Provide Free Content to get Paying Customers
You have probably noticed that most service-based businesses give away a lot of information for free. It’s pretty awesome. You can learn a lot from free information! But, if you’re the business, how do you make money if you’re giving away everything that you know?
First, you don’t give away everything. You give the what: what to eat, what exercises to do, what to do differently, what to add to their routine, etc. What you don’t reveal is the how: How they put everything together to get results. The how is what clients will pay for because it takes out the guesswork, it’s personalized to their challenges, and they don’t have to spend the extra time sifting through the free material.
Remember, however, that your free content needs to provide value. Your free content is building trust with a potential client – you’re letting them know you know your stuff. Don’t be too vague; it’s better to give everything you know than not enough.
Let’s be honest; the information (especially the free) you are providing isn’t unique. You can find a form of what I’m writing about in this post somewhere else. And yes, a version of what your customers are paying for can likely be found somewhere else too. But what is unique is your voice, how you work, and how you present information. Providing free content is a way for people to see YOU. It helps potential clients to know that they want to pay you for what you’re offering versus the competition. They are seeing if you’re the right person to help them achieve their goals and if they like you. Yes, they need to like you. The process is like, know, trust – and then you have a customer.
I’ve seen coaches (specifically life coaches) that seemingly give away everything they know in blog posts and podcasts. The natural question is, how do they have clients? People will pay for personalized coaching/consultation. We are already busy with life, so many of us would rather pay someone who knows a lot more than we do to take the guesswork out and help us get results. Don’t underestimate the power of personalized help and let that empower you when writing your free content.
If you are showing up consistently and offering valuable, free content, much of your content marketing has been built. From there, you share, and the rest will fall into place.
