What can you learn from the movie musical “Chicago” about the benefits of giving away free online video content? Find out in this week’s episode of “Let’s Talk Video!”
Today’s viewer question comes from John in Atlanta, GA. He writes:
Dear Steve and Jaime,
I’ve heard a lot of your advice and I know that I probably should do online videos regularly, but I’m afraid to give away too much of my information for free. I’m worried that if I give my viewers all of this valuable free info, like you suggest, then people might not feel like they need to buy my products and services. Can you help me understand how this will help me grow my business?
This is a great question, John. A lot of entrepreneurs have similar concerns about giving away free video content, so thanks for writing in.
Watch the full episode below to see our answer:
Don’t Give Away EVERYTHING
It’s important to realize that when you give away free video content, you’re not giving away the farm. Yes, you are giving free advice in your area of expertise, but you are only giving away pieces of what you know, not the whole thing. We don’t advise giving so much content away that you feel like you have nothing left to sell.
Providing free video content is intended to help you establish an emotional connection and build rapport. It gives people a sample of what they will get when they choose you. When you give good value to people, you build a relationship with them. This makes them want to learn more about you and find out more about what you have to offer them.
When you sell something, you are typically giving people an entire system or package. Your customers are paying for you to put together a program for them that is nice and easy to use, with all the info neatly packaged in one place. This saves them both the time and the expenses so they don’t have to figure it all out on their own.
The System Works, The System Called ‘Reciprocity’
There’s a term in social psychology called RECIPROCITY, which refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action. Essentially it means that in response to friendly actions, people are frequently much nicer and more cooperative. Doing a small favor for someone can actually produce a sense of obligation, for them to return a larger favor to you.
In other words, they feel inspired to reciprocate your action with a positive action of their own. If you give away great value, then at least some of them will feel inspired to give back to you. This may be giving you their name and email address and buying your products or service. Maybe they subscribe to your YouTube channel, like your Facebook page or comment on your blog. The bottom line is that the nicer and more generous you are with people, the greater the chance they will want to return the favor.
John, we really hope that advice helped you understand why you might give away free video content to your audience. If nothing else, giving away valuable info that really truly helps other people will make you feel good! They say that the best and fastest way to get what YOU want, is to help other people get what THEY want.
So, if you got great value from the information in this video, please “reciprocate” by leaving us a comment below. Tell us: what do YOU think about the idea of giving away free online video content to YOUR audience?
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If you have a question that you’d like answered on an upcoming show, please email it to us at: LetsTalkVideo@GeffnerProductions.com