I had a great conversation yesterday with my friend Erin Blaskie, a remarkably talented and cutting edge internet marketing strategist. She and I share a lot of similar views on what it takes to run a successful Internet business. In particular, we both know that content will always be the driving force of success.
It doesn’t matter what email marketing system you use, what hosting provider you’re with, how many domains you own, how much you spend on training courses, and I might sound like a trader when I say this but also, the size of your list. *insert Internet marketing scandal here - the size of your list means nothing*
What does matter is one simple concept - which Erin discussed in more detail here: Give Your Content Away
Erin sums it best when she wrote this:
You should be in a business where you can create content like nobody’s business. You should be a never-ending resource or supply of information in your area of expertise. If you don’t feel this way, it means that you may not be stretching yourself far enough, researching your industry enough OR (and here’s the BIGGIE) listening to your customers.
As a coach, you’re extremely lucky. You don’t have to worry about packages getting lost in the mail, running out of stock of your most popular products, safety recalls, health inspections, or any of the other plagues of running a brick and mortar physical product business.
Your commodities are your content and yourself.
If you feel like you’re giving too much away, ask yourself this:
“Is my free content so good that people want to get to know more about me and get into my inner circle or am I hoarding my content because I think I’m so brilliant that people should just whip out their credit cards for me without any social proof or demonstration of my expertise?”
That was a little bit brutal, huh? But I think it probably raises some questions inside you as well - and I’m completely fine with that.
Your free content is always going to be the one on many - you’ll be able to use the free stuff to get noticed by lots of people. But for each piece of information you put out into the world, you’re always going to raise more questions.
The more you answer the questions, the more you become a leader for the people who ask those questions. Then, they’ll do whatever possible to get to know you more and be identified with you.
Guess what? That’s when they start spending money to be part of your higher end coaching programs.
Think of it as going to a concert. You hear all the free stuff on the radio. Then, you spend the money on the iTunes song or the CD. Then, you pay the extra price for the concert.
You’re not going just to hear the songs - you can do that easily at home. You’re going so you can be closer to the singer or band.
Be a content rockstar. Give away your free stuff - broadcast it around the world. Then you’ll get the raving fans who purchase front row tickets to your coaching programs and teleclasses even if it covers the same information in your free stuff.
Love it! You are simply brilliant and I’m glad that our conversation sparked this conversation for both of us… Obviously HIGHLY needed!
[...] my last post, I talked about the importance of creating content. Just how important is it? Well, if you want to make a success of your online business, you have to [...]