Visit any popular Internet marketing discussion board and
you'll see a lot of discussion about effective ways to
build a list. Almost invariably, someone will suggest
entering one of the numerous free giveaways that you see
each month. Almost as quickly as this is suggested, some
other "sage" will point out that "freebie seekers" are a
waste of time... and that "they never buy anything."
Is this true, and if not, what is the key to eventually
turning them into customers?
In my 11 1/2 years online, I have participated in dozens of
free giveaways, and added countless loyal subscribers to my
lists. Some subscribers HAVE opt-ed out of my lists as soon
as they downloaded my free gift. Others have been on my
lists for years, and do purchase from me regularly.
Free giveaways are one of several very effective ways that
I've managed to build a database that numbers in the
hundreds of thousands (in several different niches). I
share some of my favorite list-building methods in a short
report that I wrote on the topic here:
http://TheRealSecrets.com/5200/
Before we get too far, I should probably explain what I
mean by "free list-building giveaways." These are
generally cooperative efforts where several marketers team
up, each offers one (or several) free items from a central
websites, and then they all promote the giveaway website.
Visitors to these sites: register, and once inside, they
are presented with descriptions of each free gift, and
usually, they have to visit each contributor's website in
order to retrieve their free gift. The idea is that when
they visit the contributors' websites, each contributor
puts the potential subscriber through a "squeeze page"
where the subscriber has to subscribe in order to get the
gift. This is how it builds that contributor's list.
I don't ALWAY force visitors to my websites to register for
the gift because if they don't want to be on my list, then
I don't really want to force them. Instead, I often build
backend into my gift, or I offer an additional,
irresistible bonuses from within my original gift that they
do have to register to get.
I've actually discussed this topic with numerous people who
have had as much success with free giveaways as I have. We
all agree that part of "the secret" is that you have to
build a relationship with your new subscribers before you
try to sell them something.
"People buy from people that they know, like and trust."
It's your job as the marketer, and list owner, to get your
new subscribers to know, like and trust you. That often
takes time.
One of the true masters at doing this though is my friend
Odinn Sorensen. Odinn understands the process so well that
I recently had him on my radio show where we discussed his
list-building techniques for a full hour. Odinn has added
as many as 5000+ new subscribers to his list from a single
giveaway, so I figured he could teach my radio audience a
thing or two.
You can actually listen to the recording of my interview
with Odinn at:
http://BlogTalkRadio.com/WillieCrawford/
You may also download the MP3 recording of that show
directly from that page and listen to it at your
convenience.
Odinn explained that one of the keys to a successful
giveaway, and to getting subscribers that you immediately
start building a good relationship with, is to offer only
quality gifts. You should NEVER give anything away that is
not actually good enough to sell. To do otherwise insults
your new subscriber, and that's certainly no way to start
off a new relationship.
Another, not so intuitive reason that some free giveaways
are more successful than others, is that you need a good
theme for a free giveaway. People are suspicious. They want
to know WHY anyone would give them something for free.
Without that good "reason why" many potential subscribers
won't even pay attention to your free giveaway.
Three excellent examples of free giveaway that demonstrate
my point are:
1) Odinn's Daddy's Birthday Giveaway, where his reason why
is that "as a birthday present to himself, on his 39th
birthday he quit his regular job." To celebrate he's
giving gifts to his subscribers. That's a reason that
anyone wanting to quit their jobs and run a full-time
business from home can relate to. It gives potential
subscribers a warm feeling and they want to celebrate with
Odinn.
You can see how Odinn set his giveaway up at:
http://TheRealSecrets.com/DaddysBirthdayGiveaway/
2) Doug Champigny's and Xavier Nelson's Free PLR Giveaway.
With this free giveaway, the attraction is that
subscribers get free, unrestricted, private label rights to
products that they can rework, put their name on, and
market as their own.
Doug and Xavier required all contributors to contribute
gifts that subscribers would truly value, and consequently,
I think that they have a winner. You can see how they set
this giveaway up at:
http://TheRealSecrets.com/Free-Private-Label-Rights.html
3) Rob Richards noticed that the Internet marketing niche
was getting a little tired of the free giveaways where all
of the contributors seemed to be offering the same old worn
out products. It's obvious when you check out some of these
giveaways that some contributors just took some outdated
product that they had resale rights to, and "tossed it into
the mix." In the WORST of these free giveaways, you'll see
numerous contributors offer the SAME free gift. That
constitutes a double insult to potential subscribers. It
says, "Not only am I offering your a freebie with very
little value, but I'm offering your something that dozens
of others obviously also have giveaway rights to.
Anyway, Rob's twist was to put together a giveaway where
each gift is first of all a complete business in a box.
That is, it's a product, with a reseller website, and
graphics, where all the new subscriber really need to do
is download a product package, add their own payment link,
and upload it to their site, to have a product that's ready
to market.
Rob also added a number of other slight twists. For
example, instead of making the giveaway totally free, he
set up a memberhip site where you have to pay $1.97 to get
in, and THEN you have access to the 20+ products. He also
required that the products be totally top quality. Some of
the products offered in this giveaway were created just for
that giveaway. I know that FACT because I wrote an ebook
entitled "Secrets Of The Clickbank Millionaires" just for
Rob's giveaway.
Odinn had taught me well, so when I looked at what to
contribute to Rob's project, which is called "Bizzy Box
Giveaway," I understood that the secret to getting quality
subscribers was starting the relationship off on a positive
note. So I gave them an ebook that I could have easily sold
for $47 (along with resale rights).
You can check out Rob's model and see his other subtle,
winning twists at:
http://TheRealSecrets.com/Finally/
If you study these three giveaways, you'll see that, first
of all, free list-building giveaways do work. More
importantly, you'll see the types of free list-building
giveaways that generate quality, targeted, responsive
subscribers. You'll see giveaways where the contributors
understand, or are coached in the proper way to build
relationships, and turn "freebie seekers" into raving fans.
The big secret, by the way, is to honestly care about, and
respect your potential subscribers. It's to only give them
something that you'd value if someone gave it to you.
When you think of it in those terms, it's not so complex is
it?
Use this secret, and you'll be one of those rare
individuals who responds to the threads on Internet
marketing discussion forums arguing emphatically that free
list-building giveaways do work. You'll argue that they do
produce quality subscribers, because for you they will :-)
----------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker,
author, seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet
marketing expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of
Mexico, Willie can be found sharing his 11 1/2 years of
online marketing experience with members of The Internet
Marketing Inner Circle. Join them at:
http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com
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