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It's definitely a double edged sword as people find it so easy to collect stuff that they get no value from. My hard disk is full of reports and audios downloaded but never listened to.
Grabbed because it sounds good at the time but it never works up the priority list.
But I also see the reciprocation desired is diminishing. The zero marginal cost of digital products means the receiver realises that the giver hasn't given anything with a cost.
Not sure where it is all leading.
If you analyze competitors you will see that they have less limited free services but quality is much worse.
I would say if you want to offer something free if it would be extremely limited in excellent quality I would take it. If you offer something for free just because it is some trash nobody would buy - it wont help :)
http://creativetechs.com/freephotoshopcourse/
From a business-side, we’re testing a theory. I believe that over the long-run we’ll end up generating more income by giving classes like these away for free, than we have made so far selling one workshop at a time. The live webinars themselves are free. We’ll charge a small fee for recorded copies of previous classes and other downloads. We’ll see how that works out.
The internet has made information rapidly and cheaply available. But it has also help create our information overload and filled our in-boxes with what we later call spam. I think it goes back to what I tell a lot of people, a book is just a book and course is just a course. The gold is in the implementation.
If you to jump through several hoops, such as leaving contact data, in order to get a free product (which might turn out to be trash), people will get annoyed and probably won't do it. However, if they know that there is a real person behind a free service things look much better in terms of trust.
Check it out... MODassic blog
John, in your example of the $100 on the chair, Bill wanted to reward attendance and participation in the expectation that the money give-away would create a buzz. (He was right.)
Free can be effective - if used with care.
the money in the chair idea is good, although, I would have handed them the money, not left it in the chair for someone to scoop up.
Dr. Wright
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Andy
~Joe
I'd be curious to hear what you think about PR agencies that only charge per article placed? Places like Publicity Guaranteed
If you think about it, when ever we read a blog like yours we are getting free information and advice.
I like the idea of rewards for playing, to build trust.
Building trust have always one large problem there will be always people who are just takers and never givers so you always risk to give something to these people.
Check him out. http://techxav.com/
I'm no expert in marketing, but when I look at my own personal behavior as a consumer, I can certainly see that what you are saying makes a great deal of sense.
Personally, when I get something which I have not either earned or paid for, I rarely make much use of it unless it is a genuine gift, and I tend to ascribe significantly higher value to things which I earn over those which I do not.
On the flip side, there are occasions where consumers should be vary about 'free' offerings. You mentioned seminars in your first paragraph. I don't know what the situation is like in other parts of the world, but in my home country of Australia, people would do very well to treat 'free' property or investment seminars with extreme caution.
Promoters do not typically put on 'free' seminars simply out of the goodness of their hearts, and these types of seminars typically resemble little more than a promotion tool for either: (a)property or investments which the company is selling; or (b)further seminars for which the promoters intend to charge several thousand dollars.