Not long ago, businesses offered a product or service and consumers purchased it outright. Now, consumers expect companies to offer free value whether in the form of blog content, free ebooks, etc. Those that fail in this endeavor fail to generate customers.
I've experienced this myself when I purchased a $300 program from a company because of the amazing free videos they posted regularly as a "thank you" for what they do. Of course if the free content was valuable, the paid content would be valuable as well.
Selling is being focused more and more on Cialdini's principle of reciprocity. Do something nice for me and I want to do something nice for you. This is why grocery stores that offer free samples get customers to buy more.
As a result, companies can no longer survive without offering significant quality and value. They really do have to offer a good product or service to even register on consumers' radars.
This is a double edged sword however. My entitlement has now gone up. I expect free value everywhere I turn and am less willing to spend money as I believe value should just be handed to me or that I can find what I need for free somewhere else.
Businesses will now have to work hard on producing consistently high value content and develop new business models for generating revenue. Marketing is getting harder. Upselling to paid products will be key, subscription models will be more common, and consumers will have more say over what companies make and sell.
We're in for a challenging, yet exciting future.
Quick Action Steps For Anyone Try To Sell Something:
1. Create a free resource such as an e-book to genuinely improve peoples' lives
Quick Action Steps For Anyone Try To Sell Something:
1. Create a free resource such as an e-book to genuinely improve peoples' lives
