The Biggest Trend in Online Marketing: Just Give It Away for Free
Thereâs SO much amazing, insightful, thoughtfully-crafted free content available right now.Terrible, right?As a consumer, it means thereâs just too much good stuff to choose from. Itâs like youâre at the biggest free buffet in the world - no matter how much youâd like to gobble up everything in sight, thereâs only so much you can have before you need to switch to stretchy pants.[caption id="attachment_2625" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
Mmmm...free content.[/caption]That makes things just as tricky from the business perspective, too - especially when it comes to creating opt-in offers.Your email list can be a huge traffic driver for both new blog posts and older ones - and an invaluable way to promote new products and sales - but only if you can get people to actually sign up for it! And while you can do things like use Twitter in creative ways to drive signups, growing your list is also a matter of what youâre offering - not just how youâre offering it.Sure, sometimes offering something like a newsletter is enough. (Who doesnât want regular updates from one of their online faves?)However.If you really want to grease the wheels, go the extra mile, and do whatever other cliche idioms you can think of, you might take a little inspiration from some of the really heavy-hitting opt-ins that are out there.Some opt-ins promise something so unique, so compelling, and so irresistibly good that you canât NOT give âem your email address. And weâre gonna take a closer look at a few of them right now.So, whoâs really crushing it with their opt-ins - and what can you learn from them? What can you actually offer people up front - including people who have maybe never even heard of you before - thatâll make them want to join your list right then and there?
Video and Webinars
Whether youâre more comfortable with the energy of a live webinar or you prefer perfecting an instructional video over the course of a thousand takes, putting yourself in front of the camera can be a compelling way to drive opt-ins.We mentioned Ramit Sethi the last time we wrote about webcasting - now letâs take a closer look at how exactly he makes it work for him.Hereâs a glance at one of his opt-in landing pages:
Ramitâs opt-in doesnât just subscribe you to the list he uses for sharing his expertise - it hooks you up with an exclusive video guide, too. That immediate payoff can be the tipping point for someone not sure if they want to commit to yet another email list, because câmon, arenât you at least a little bit curious what he has to say?Part of that curiosity comes from his level of authority - even if youâd never heard of him before, that fancy, professional-looking screenshot says that this is a guy you may as well take seriously. (But hey, everyone starts somewhere.)Even still, looks arenât everything. Ramit also sells the heck out of this videoâs actual content, too:
These make you curious because theyâre concrete - they ask very specific questions to which the video promises answers. Compare it to the bolded section from that first image, which promotes his email list. âTacticsâ and âinsightsâ are great, but theyâre also things that literally anyone can promise you - and you canât know ahead of time if his are any better than the next guyâs.The bullet points selling the video promise things nobody else can - success stories, cautionary tales, and specific lessons that this person learned firsthand, and wants to pass on to you.Make your leads a promise that only you can make. Offer something unique and concrete - ask a question, and tease the answer.This is something we do with our own webinars, which promise information like:
See? Specificity is your friend! Video is just one of those things that fancy online marketer-types like to call âpremium content,â and it belongs in that category because you can actually pitch it as its own free product - even though the thing you really want is for someone to fill out your opt-in form.Think of it this way: that form subscribes someone to your list, and in cases like these, it also gives them an instant reward. From the userâs perspective, which is the primary incentive, and which is the bonus?Itâs kind of like McDonaldâs Happy Meals. McDonaldâs is selling food, but they know itâs really the toy that your kids want. (So much so that in 2010 - when McDonaldâs spent more than $115 million advertising Happy Meals - a San Francisco law barred them from incentivizing unhealthy kids meals by including free toys.)Fortunately, the emails youâre sending are undoubtedly healthier than anything youâll find in a Happy Meal, but the point remains - the extra incentive you offer with your opt-in may technically be a bonus, but to your leads, that may be the primary reason they sign up at all.With that in mind, what other things are people offering as an incentive to filling out an opt-in?
Ebooks and Mini-Courses
Ebooks and mini-courses are a perfect example of the types of premium content that can drive opt-ins. Anyone can make them, because unlike video, you donât need to deal with any potentially unfamiliar technology - if you can type, you can whip one up. Hereâs an example of a mini-course:
No, no - mini course! Like this:
Thatâs a popover youâll see when you venture over to Copy Hackers - one of our absolute favorite resources for studying copywriting. (Weâve mentioned them before in this post.)You can (and should) read up on the philosophy of that two-button opt-in on their blog, but for right now, weâre focusing not on how theyâre making the offer, but on what theyâre offering.For one thing, theyâre not blowing smoke when they say that free book is a $21.99 value - you can buy it right here, if you really want to. For another, a book isnât the only thing theyâre offering. Opt out from that popover, and youâll still see this right there on the blog:
Itâs there on the left - a simple opt-in form and a couple of oh-so-specific bullet points teasing a boatload of free instructional material. (A seven-part course, for crying out loud!)Clicking on that CTA in the bottom-left corner calls up another popover that really drives home that point about whatâs âbonusâ and what isnât:
Opting in is just the price you pay for the thing you really want: the book. (Wouldnât you rather give them your email address than shell out 22 bucks?)On a related note, this is another reason that you should invest time in blogging on a regular basis.The Copy Hackers blog is an intensely valuable resource for anyone who wants to step up their writing game - it offers in-depth case studies and instructional guides that range from beginner-level material to the crazily advanced.Putting that expertise on open display kind of makes you wonder:âIf this is what they give away to just anyone, just imagine how valuable the BOOK must be!âThink back to Ramit. His blog reaches half a million readers every month - thatâs a lot of potential leads who know, like, and trust the guy. If youâre trying to do all this âpremium content and opt-insâ stuff without blogging first, itâs like youâre trying to build a house by starting on the second floor.Invest in your blog, show off your expertise, and people will want more of it.Hereâs another example:
This is an ebook from the team over at Intercom (and yes, they also have an exceptional blog).Just like Copy Hackers, Intercom offers this book for free in exchange for an opt-in - but this offer also comes with an ingenious twist:
Donât want to surrender your email? Your moneyâs going to a good cause. Otherwise, you can go ahead and just opt in - and when you do, youâre giving Intercom another lead.Hereâs the important thing: clicking the âshare with a friendâ option does NOT subscribe that person to Intercomâs list. (Thatâs up to your friend, as it should be.) But it does put Intercom and this book on their radar, just as if youâd sent them a link to a blog post you thought theyâd like.What matters most is that Intercom is offering you something that provides serious utility for the small price of an email address, and for spreading the word on their behalf. Not a bad deal, from the leadâs perspective - and that makes it a seriously compelling opt-in offer. (Just look at that testimonial quote in the image above. The book is free, but theyâre committed to promoting it as its own product.)Speaking of promoting your freebie as its own product, check out what this last uber-famous Internet entrepreneur gives away to connect with new leads:
Something Personal
Neil Patel is pretty much online startup royalty. Blogging superstar, architect of four multi-million startups, and the guy just plain knows his stuff.Which is why the opt-ins for some of his businesses are so interesting. Here, take a look at two of them. First, Quick Sprout:
Next, Crazy Egg:
Easy to see what they have in common, right?Each of these sites offers you a custom report right off the bat - and that personalized touch can be pretty curiosity-inducing! (Just ask anyone who offers free tarot card readings.)Of course, it isnât quite as simple as those landing pages make it seem - enter your URL, and youâll be greeted with this:
Youâre not just giving them your email address - youâre giving them access to the data in your Google Analytics! Thatâs some pretty intimate stuff, and it undoubtedly allows them to keep ridiculously detailed records on their leads.Not that it isnât worth it. (After all, think of how much personal data you willingly surrender to sites like Facebook. Itâs just the cost of doing business.)What really matters here is that Crazy Egg and Quick Sprout offer something personalized, and thatâs hard to resist. Itâs like how we talked about making a promise that only you can make - where else can you get a free heatmap for your website? (Granted, you have to sign up for a free trial with Crazy Egg to actually access it, but once you make it that far in the process, your mind is probably made up.)When youâre offering something personalized like a free consultation or analysis, just remember that there will come a time when it HAS to be scalable. Starting out, it may not be too difficult to give your time away for free if it means gaining leads. Once you start picking up momentum, though, it becomes all too easy for freebies to take up way more time than theyâre worth.The solution in these examples is to automate the process. Neil Patel isnât personally creating heatmaps for everyone who opts in - those people are just getting free access to a program. Plenty of programs and apps offer free trials for the price of an email address, and these are no different.Donât have software to offer? You donât need it. A free tool doesnât have to be personalized by you - it can be personalized by the person using it. Spreadsheets, planning guides, custom calendars, and other templates you design can provide real utility to the people who need them - and you only have to create things like that once.Whether youâre thinking of creating resources like those or any of the other types of premium freebies weâve been looking at, the thing to remember is this:
Itâs worth the effort
Creating the sorts of premium content weâve been looking at is a question of short-term effort, long-term gain - and that means itâs easily worth it.It may feel at first like too serious a time investment for something that might not pay off. After all, itâs not unlikely that a lot of your leads wonât become customers.But considering how valuable your email list can actually be, investing time and energy into enticing people to sign up is more than worthwhile. Will you see the payoff right away? Probably not! But you can certainly see a slow and steady return on your investment - and sometimes, thatâs the best kind anyway.
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