Selling Services Around Your Free Offering
Once you have a free product that can attract a large user base, you should be in a great position to sell services to your user base. If your product/service is particularly good and is one that is conducive to repeat usage, you can easily sell services based around your free offering. This can be extremely effective and lucrative if done properly.
Generally speaking, there are three categories regarding ways you can develop revenue streams around your free offering:
Selling Services
Selling services essentially involves selling expert consultation or customization to the free product that was offered. The concept is best illustrated through a few examples:
Software companies. An increasingly common practice amongst software developers is to distribute a version of their software that is completely free. No functionality is withheld; the product is available free of charge in its fullest form. Many of the users, though, will require customization to the software -- which the developers of the software are in a prime position to provide. As a result, some software companies are beginning to distribute their product entirely for free, knowing that they can sell custom services to a given percentage of the users. In this way, the free offering becomes a marketing tool that paves the way for closing sales. Such marketing tactics are increasingly replacing advertising as a more effective means of obtaining clients and establishing a brand name.
Consultation. At the turn of the millennium, Internet marketing guru Seth Godin published his book Unleashing the Ideavirus -- and, instead of accepting the hefty advances and publishing deals he was offered, decided to distribute the book for free online. The decision, which was greeted with much skepticism at the time, seems to have been a wise one: the ebook has been downloaded over 1 million times, thus helping to establish Godin as the premiere Internet marketing consultant, and allowing him to command a premium price on consultation and public speaking services. The free distribution of content attracted users and allowed him to earn trust. He could then monetize this by offering service components such as consultation and guest lectures.
Selling Add-ons and Accessories
Another method of creating revenue streams around your free offering is to offer add-ons and accessories that supplement your free offering. One of the most prolific examples of this occurred when bookseller Barnes & Noble began to offer free online courses in a variety of topics. The courses were completely free, but students were encouraged to buy the books that would serve to supplement the education provided in the classes. The strategy has proven to be immensely successful, as Barnes & Noble's online courses are a prominent part of the company's offering to this day.
Selling Network Access
With networks being the fundamental concept that drives everything about the Internet, creating a network around your free service - and then monetizing that network -- is something that most certainly can be done. This is most typically done through advertising, premium interaction, or matching services. For more information on monetizing your network, check out the seven part series on building a community -- particularly part six, which discusses opportunities for monetization. Simply put, the opportunities are enormous.
In the next article, we'll look at a few of the key Internet metrics for any firm looking to maximize profitability and growth using network marketing.
Generally speaking, there are three categories regarding ways you can develop revenue streams around your free offering:
- Selling services
- Selling add-ons/accessories
- Selling network access
Selling Services
Selling services essentially involves selling expert consultation or customization to the free product that was offered. The concept is best illustrated through a few examples:
Software companies. An increasingly common practice amongst software developers is to distribute a version of their software that is completely free. No functionality is withheld; the product is available free of charge in its fullest form. Many of the users, though, will require customization to the software -- which the developers of the software are in a prime position to provide. As a result, some software companies are beginning to distribute their product entirely for free, knowing that they can sell custom services to a given percentage of the users. In this way, the free offering becomes a marketing tool that paves the way for closing sales. Such marketing tactics are increasingly replacing advertising as a more effective means of obtaining clients and establishing a brand name.
Consultation. At the turn of the millennium, Internet marketing guru Seth Godin published his book Unleashing the Ideavirus -- and, instead of accepting the hefty advances and publishing deals he was offered, decided to distribute the book for free online. The decision, which was greeted with much skepticism at the time, seems to have been a wise one: the ebook has been downloaded over 1 million times, thus helping to establish Godin as the premiere Internet marketing consultant, and allowing him to command a premium price on consultation and public speaking services. The free distribution of content attracted users and allowed him to earn trust. He could then monetize this by offering service components such as consultation and guest lectures.
Selling Add-ons and Accessories
Another method of creating revenue streams around your free offering is to offer add-ons and accessories that supplement your free offering. One of the most prolific examples of this occurred when bookseller Barnes & Noble began to offer free online courses in a variety of topics. The courses were completely free, but students were encouraged to buy the books that would serve to supplement the education provided in the classes. The strategy has proven to be immensely successful, as Barnes & Noble's online courses are a prominent part of the company's offering to this day.
Selling Network Access
With networks being the fundamental concept that drives everything about the Internet, creating a network around your free service - and then monetizing that network -- is something that most certainly can be done. This is most typically done through advertising, premium interaction, or matching services. For more information on monetizing your network, check out the seven part series on building a community -- particularly part six, which discusses opportunities for monetization. Simply put, the opportunities are enormous.
In the next article, we'll look at a few of the key Internet metrics for any firm looking to maximize profitability and growth using network marketing.
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