Give Your Book Away FREE - And Profit From It For Life!
By Avril Harper
Posted Sunday, January 2, 2005
You see it all the time; someone, somewhere, is offering something free of charge, you might wonder why! You could wonder for a very long time, because there's no one, single reason people give quality items free of charge, in fact there are several. More often than not it's to create confidence, generate credibility, and increase trust between the seller and the often wary buyer!
The Internet is one of the scariest places to be, especially when seeing a product you'd like to buy, from someone you don't know and may never have heard of until today, and you probably won't ever get to communicate with the seller in person. Difficult choice? Decide to buy, give your credit card number, take a risk?
By giving something useful free of charge you can establish a relationship of trust between you and your prospective buyer. And if you are prepared to do this, go the extra mile, while rival companies focus always on Money First, Money Last, And Nothing In Between, you'll win a customer, not just for a day, but possibly for life!
Let's consider a whole host of reasons why offering free information can increase your business success.
- To Raise Funds For A Special Cause
- To Make It Easy For People To Enjoy Some Particular Experience
- To Overcome Resistance To Buying Online
- To Sell a Particular Product For Which The Same or a Similar Product is Available from Lots of Different Sources
- To Gather Names For Your Database
To Explain How to Use Your Product and Therefore Reduce Complaints, Queries and Requests for Refund
- Simply To Sell
- More Reasons to Give a Chapter, Introduction or Text Sample FREE
- To Use The Same Advert To Sell Dozens of Different Products
- To Solicit Testimonials
- To Help Others Sell Your Product
Let us consider just a few of those ideas.
To Make It Easy For People To Enjoy Some Particular Experience
In this case the book normally travels free or for a token sum to cover costs. A few examples will illustrate the purpose:
• You remember Heartbeat (if you're not in the UK, you're missing a great TV series) where Claude Greengrass plagiarized a guide to walks over the Yorkshire Moors so guests on his rambling holidays could find their own way around, saving time and energy for him? Well that's an example, albeit a bad one in Claude's case, of publishing a book to help promote some other, usually profit-making purpose.
• In the 1930s to 1950s, major UK firms provided all manner of information products to help customers enjoy their product and to hopefully buy from them in preference to rival companies. Oxo gave the famous tin container, Homepride flour gave the cute caricature set of flour men designed as flour sifters, salt and pepper cellars, and other kitchen paraphernalia. Many more firms gave books and other info products, including Stork and Bero whose recipe books are now collectors' items, and many car makers whose motoring guides and atlases are also worth many pounds each. The idea was brilliant yet even so fell largely out of fashion and today it's quite rare to find such valuable freebies to help customers benefit from their purchase and to poach custom from rival companies. Shame, and an idea well worth resurrecting!
To Overcome Resistance To Buying Online
It's a fact, in many countries people are still reluctant to place credit card orders on the Internet, despite the high security generally involved. So companies have to work harder to win sales over their bricks and mortar high street counterparts and one way to do this is to attract visitors to your web site to download something special - for free - and ultimately to sell prospects on the benefits of ordering online, particularly from you!
The main benefit of offering free info products from your web site is to establish a relationship with individuals, and ultimately turn them into buyers. People are reluctant to order from faceless companies, people they may never get to see, and aren't even sure they exist.
Once they've emailed you a few times, received a regular ezine from you, once they know you exist and realize you have their best interests at heart, then they'll start buying from you in preference to high street suppliers.
To Sell a Particular Product For Which The Same or a Similar Product is Available from Lots of Different Sources
Obvious, really, because all you are doing is aiming for a bigger share of the market, something supermarkets achieve with their offers of loyalty points, and breakfast cereal manufacturers do with plastic toys, while McDonald's and other fast food outlets choose figures in sets to win business and encourage repeat buying. Examples of how specific information products can increase sales of specific products and services:
• Dealer in cherished number plates - Strange and Even Stranger License Plates
• Dealer in second-hand cars - 101 Ways to Keep Your Car From Being Stolen
• Publisher of property auctions newsletter - Directory of Property Auctions in the United Kingdom (or any other country)
• Greengrocer - 101 Wartime Recipes Using Potatoes, Carrots and Other Inexpensive Supplies
• Carpet cleaning specialist - A Guide to Stain Removal
• Hairdressing salon - Bitter Sweet Solutions (Homemade Hair Treatments Using Vinegar and Honey).
If you've enjoyed this article, request a free copy of the much longer report ‘How to Give Your Book Away Free and Profit From It For Life' by emailing Avril Harper at avril@publishingcircles.com
More of Avril Harper's articles can be found at (www.articlefactory.com)
About the Author
Avril Harper is a UK writer specialising in business opportunities, many with resell rights. Read more articles at: (www.articlefactory.com)
