How much content should I give away for free on my website or social media? This is the question we’ve been asking ourselves recently. And we figured you might be wondering the same thing. Can businesses sabotage their earning potential by giving too much away? If so, then figuring out where to draw the line is worth a moment of thought.
Finding the balance of paid versus free content is important for two reasons:
- If you give everything away, you won’t make any money.
- If you give nothing away, no one will hear about you. And you won’t make any money.
In the previous blog, we discussed why to give content away for free (building awareness, trust, and loyalty) and what type of content to give away. Here we discuss why some content should be withheld and where to draw the line between paid and free content.
Why withhold content?
If there is so much benefit to giving away valuable information, then why would you ever withhold information? Again, the answer goes back to sales. You don’t want to give something away if you could find people who are willing to pay for it, and people are willing to pay for things that they truly value.
So, what do people value enough to purchase?
- Expertise: If you can show (through your experiences and testimonials) that your product or service can help someone achieve their goals, that has quantifiable value. You are offering them a return on their investment in you.
- Convenience: People pay to get a desired result in a fraction of the time it would take to do on their own. For example, anyone could go on YouTube and learn how to do their own car repair, but that whole process might take weeks (or years?). There’s true value in just taking the car to a mechanic and having it functional in a few hours, perhaps while you walk over to the nearby salon.
- Quality: For some, even if they had all the time in the world, they still wouldn’t be able to accomplish their goal. For example, they might have all the info they need to build a website, but they just can’t make it look good or work properly. If they are convinced that you could do it way better than they could, it’s worth the investment.
- Customization: Some people have a unique situation, and they need specific advice. You can provide consultation, but since that takes your precious time, they’ll have to pay.
- Accountability/Community/Exclusivity: Access to an expert or a community of like-minded individuals brings accountability, which can help propel people toward their goals. This has monetary value. People also value access to inside information, special benefits, and exclusive offers.
Where do I draw the line between paid and free?
It’s a good idea to charge when people are getting real value — where it saves them significant time, earns them more money, or gives them personal access to your time and expertise. Here are some specific ideas on what content to charge for:
- research that was costly to acquire
- 1-on-1 consultation (except to provide a quote)
- customized plans or services
- time spent helping to implement anything they haven’t paid for
- full courses, books, training classes, conferences, or retreats
- compilations such as e-books (although this could also be given away in exchange for email subscribers – more on how to get email subscribers here)
In Sum
In a previous blog, we answered the question, “How much content should I give away for free?”. The answer: as much as you can! Free content helps you achieve your business goals. But it’s prudent to charge for content when you’ve proven that you can help people achieve their goals. If you’re low on time, we can help you put together your free content so you can focus on your paid content. Just give us a holler.