When FREE Isn’t Worth It

Free is free. That means, no cost. It’s FREE!

But FREE isn’t often worth it. In fact, in my recent experience FREE is worthless. Perhaps it’s because “you get what you pay for.” Nothing gets you nothing.

The Internet is full of freebies. My inbox is deluged with free offers. Free webinars and free ebooks abound. I’m overwhelmed with them. Few of them offer anything worthy of my time.  There’s the rub - my time, which is NOT free!

Marketing geniuses are among the worst offenders. I suppose that means these free offers work because companies like Peppers and Rogers (I enjoy their books and have benefited from some of their free offerings) continue to do it. On average, I get an email from Peppers and Rogers every other day. Each one offers a free webinar or whitepaper. Each time you must complete all the contact information. It doesn’t matter that you gave them the same information two days earlier. Do it again. Sometimes, I bail out deciding that this free whitepaper isn’t worth the time required to give them my vital data, AGAIN. I enjoy the Peppers and Rogers publication 1 to 1, but their emails whip me.

You’d think these guys would know better. They’re smart people. They’re sought after experts in the field of one-to-one marketing. I know I could opt out, but I really don’t want to opt out entirely. I just want them to offer me something worthwhile and stop offering me free stuff ALL THE TIME.

They’re not the only ones doing it. They’re just the most ironic ones on my list. The webinars are worthless. Some titles have captivated me, but they’re simply glorified pitches for other services by partnering companies. If you read and keep up with current business practices (as I do), you’ll not learn anything new by wasting an hour of your time listening in on a free webinar. I defy anybody to prove to me that a free webinar provided any value whatsoever. If you’ve experienced one, please tell me about it. It’s an hour you’ll never get back. If you earn $10 an hour, that free webinar was expensive - costing you ten bucks. Give me 10 bucks and I’ll find something free to give you. Just PayPal it to me.

Free will always cost you time. No matter what. And sometimes it’s worth it, but not often. Some years ago my wife and I spent a few days at a rural resort. Upon our arrival I was offered a substantial discount if I’d be willing to invest two hours to hear their time-sharing sales pitch. It was a rather new resort and part of the pitch included a tour of the place (something I was interested in doing anyway). The discount was $150 (about half off the price of a single night). I thought it was worth it. And it was. It was also something free that gave me value. In addition, my expectations were clearly established. I knew there would be a sales pitch. I was prepared for that and had no trouble spurning the offer. I also knew I’d be given a $150 discount (a coupon given to me upon completion of my time spent hearing the pitch). No problem. Value. Expectation. Both made free worthwhile.

That’s so rare these days. Deception is behind almost all freebies. It’s free because it’s worthless and your expectation won’t be met. It’s free because it’s designed to pull you in and sell you something that has a higher cost (and greater return to the company/person making the offer).

The way to capitalize in this age of sound and click clutter is to be unique. Be different. If you’re marketing anything, stop blitzing people with free offers. Stop playing the numbers game thinking if you aim the shotgun at the most people and pull the trigger that a bigger number of us will drop to our knees for your stuff. Rather, give us something of value - something we can’t get anywhere else* - and don’t disappoint us. Rather, shock us by giving us more than we expect. Do that and we’ll be blown away because NOBODY is doing that.

* I read lots of books. Peppers and Rogers are perfect examples. You know why I logged onto their website year’s ago? Because I’d read their books - and continued to read the new books they publish. I own every book they’ve ever written. You know what you get in the webinars? Hi-lights of what they’re written. I realize many people - maybe most people - haven’t read their books. But I have. That makes me a good customer. I’m a buying customer already. They give me NO VALUE because I already know the material they give away for free. I bought the books and invested the time to read them. So, I’m insulted and annoyed.