Under the Hood, Part 3: Moving The "Paid" Line
Welcome! This is the final installment of this week's "Under
the Hood" series, where we've been taking a look at some of the
most potent marketing techniques available to us today.
Now yesterday, we went into e-commerce, but I also want to give
some love to all the info product creators and marketers out
there.
Today, I want to revisit a concept we've talked about before
called "Moving the F'ree Line." Our friend and colleague Eben
Pagan kind of turned Brad and me on to the concept. You
basically take your BEST idea and just GIVE IT AWAY.
There are plenty of reasons why this strategy KILLS in every
marketplace.
- Instant credibility
- Proof of results
- Triggers reciprocity
And on and on. It makes you look like the best thing out
there, and makes people assume that if your fr'ee stuff is that
good, your PAID stuff must be fantastic.
BUT!
Here's the NUMBER ONE question we get asked about "moving the
fr'ee line"…
"If I give away my BEST stuff, what do I have left to sell?"
or
"If I move the f'ree line, what about the PAID line?"
Today, I'm going to talk about 3 different approaches to
solving that particular problem.
First, let's talk about how StomperNet does it.
Obviously, we're very well known for releasing real training
videos fre'e to the public. The stuff we give away is the
exact same quality as the stuff that we sell, but the "paid
line" has to do with QUANTITY.
See, even though we give away 4 or 5 videos every time we do a
launch – we have something like 800 hours of videos for our
members.
In our case, it's not about giving away the farm. We're just
giving away our "best" as in our best presentation of our best
idea that will get results FAST.
The videos in our fre'e line series are always produced
specifically for those launches, too. We're talking about
creating brand new media to give away.
Now, we realize that not everyone can produce video the way we
can, and not everyone has the resources to create brand new
material just to try to move the lines in their specific market.
But here's ANOTHER way to approach this problem.
Last week we conducted and promoted – geez – 4 or 5
teleseminars for Eben Pagan's Guru MasterMind launch.
See what we did there? It wasn't a video that we had to
script, shoot, edit, etc. – but we still created BRAND NEW
f'ree line content to generate interest in Eben.
If you've been with us a while, you may recall that I talked
about "event marketing" in launches.
That's exactly what teleseminars are. They are an EVENT that
occurs once, in real time. Because of that, it's scarce, and
scarcity = value.
So by creating an "event" you are giving away valuable, rare
content for fr'ee and it has the same beneficial effects as
other fr'ee line plays.
If you record those teleseminars, you then have a tangible
"freebie" too. If you kept up with Eben's promotion last week,
you know that we promoted a live phone interview between Brad
Fallon and Eben – then the next day, promoted the downloadable
recording for those who missed it.
That's one way to use "repackaging" to expand your fre'e line
offerings without having to expend a whole lot of effort. See,
without even TOUCHING Eben's product for something to give
away, he easily created BRAND NEW fr'ee line material via the
live teleseminars. He then used the RECORDING as ANOTHER
freebie, essentially doubling the effect of that single effort.
There's another fantastic example of this repackaging concept being promoted right now by Mike Filsaime.
Some time ago, Mike held a pretty expensive live seminar (about
$5000 a seat if I recall). It was called the "Seven Figure
Code" and it was a very successful example of event marketing.
Now, as you could have guessed, Mike filmed the whole seminar,
and then he sold DVDs of it as a Home Study course.
So, here's a little exercise – what could Mike do to create
some fre'e line content here?
… Go on, take a second and actually think about it.
…
I bet 90% of you thought that he should give away clips from
the DVD recordings, right? And sure, he's doing a little bit
of that. But that's more like a SAMPLE. That's just a tiny
TASTE. That's not really PUSHING the f'ree line is it?
I thought Mike came up with something really cool.
He hired a top-secret high-level copywriter to watch every
single second of that DVD set and distill it down into a
manuscript that's right around 80 or so pages.
That's the ENTIRE seminar, shaved of all the fat, leaving only
the meat – and packaged as an easy-to-read, expertly written
document. And he's presenting it as an actual, physically
printed book. He's going to MAIL it to you. Like with a STAMP!
And he's giving THAT away (although you would pay shipping).
That's pretty cool. See, it gives you all the best stuff with
none of the fluff. Plus, it actually puts a REAL THING in your
hands. That's got a really strong psychological affect for a
prospect.
It sort of convinces people to subconsciously accept
ownership. Just like trying on clothes in the store – once
you've decided to try it on, you've already decided to buy it.
Unless it looks bad, it's already "yours" – you've seen
yourself in it.
Make sense?
Yeah, so Mike's giving away this cool little manuscript
booklet, and he's doing it in a unique way by making it a
physical product.
If you like the document, you're bound to want to check out the
rest of the offer, right?
No-brainer there.
So you see, Mike figured out a clever way to get a paid line
AND a f'ree line from the exact same, pre-existing material.
So, that's the end of this article, so I hope I've shown you
some cool, current ways you can copy to balance you own f'ree
and paid lines for your own products and services.
And you don't even have to re-invent the wheel each time or
even spend a ton of time creating new material.
We hope you've enjoyed this series, and we hope you'll put
these ideas to work in your business right away!
Keep Stomping!
~Andy Jenkins
I think you'll find, tucked away after the " Hey I just need shipping costs" stuff the fact that you are signing up to a membership site/newsletter. Recurring charges to a credit card and, trust me, you've got to work hard to get out of that contract!It's an interesting read, though I do have to vote with the others about the "forced" opt-ins. I prefer the marketing that offers a free product good enough that it compels people to continue on to the paid offers.
I've never had a problem with Mike's continuity program or any other marketing gurus cashing in on the whole "moving the freeline" thing. It's great. Before it was a bunch of marketers not telling you anything about their program and you buy before you knew what it was all about.
It's an interesting read, though I do have to vote with the others about the "forced" opt-ins. I prefer the marketing that offers a free product good enough that it compels people to continue on to the paid offers.
I didn't check to see if Mike's offer had FORCED continuity or not…
However, I'd like to add my vote for deciding to do away with FORCED continuity as well.
It's creepy, icky and gives online marketers a bad name.
~ Jason ~
http://www.bigcashcopy.com
If I spend $1000 with Andy Jenkins are Brad Fallon, it's worth more than the $20,000 I've spent with other so called gurus. You guys teach skills that make me money. The other guys teach fluff. You guys make the others look like used car salesmen.
Glen Woodfin of http://www.REDHOTspeakers.com
Great material as was the 2-hr call you and Brad participated in for Shawn and Tellman last night. Thanks!
you guys are fantastic
I just read your Part 3 Under the Hood and clicked on the link for the free report…this is my second really bad experience with Mike Filsaime and I am surprised you condone his heavy-handed hard-sell program. It is repulsive and hurts everyone associated with it. You guys are great! Please select products that treat your clientèle the way you do – with respect.
Would just like to thank Stompernet for shining a flashlight into the world of internet information marketing. I am changing daily in my understanding of this complex and exciting venture of improving peoples' lives as we move into the Information Age of global opportunity.
Hi Andy,
If I don't have the depth to have 800 hours of video, I'm probably not going to have a Butterfly Marketing script, or a $5000 a head seminar audio to give away, either.
I think you failed to answer the question for the masses – what do you give away if indeed, you give away your best content first?
I'd would be interested in hearing your response.
Thanks!
Dave
Always good content, but you have to determine what the correct form of "F'ree/Fr'ee/Fre'e" you want to use. I was cracking up seeing it used so many times and spelled so many different ways. Which is the right way?
Keep up the work!
I did not buy into the "free offer" Of Mike F. because I heard there was a forced continuity program involved to the tune of almost $30.00 a month! Some times it is best to stay away from so called free stuff. I personally do not like this kind of marketing and run when I recognize it.
Yep it's all the new Free Line right?
I think you'll find, tucked away after the " Hey I just need shipping costs" stuff the fact that you are signing up to a membership site/newsletter. Recurring charges to a credit card and, trust me, you've got to work hard to get out of that contract!
Joel Comm did the same thing recently. John Reese is promoting that one, your promoting Filsaime's. Why don't you just sodomize each other every day? For those of us with a smidgeon of sense it is so galling as it detracts from any good info you might pass along, free or otherwise.
I can hear the tactical conversations now:
" These guys haven't signed up for the Big one so let's hit 'em for a $29.95 monthly. They'll be so happy to get the 'out of date' free stuff they'll probably/definitely won't notice that they've signed up for this.
Even if they do we'll have got some money out of them.
Let's face it they deserve to be ripped off"
Free Line my bum hole! Don't know why I bother as it won't be posted, even if it will it'll be lost in all the normal crap.
I make a reasonable living online by the way – have no boss, live out in the French countryside, living the dream etc. but you guys just are so frickin' greedy it makes me sick. My making a living online does not involve ripping off newbies.
Ahh what's the frickin' point – I'm wasting my typing skills – in short 'fukya!'