https://creatorsgettingpaid.com/freetopaid to watch the free workshop