This article is about using free reports and guides on your website to gain publicity and use as a lead in for additional sales for your paid products and services. I will go over the basics of guides, what they should and shouldn’t include, and evaluate some tools for writing them.
I’m currently in the planning stages of my first eBook product for this site. I won’t reveal any more on this as it’s contents may be subject to change. I will say that it’s already 1/3 written, over 6000 words already, and has been very exciting to write so far!
Following your own advice sometimes can be hard to do. That’s why I really had to stop at this point to have a think about how I will market this eBook product.
It’s a simple topic, and is something that will have a lot of value for the target market, that’s why I don’t want to stuff it up with crappy marketing.
With such a comprehensive offering, I need a way to communicate via my marketing to my potential customers that it’s worth the money and can genuinely help them achieve what their true goals are.
Free guides are a marketing tool that has been used quite successfully in the internet business sector for quite a few years now.
The purpose of a free guide or free report is to answer a question, and offer the customer something they can’t refuse. Not a lot of people say no to something that is offered for free right to their face, and the same rule applies online.
The general idea behind the concept is to offer the freebie to “warm up” the customer (also known as a warm lead) to be more emotionally open to the concept of buying the paid product offered to them at it’s conclusion. This is known as a sales funnel.
It’s pretty much as you imagine. A funnel that is designed to capture leads (potential customers) into the open top end of the funnel via the free guide, free report, free video, or other free content in order to squeeze them down the chute as qualified customers ready to make a purchase.
As you can see, the freebie strategy isn’t overly complicated and it’s quite effective in practice. But it kind of comes off as a little sinister right?
It may appear that way when you look at the mechanics of it, but the thing to remember is, when you’re providing free content such as a free guide or report, the value of your next offers will be judged by the value of your free offer.
It’s your job to provide something legitimate, helpful and insightful as a reward for their attention.
Justifying The Free Guide Strategy
I have analyzed the content I’m planning to offer in my paid product, and tried to think, what questions might lead people to really needing this product?
When customers are in the “searching” phase, they have usually already decided what they think they’re after (be it the right or wrong place to start).
For example, if I’m looking for a website host to host my new blog, I’ve already decided on becoming a blogger. If I am looking at information on cardio exercise, I’ve already decided I want to loose weight.
The strategy will be thus: If I can use my free report to convince these “searchers” to look at the bigger solution to their problem (my paid product, of course), and provided that the free report is solving their immediate query, then the lead in to the sale of my more comprehensive solution should just make sense.
How To Write A Free Guide
Writing a Free Guide or a Free Report is dead simple. If you write a blog already, you’ll find this even easier than most.
Essentially, you’ll be looking at writing a report which contains the equivalent to the contents of 3 to 5 blog posts.
More than this, and you could be missing out on revenue by selling the report instead. Less than this and it’s not meaty enough, and won’t provide any lasting value for the customer hence meaning they probably won’t purchase your paid product.
Tools
I use one main tool which allows me to write my guides anywhere I have internet access. The one comprehensive tool I use is the Google Docs suite of online office applications, though if you don’t have a Google account then you might want to use Word and a PDF printer addon.
I always export my guides in PDF format, in Google Docs simply goto the “File” menu, then “Download file as” and choose “PDF”.
The PDF format is one of the widest used cross platform document formats that appears consistently in a number of readers. Additionally, it is a nice read-only document that is easily shared amongst friends via emails and instant messengers.
Other tools that I use are photographic suites such as Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Fireworks, or a very full featured free alternative GIMP. These tools are used for editing screenshots, and designing front covers and cliparts to help “sell” the guide.
What To Include
A free guide should give away enough useful information to eliminate any burning questions that could stop the customer purchasing your product.
It should answer the original question they searched for, and give enough new information to raise interest in the topic to make them think they’re missing out on something by not looking into your offer seriously.
Include supporting evidence, and social proof. It will help support your case that they should buy your products and services.
What Not To Include
Do not include specific information on how to do things that are covered in your paid products. Use language that suggests information is found in your paid products and services that will provide these specifics.
Don’t lead them on too far making outlandish claims suggesting your paid information includes the cure for all their ails. People aren’t stupid and most smart consumers know that there isn’t really a silver bullet product or service that will do it all.
The best rule of thumb is to be honest, and let them know exactly what they would get if they were to take up the offer.
Conclusion
Hopefully this will give you some food for thought about what you’re planning by way of marketing for your next product, eBook, or service.
Including a free guide in your offering can be smart if executed in the correct way. Keep your wits about you, research your topic, and look for the questions that people are asking to find what your product would solve. Do this and you will find a topic for your free content to answer.
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[...] This article is about using free reports and guides on your website to gain publicity and use as a lead in for additional sales for your paid products and services. I will go over the basics of guides, what they should and shouldn’t include, and evaluate some tools for writing them. See the rest here: The Benefits Of Free Guides and How To Write Them [...]