Free was the prick that burst the dot com bubble.
With the current economy crisis, free seems to be making a return soon.
However, John Jantsch, of Ducttape Marketing, says that with so much free stuff around, consumers might be suffering free fatigue.
Too much of a good thing isn’t a great thing after all.
However, John suggests marketers should look at upping the value of free.
John wrote “There are some that will actually place a higher value on free information if they have to work a bit to get it. The totally free, no strings, no exclusivity, no nothing appeal has, well, lost it’s appeal under the flood of junk that comes by way of this offer.
“Bill Doerr of Sell More Marketing shared a brilliant strategy for raising the price of free. He promoted a seminar filled with very valuable information, the kind that people pay hundreds for, at the low cost of $99. When attendees arrived, they were greeted with a crisp $100 bill at their seats. The $99 assured attendees were motivated to get and use the information being presented and the $100 give back, making the session more than free, so exceeded attendee’s expectations they were motivated to buy and refer others out of sheer delight.”
Read more at www.ducttapemarketing.com.
Do you have any examples of upping the value of free? Please share them at the comments below.
Free Twitter no more?
It seems that countdown has began for brands looking to use Twitter as a free advertising, free communication and free marketing channel.
Marketingmagazine.co.uk wrote that Twitter’s co-founder Biz Stone is looking to charge corporations soon but did not highlight details of the charges.
Said Biz Stone, 'We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.'
Guess with companies like Dell announcing sales revenue of USD1million in a year and half of marketing via Twitter, it isn’t really surprising that Twitter would want a percentage of that revenue.
The Future of journalism?
Has end-user generated content put the final nail into coffin of journalism?
George Cherian says that the web2.0 has brought about consumers are narrowing their targets to very niche content that general journalism is now competing with.
Wrote George, “This model is under twin assault.
“First, advertisers are finding alternative – and usually more targeted – ways to
reach customers. Professional journalism may be as necessary as it ever was, but it is finding it harder to get advertisers to subsidise readers. Readers, having never in history paid the full price of receiving the news, are not about to start now – especially not when the internet seems to provide a bottomless pit of free content.
“Second, the newspaper’s “department store” model is under threat from the boutiques of niche media. Why buy a newspaper for the world weather report, or for EPL news, or for movie reviews, when you get these from weather.com, goal.com or rottentomatoes.com. Niche media – together with mass media from previously distant markets that the internet has brought within reach – chip away at readers’ dependence on their local dailies.”
George wrote more into details on how journalism needs to reinvent itself for the future.
Comments