Jeff Herring (The Article Guy) says we should have quality “freebies”.  What do you consider quality freebies?  I have posters, menus, CDs, lessons, units, etc.   I think it’s neat the way you just surprise us in the mail with something special – I would appreciate advice on how when that is most appropriate.

Posted by Sherry Hecht | 1/12/08

Answer:

Just like in the “olden” days when you would go to certain stores, dentists, or other providers who gave you a “little something,” today’s internet situation means we need to give away something to bring people to our site and to build relationships. 

The ideas you have listed above would be perfect as give-aways, and as we discussed on the phone, don’t give away too much for too long.  Here are some examples of what I mean by that.

• Having downloadable PDFs of posters is great…and then you will a record of who ordered what.  At some point, you can let those folks know that you have others that they might like…as a package and for a fee.
• Giving away a menu you’ve developed for a differentiated lesson is great…and then you can let them know that you have LOTS more that they could download…here here’s the price.  Same with lessons and units.  Give them a sample to find out how great your materials are and then invite them to purchase what you’ve developed. 

Other times, you can develop something that you send out to your “folks.”  This can be electronically or otherwise.  At the holidays this year, when I sent out the CALM special report, that was a present–and it was also something that people send to others because they thought it was useful, so I got some new people on my list that way, too.

The main suggestion I would make for everyone in MEMc is this:  Comb back through everything you have and see what you can “repurpose” in a different format…and then think of how you can offer it as a free download, etc. 

I’m currently creating a website for one of my teacher booklets:  50 Questions to Ask About Any Novel.  You can look there now and see that it’s not finished yet, but the idea will be that I’ll have sample pages that teachers can download.  I’m hoping that they enjoy the sample pages, but that they realize that spending $15 is worth getting the WHOLE booklet rather than dinking around and just downloading one page at a time.  It’s an experiment…we’ll see.

Great question, Sherry, thanks.