Gone are the days that you can just add a sign-up box on your website and ask people to ?sign up for your newsletter.? In fact, many have found that newsletters just plain don?t work anymore. I actually only email my list when there?s something I think they really need to know about. I?m getting about 100 emails a day from clients (none of it is junk) so I know the pain of just wanting that Inbox empty.
However, your email list is STILL your #1 online asset! You can market to those people again and again, they will stay loyal to you (assuming you have good email practices) and they will buy from you down the road. The key is to offer a free incentive that showcases your expertise and value, that people WANT.
Do NOT make a free report in an hour or two and throw it up there as a Microsoft Word doc that is not formatted, and then expect that to boost your credibility and sales. Yuk! This is a critical part of the public?s first impression of you. You want to spend the time to come up with a great idea, produce it the best you can, get it professionally formatted and designed ? in short, spend the time to do it RIGHT.
Below I have a lot of really great keys to a successful free introductory product incentive that you can offer on your website in exchange for people to signup for your mailing list. Note to Self: You may way to print this puppy out.? 
Do the brainstorming work:
- What are the top 3 problems your audience faces? (depression, weight gain, bankruptcy, etc.) In a free gift, people want an answer to their biggest problem in a formula or process that they can start today. Examples can be, ?3 Steps to Triple Your Energy Levels,? or ?5 Ways to Dump Depression and Gain Gusto,? etc.
- People will want to instantly download your free gift (not have it sent to them a week later) so I suggest the format you consider to be video, text (like an eBook) or audio. There are reasons behind which format to choose and why. To give you a taste:
- Video is great for giving off energy that transfers to the listener. It creates a longer lasting impact, can go viral, plus they can watch it again and again. Video is ideal for emotional topics. If you are a personal or life coach for example, this is for sure the format to select.
- Text is great for writing out a technical process so someone can pint out the document, paste on their mirror, or just review easily. It?s probably the easiest format to share. You MUST get your eBook or workbook professionally formatted and designed to make a visual impact which is necessary for getting readers engaged and excited to share with others. (If your topic is not technical or in a process, I do not suggest creating an eBook ? I would suggest you to create video, period.) For example, my free product incentive right now is a 23-page eBook titled, ?Share My Message! 7 Key Steps to Social Media Integration.? I show lots of examples of how to brand your social networks and I explain how to do it ALL! So I for sure had to choose an eBook format so my readers could print it out, refer back to it again and again, etc.
- Audio is ?ok,? but video is for sure a preferred format by the majority. Audio is good for meditations and technical personal development/motivational/how-to content. Audio can be uploaded to an iPod so people can listen in the car, while working out or taking a bath, etc.
More Key Tips:
- By now we?ve identified the top 3 problems our audience face and we?ve selected a format for the product.? Next I would start working on an outline of what you?re going to discuss. Another KEY to this process is that people will want to download something they can start TODAY. No one wants to go to a website in search of a problem they are facing, get all jazzed about a free product, sign-up and realize that the author is telling them how to ?repair their credit in 6 months.? That subscriber needs a solution NOW. So let?s give it to them. If it?s a topic that gets them on the road to success TODAY then people will signup for it.
- The higher the monetary value of the bonus, the more people will want it. So if you have an eBook and a video as a package deal, more web visitors will download it. If you give away an event ticket or teleseminar call series ? since a higher value ? more will download (Note: These two ideas are more if you have an opportunity to give a bonus away during a book launch or product launch).
- As you create your product, always be thinking, ?How can I make this so good that it goes viral?? I want people to share my eBook with as many people as possible! I don?t even care if they signup for it! If I produce a high-quality product that is of great value to others, I know they?ll come back to me anyway. They will come and check out my website, signup for my mailing list to get more great training, hire me for website development or social media branding, etc. I?d love nothing more than people to think my product is so good they send an email out to 100 people saying ?Here, thought this could be a useful resource for you.? Goosebumps! Since we?re on the topic, a great read is, ?6 Ways to Make Your Video Go Viral.?
- Always, always, always, always, always, always(!) end with a ?call to action? by suggesting to the reader or viewer what to do next. Offer a discount on becoming a member, invite them to join a free teleseminar call, ask them to follow you on social networks, etc. Tell people what you want them to do with this material or next in general.
So what do you think, some good tips in here? Did it get you to evaluate your online marketing efforts and make a decision to step up your game? I bet it did and that rocks!
A special treat just for you:
Claim Your 1-Hour Product Development Coaching Call with Amber!
Where I will help you?
- Clarify what exactly a ?free introductory product incentive? is and what people expect from it
- Learn what your market or audience really needs and why YOU are the best person to provide the solution
- Conceive a bonus idea that will be of essential value to your audience
- Decide which form your free product should take to minimize your time investment and maximize your return
- Accelerate the speed that you?re able to actually create the bonus because you will have a step-by-step plan for producing it (plus get access to Amber?s valued contacts for copywriting and eBook design)
- Gain multiple ideas to repurpose your bonus in other promotions to continue maximizing your list building efforts
This all happens in a sequence of key steps you will be guided through on a single phone call. I have helped hundreds of authors, speakers and entrepreneurs to develop their ideal free introductory product which in turn has added big numbers to their mailing list database.
What?s crazy, is I thought it?d be fun to offer a 30% discount for anyone that reads this post. (You?ll want to stick around because I do fun things like this from time to time, wink.)
Get your 1-hour product development coaching call and direction on production for only $137 AND get my new eBook for free which will teach you all the keys and tools about social media branding which is hot, hot, hot right now.
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As soon as you signup for this special offer, I?ll be in contact immediately to get you scheduled for your coaching call!
Talk to you soon!
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