Why Free Ultimately Pays Off
Posted February 10, 2011 in Getting Clients, Marketing
Here at Freelance Folder we always recommend that Freelancers charge what they are worth. In fact, we’ve written numerous posts to help freelancers determine what to charge for their services.
With all of those posts about setting freelancing rates, you’d think that we’d be the last people to tell freelancers that they should give anything away.
The truth is, giveaways DO work as an effective marketing strategy for freelancers. In this post, we’ll discuss why it works and help you discover how to implement this strategy for your own freelancing business.
Do As We Do
When we suggest that freelancers offer some things for free, we’re not telling you to do anything that we don’t already do ourselves.
Here at Freelance Folder, we give information away in the form of blog posts six days a week. The information we provide is available free of charge to anyone who can find our blog online. Over time, most freelancers will find at least one (and often more) bit of information that will help them in their freelancing business.
We also offer freelancers a free place to hang out and a free networking opportunity. And, being freelancers ourselves, we are happy to support other freelancers.
Of course, we also offer some excellent resources available for freelancers here at an extra cost, such as our WordPress Theme, our book on freelancing and our start up guides. But, much of what we offer is free.
Personally, I also give away a lot of free information on my own blog as well as through Twitter.
Don’t get me wrong. Not everything I do is free of charge. However, offering some free information has helped my freelancing business grow.
Why Free Brings New Business
You’d think that giving things away would be a sure recipe for freelance financial disaster. But, offering a few freebies can actually help your business in the following ways:
- Establishes you as an expert–A distribution of free high value information that is widely distributed to prospective clients can help support your expertise in a particular field.
- Builds up community and good will–Providing a useful freebie can help establish good will for your freelancing business and will also bolster your customer community.
- Gets others promoting you–If you were to ask others to promote your brand online, the answer would likely be “no.” However, everyone loves to promote something that is free.
- Helps your customers find you–Offering something for free can raise your online visibility and make it easier for potential customers to find you because you will have greater exposure.
- Expands your social network–Giving something away will also expand your social (and online) network as people begin to react to your free item or service.
What You Can Give Away
Would you like your freelancing business to enjoy some of the benefits listed above? Here is a short list of a few items that you might consider giving away:
- Blog posts–On your own blog, or as a guest blogger
- Special reports–A short report or white paper makes a very good give away item
- Seminars–Offer a short class related to your field, either online or in person
- Podcasts or videos–Interviews or short how-to videos are very popular
- Products related to your industry–Often you can team with another company
- Links to other valuable resources–Be sure to make full use of social media to share helpful information
- Advice–When someone asks for help, think twice before saying “no”
Have you got your freebie ready? Good. Now it’s time to discuss some guidelines so you’ll get the most from your freebie promotions.
Some Guidelines for Freebies
Naturally, you can’t give everything away. You do need to earn a living. Most of your potential clients understand this.
Here are some guidelines to help you get the most from your freebie promotions:
- Do offer something of value. Your freebie will be the first impression you make on many potential clients. Make sure that it represents your best work.
- Do include your contact information. While your freebie should be more than just a sales pitch, you do need to include a way for prospective clients to contact you.
- Set limits on what you will do for free. This is especially true for giving advice, which may wind up taking all of your time. Also, track results for seminars and other freebies to learn what works.
Your Turn
Have you given anything away? If so, what did you give away and how did it help your freelancing business?
Share your experiences in the comments.
Image by *~Dawn~*
Related posts:
- Who Pays?!? Accounting for Phone Calls and Other Time Suckers
- Free Icons: Function Icon Set, 128 Completely Free Icons
- We All Love Free Stuff – Give Some Away And Get More Business
About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 20 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts. Laura is also on Google+.
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29 Comments
Rachel Small
February 10th, 2011 at 9:04 amA freelancing friend of mine recently gave a free lecture at a local library and she couldn’t believe the response afterward – traffic to her website almost doubled and she met several people who showed an interest in her work. She also mentioned the names of several other freelancers during her lecture (including mine) who also greatly benefited – good karma for her! Thanks for the post, Laura!
P.S. Jones
February 10th, 2011 at 9:15 amOne of the things I always consider when giving something away for free–my time, a product, etc–is what’s my return on it. I set aside a certain amount of hours to volunteer for charities. That’s a huge return on my investment for me. Or if giving away something for free would get me in the door for something I don’t necessarily have experience for. And the buildup of goodwill with your customers or potential clients is a great reason to give away free stuff.
Laura Spencer
February 10th, 2011 at 9:20 amRachel Small–That’s a great example! I’m glad it worked out for your friend. :)
P.S. Jones, Calculating your return is a good point. Unless you’re just working for a charity because you care about the cause (which is okay, but something different entirely), free can backfire. It’s important to do your homework before launching a free promotion and make sure you are targeting a group that contains potential customers.
Samar
February 10th, 2011 at 10:04 amGreat post Laura. Another advantage of doing free work is that you get to expand your repertoire of skills.
Impulse Magazine
February 10th, 2011 at 1:01 pmFree is good sometimes, but there is always a price that has to be paid
Laura Spencer
February 10th, 2011 at 1:07 pmThanks Samar!
That can be a great benefit. Many new freelancers use charity and free projects to start their portfolio.
Impulse Magazine–So true! That’s why you can’t say “yes” to everything. Choose your free projects carefully and be sure to leave enough time in your schedule for paid work as well. :)
Some Design Blog
February 10th, 2011 at 2:38 pmI find that sharing ideas for free can be an effective way to earn a potential client’s trust, prove your expertise, and if noting else gain an advocate. When I’m chatting with a business owner at an event, seminar, or even at a party, I freely offer up any ideas and advice that comes to mind about their business. Often they end up coming to me for paid work before long.
As you say, Laura, you need to put limits on what you do for free, and make sure you don’t just become a source of endless free advice (as Amber attested to in yesterday’s post!)
Caryn Humphreys
February 10th, 2011 at 2:45 pmGreat post! I have long been a fan of the give-and-take relationship between a business and their community (whether it be face-to-face or virtual). It never fails to impress me the responses I get from offering free advice or working on small projects for NFPs.
From my experience, it’s the open attitude of sharing your expertise that others appreciate; as it shows a sincere selflessness not associated with a little PR or with an undercurrent of an ulterior motive.
TheAL
February 10th, 2011 at 2:48 pmMakes sense. A lot of these are already pretty common with freelancers. Writing blog posts, one very common activity, is actually a prime example of doing something that’s basically free (they may get ad $ if their blog is very popular, though, and that’s a monetary incentive) and also mutually beneficial. I tried the blog thing years ago. In the end, it didn’t really feel like me. I wouldn’t mind one day setting up a Youtube series centered around a topic I love.
Jen
February 10th, 2011 at 4:43 pmI recently interned at a consumer magazine (giving myself the title of oldest intern ever) for a few months. Because most of my experience was in the nonprofit copywriting realm, I learned a lot about writing in a different sector and left with some nice samples to add to my portfolio. Also, getting to know the editors has led to paid fact-checking assignments, and the editor reads my story pitches and responds quickly.
I also think guest posting is a great way to build blog traffic. I’d like to do more of this actually.
Thanks for the ideas!
Laura Spencer
February 10th, 2011 at 4:50 pmSome Design Blog–Good point! In many ways this post is the counterpoint to Amber’s post yesterday. :)
Caryn Humphreys, Very true. Attitude is important. If you do it for free, but you do it grudgingly then your prospects will sense that.
TheAL–I think a YouTube series is a great idea. BTW, there’s nothing that says a blog has to be all writing.
Jen, That’s a great example of where working for free has ultimately paid off. Plus, as you point out you got samples and probably a good reference as well. :)
Jonathan Worth
February 10th, 2011 at 5:00 pmFree is an essential part of my business as a photographer and now as an educator.
My trials with free are here on my blog with the raw data shared in a similar fashion:
http://jonathan-worth.blogspot.com/2010/01/given-things-away.html
and my open and free undergraduate classes (again in photography) are here:
http://www.phonar.org and http://www.picbod.org
I wouldn’t suggest that what I do is right for everyone but I continue to share openly the successes and pitfalls, I would love to hear from anyone that improves where I’ve made mistakes.
Laura Spencer
February 10th, 2011 at 6:39 pmJonathan Worth–Good examples! That’s exactly what this post is talking about. BTW, good to see a comment from a freelance photographer on here. Hope to see more of you in the comments.
TLC
February 10th, 2011 at 9:02 pmI’m a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, so I’ve done some photography at events for them for free. Also photographed events as service work for my camera club. I also volunteer for my Chamber of Commerce, making phone calls to members each month to see how we can serve them better.
I believe in giving back to my community and thanking those who have helped me — which all of these organizations have done.
Vivek Parmar
February 11th, 2011 at 8:30 amfree giveaways pays you everything and offer you new client. I sharing all time offer free offer with my clients or my readers in form of free wordpress installation service
Caitlin Kelly
February 11th, 2011 at 8:56 pmI give it away on occasion but I admit to being more cautious about this than in the past. With the internet fostering the widespread belief that everyone is equally skilled and talented as a writer, giving it away can confirm the notion your sophisticated skils do not have any monetary value. So it’s a case by case issue for me.
http://caitlinkelly.com/
Koushik Banerjee
February 12th, 2011 at 2:02 amHello Laura,
Thanks a lot for sharing such valuable things with us. As a budding writer, it would definitely help me a lot. What I believe that nothing could be achieved freely in life. You will have to pay something. It would be in terms of money, labor, precious time, endurance you have and something else.
Regards
Koushik Banerjee
SmashDeveloper
February 12th, 2011 at 5:56 pmThat is a part of EVERY business. Everyone is happy about something free. It shows your passion about what you do and also shows that everything isn’t just about the money.
Most Freelancers get lost by thinking about their income. I think we should focus on doing the job right and not how we will spend the money.
Note Taking Nerd #2
February 15th, 2011 at 3:18 pmLove the guidelines Laura!
One of my favorite marketing mentors, Eben Pagan, on the back I imagine of one of my first marketing mentors, Jay Abraham, preaches the idea of educating your market so that they have all the material they need to discriminate in your favor and their best interest.
And free content is one of the best ways to do this.
One thing you want to do though with your free content is be answering questions that your ideal prospects want answers to. Not what you feel like writing about.
A ninja way to do this is by lurking in forums where your target audience hangs out and peeping what questions people are asking over and over again or which threads are getting a ton of views.
Then, you build solutions to those demands which will do wonders for turning you into a hero.
Another way to be the go-to-person in your market is to put together a free consumers watch guide — a checklist of practices and things your target audience needs to be aware before availing themselves of the services of a copywriter.
Thanks Laura for making me think about this subject and sharing your wisdom! I’m glad to have dropped in to soak it all up!
angelee
February 16th, 2011 at 6:17 am@Rachel Small ~ your short comment is inspiring. Generosity always leads to good karma.
Kate Bacon
February 16th, 2011 at 5:55 pmGreat article Rachel – I “forgot” that I do give away content, share resources etc all the time :-)
Kate Bacon
February 16th, 2011 at 5:57 pmOpps, so sorry Laura, Rachel was another commenter :-(
Rob
November 1st, 2011 at 10:30 amWe give away free tips on online videos and other types of video marketing and people seem to eat it up when they come to our website. Giving away free stuff seems to get you in the good graces of people.
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April 17th, 2012 at 8:33 amFantastic article and I had thought of this before
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