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Nine Fabulous Freebie Ideas

And When to Use Each One

It seems simple, right? You just create something to give away for free, and you can easily build your audience.

But many people try to quickly throw something together and then nobody ever seems to want it. It feels like a waste of time and effort.

Your freebie is one of those pivotal pieces of content that can either spread like wildfire and start a revolution in your business…or actually discourage people from wanting to work with you.

It’s one of your first opportunities to show off your knowledge and your ability to help your potential customers with something they are currently struggling with.

So if the content you put in your freebie isn’t very interesting, compelling, or unique, people won’t want to continue their journey with you.

I want to challenge you to create a freebie like you would create a paid product.

No vineyard gives away samples of their cheapest wine in the hopes that their patrons will buy the expensive bottles. The same concept applies to your business.

And here’s another thing to keep in mind…

Nobody is interested in signing up for a newsletter anymore.

Our inboxes are cluttered enough. Most people have a hard time managing what is already going in there.

You have to really entice someone to give you their email address with what you offer to give them in return.

Below are eight freebie ideas that WORK to get people on your email list.

But what works depends on the product or service you are warming your audience up to.

If you create the right one (and create it well) it will be the beginning of a beautiful (and profitable) relationship.

Let’s take a look at the possibilities…

01

Infographic

An infographic is basically a picture that gives information. 

When you’re introducing a new concept and you want to help your readers understand a process from beginning to end, this is a great way to give a high-level overview.

You can then easily use the content in the infographic as a basis to dive deeper into a concept in later content, like a blog post, email, video, podcast, etc.

Infographics are also great ways to share persuasive statistical information in a way that is visually appealing.

02

Quiz

Quizzes are an especially helpful freebie if you have more than one audience and the services you offer those audiences are also different.

Let’s say you are a coach who works with both new business owners who are trying to establish themselves and business owners who are trying to hop over that next business hurdle (e.g. going from a 5-figure business to a 6-figure business).

A quiz can help your prospects learn what their next steps should be AND as a bonus, you can see where they fit into your model so you’ll know what kind of information to send them next.

You can use a tool like Typeform to start. You’ll be able to create a quiz for free and up to 100 people can take the quiz every month. You’ll eventually have to pay to have higher numbers of quiz-takers, but the free Typeform account can help you get a good start at growing your list.

03

Deep-Dive Worksheet

Deep-dive worksheets allow your prospects to get a quick win with you.

If your business helps someone solve a complex problem that has many steps, getting ONE concrete thing done within that big process can sometimes propel someone to hire you to help them solve the rest of the problem.

Be sure that you’re not giving away enough information that someone could solve their entire problem with your freebie. Just give them all the help they need to put one piece of the puzzle firmly in place.

This can either be the very beginning of the process or a step that is in the middle. But it should be a way for your prospect to solve a problem that is keeping them from moving forward in some way NOW. Something they would gladly pay to fix.

04

Resource List

A resource list can be incredibly helpful if you help your customers dive into a topic that is entirely new for them.

For example, if you teach people how to start a podcast, there is a lot of new information they’ll need to learn.

Your resource list could include your recommendations for equipment, such as the best microphone, computer, mixing software, etc.

It could also give ideas on how to approach inviting people to be guests on their podcast so they can grow their audience by piggy-backing on the audiences of well-known experts.

And finally, you could share processes you use that help you with scheduling, editing, or production.

All of these ideas in one resource list will demonstrate your breadth of knowledge and experience.

05

A Checklist

If you have expertise in helping someone do a task that is repeatable, you could give them a checklist to use every time they do it.

There are many social media marketing experts who give away a checklist that helps their audience organize and document the information they share.

A checklist is a great idea for a giveaway because each time it’s used, the customer is reminded of where they received that information.

Being known as the person who gives such an amazing resource that it’s used consistently in someone’s business is a great way to demonstrate authority and stay top of mind.

06

A Challenge

If you already have a course built and you’re ready to fill it up but need to warm up your audience first, create a challenge for new subscribers to go through.

They’ll get a daily taste of your teaching style, your content, and your ability to lead them through a process to the result they’re looking for.

On the last day of the challenge, you can invite them to join your course.

You can even create a free Facebook group for your participants to be in so you can encourage their interaction with each other and start a community dynamic. People love uniting with others who are working through the same process they’re working through.

Similar to the deep-dive worksheet, the challenge should guide someone through getting one specific result that they haven’t been able to get for themselves. However, this is best done if you already have a following. If you don’t believe you’ll get many participants, having a Facebook group could hurt you more than it would help because people will be able to see how many others are participating.

07

A Backstage Pass

People want insider information. Have you ever seen an expert offer to give you a behind-the-scenes look at a process they have perfected?

This kind of information can be similar to a resource list, but typically shows the expert in action. Many times, it’s a video that shows a process that beginners struggle to put in place, or that many people fail to do well.

If you’re going to create a video freebie, make sure it’s not too long. Remember that you want your audience to get a quick win. So having to watch a 30-minute video seems too daunting a task, even if the information in it sounds promising.

And remember, just because you create a video, doesn’t mean your face has to be in the video! You can easily record your screen while you work your magic and have a killer video that wows your subscribers.

08

A Guide

When you help people solve a problem by working through a process, a guide to solving that problem could be very helpful. The guide should be thorough, but not necessarily detailed.

A guide is a great way to give a “30,000 foot view” of the process you help people through. 

It can help someone visualize the entire process and put themselves in the mindset of going through the process. Unlike an infographic, a guide is more of an e-book style. It’s been said about writing a guide as a freebie, “give away the what and sell the how.”

That means that you’ll be telling someone exactly what you’ll be helping them with all through the process, but you won’t tell them exactly how you’ll accomplish each step.

09

A Live Training

If you want to demonstrate your expertise on a topic, what better way to do that than hold a live training?

You don’t have to have webinar software to do this, although that surely can be helpful. You can create a training that you’ll be giving on a Facebook Live video and collect email addresses before sending the invitation.

The benefit of using Facebook Live is that you can retarget people who join your training later on and you know that they were interested in the topic of your training.

And don’t be too scared – this doesn’t have to be long or even very detailed. Just show that you know your stuff by teaching others how to do something you’re great at.