How many of you do work for free?
Only a dolt would work for free, right?
Only someone without experience would give away his or her time. Yeah, that’s often what I hear, and there’s certainly some truth to it.
If you charge $50 for your services today, and $100 tomorrow, obviously customers are going to be scratching their heads, still picturing you as only worth $50 an hour.
But at PureDriven, we thrive on what I would call inbound marketing, the act of pulling people toward your business because you’re giving away a lot of good stuff for free. In fact, we’ve gotten the kind of free media attention for ourselves and our clients many companies only dream of (New York Times Page 1, for example) exactly because of our techniques.
So, you say, what is it that we’re doing so dang well?
1. We do a lot of things for free, not knowing whether they’ll ever pay off for us.
For example, tomorrow we’re speaking at a local event we helped launch called Social Media Breakfast Twin Ports. We’re offering it for free, and those in attendance will be treated to nearly the same amount of advice we normally charge for. The biggest difference is that the content isn’t tailored to their business, but we give them the tools and show them the steps for them to take. You’d think people would walk away and use the information, and never call us. Normally, the opposite happens. People want to do business with people they know. So doing a presentation often ultimately means more people get to know about PureDriven, see our expertise, and want to work with us.
2. We’re ambitious, and don’t always wait for guaranteed money upfront.
We were asked to take on the Google Initiative, because of our CEO’s history in Internet technology, but also because I think we were willing to do significant work for free, with no idea whether at the end of the day the project would be deemed a success, or whether money would come in to help pay us. Had we waited on the sidelines, the opportunity (and thousands of dollars in free publicity it brought) would have gone to a different firm. In addition, the effort also gave us an open door to businesses throughout this city. Dozens of meetings with leaders in our area occurred directly from our work on the Google project. Our accountant probably didn’t like the project much, but we were paid in ways that will continue benefiting the company for years – perhaps even decades – to come.
Below is a slide show by an independent firm in Michigan, which showcased how successful our efforts online were.
3. We use Facebook and Twitter to build relationships.
We’ve been on local and national shows and podcasts, because of relationships that started out on Twitter. I often tell people that you don’t “sell” yourself on Twitter. Twitter connects you with people you would have never normally met. So that has also led to significant exposure, along with guest posting on other blogs, and our Facebook page, which people often click through to our website from.
So I’d encourage you to look at how you can give away your services or products for free, in the hopes of a much bigger, better return down the road.
What sort of free advertising has worked for your business? The comments are yours. I’m listening.
