Creating Value in Freebies: Strategies from Viv's Expertise | EP265

Ever wondered how to create a freebie that not only captures attention but also drives potential clients straight to your premium offerings? Drawing from nearly a decade of her expertise, Viv reveals how to make your freebie relevant and aligned with your core business, ensuring it serves as an effective gateway to your high-ticket products or services. This episode is packed with actionable insights to help you make an unforgettable first impression and convert those intrigued leads into loyal customers.

Automation in marketing can be a game-changer, but only if your freebies are up to the task. We dissect the intricate role of automation in enhancing your sales funnel and how a compelling, well-aligned freebie can streamline your lead-generation efforts. By weaving in our personal experiences and strategic tips, we demonstrate how to create freebies that not only attract leads but also foster trust and loyalty. If you’re looking to make your freebies work harder for your business, this episode is a must-listen. Don’t miss out on the valuable lessons and practical strategies we share to elevate your marketing game!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Valuable Freebies
• 6:59 Strategic Creation of Valuable Freebies

Transcript

Donna Eade: 0:30

You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast, the place to be to grow and streamline your business. I'm your host, Donna Eade. Let's jump into the show. Welcome back to the podcast, everybody, for another mini Mindset Monday with me, your host, Donna, and the lovely Viv is in the house again. Welcome, Viv. Well, hello.

Donna Eade: 0:57

So today we're going to be talking about something that I see a lot in our online business world. So if you're in the online business space, you will know exactly what a freebie is. You will know exactly what a lead magnet is. If you don't, a little bit of a backstory for you is. These are items that you put out to give to somebody in exchange for their contact information, to get them on your email list so you can sell to them. Now, what I have heard over time is many different things, and this is why I'm bringing it to Viv, because I think there is an issue with value when it comes to freebies and this sort of links back to last week, with visibility, because your freebie is probably one of the first things that people are going to see from you, so it's really good to have that be a valuable piece.

Donna Eade: 1:47

But I've heard two schools of thought on this. So I've heard people say you know you've got to put out your most valuable stuff. Give it away for free. Because if you give away all of your really good stuff, people are going to go oh my God, if this is what she's given away for free, what's she selling? But my thing is if, well, if you've given away your best stuff, then aren't you going to be selling not your best stuff, which is going to be disappointing, but that's an aside. So give away your best stuff and then other people who will turn around and say you've really got to value yourself and what you're putting out there is worth people paying for. So you can't. So where do we find the line and that's why I brought Viv in, because I know she's quite passionate about people valuing what they have to offer. So, Viv, what are your thoughts on this? Where do we find that line of giving away enough to get people interested to get on our list, but not giving away everything in the kitchen sink?

Vivienne Joy: 2:40

Oh my God, I've learned this so valuably myself, donna, honestly, I can't tell you. I've been in my coaching business now for nearly 10 years and when I first started, oh my God, I was giving everything away. I mean I was literally going, oh, please, let me give you everything I own, um, I mean, you know, here's my kitchen sink, um and me what I needed to. So all my stuff is learned, learned from my own experience. I don't just say, oh, you need to do this, um, and what I really quickly learned, this could be really quick. It's a very long subject, but it could be really quick is that actually your freebie needs to line up with your thing? Now, I know this sounds like it makes logical sense, but so many times it doesn't. It doesn't line up or it doesn't give that first taster. It's like I see a lot of freebies that have nothing to do with the thing. So we could have somebody. For example, it'd be like me being a hardcore business coach, mentor which I am and giving away a relaxing meditation. Like I can do that because I'm a hypnotherapist, but actually it's not giving any signal as to what I am, it's just easy.

Vivienne Joy: 3:39

So a lot of people are creating easy freebies, which means they're shit. And if your freebie is shit, they'll think you're shit, and I can't really say it any clearer than that. And we've all had the PDF of the 10 points that you knew anyway. We've all had that because sometimes people are just trying to get your email address and sometimes the freebie is to really sensibilize the client. So first of all you need to decide if that's that. So if you just want an email address, it doesn't really matter what it is it does, but it doesn't really. As long as your email sequence then does all the hard grafting and selling for you, then it's okay for it to be a bit cheap and shit. They probably know that they just got onto your list, but why would you have a cheap shit freebie? It's like going out looking like shit when you're trying to date, isn't it? Why would you? It's the first impression that you make on someone, so the freebie has to be these are the rules really seriously valuable?

Vivienne Joy: 4:32

It needs to be something that that client customer really really needed. It was the first step on what it would be to work with you. It's a bit like going you want to buy a perfume. You're going to smell it on one of those spray strips, aren't you? And then you might buy the small one and then you're like, oh yeah, I want this every day, I'll buy the big one. So it needs to be the first step and it needs to be powerful. Like I'm not buying a perfume till I smelt it, are you? I'm just not. So trade another one or one from the same manufacturer, but it wasn't that perfume, I'm still not buying it. So it has to be really, really connected to the thing you're selling, and I strongly suggest it's connected to the highest price thing you're selling, because you might get them from cold to sold right there with your freebie.

Vivienne Joy: 5:15

So the first one is it has to be really, really valuable. The second one is it has to be really really easy. Like you don't want them to have to go through hoops to get whatever it is. It's a click, one and done. You want it to be straight to them, straight, easy, delivered. No. Or message me to get the link for that. No, no, one's doing any of that shit.

Vivienne Joy: 5:34

We're all really really quick paced this day and age, especially with me. Really really quick pace this day and age, especially with me. I'm ADHD and a lot of my clients are. So it needs to be really, really easy and understandable. It needs to be clear what it is and what it's going to give you, otherwise no one's signing up for it. It's a bit like we talked about last time that you could have the best done thing, but if it's not appearing, it's not visible as the thing, then they're not buying it. So you could create a brilliant video program, but if you talk about it wrong, then it's not going to get landed. So it needs to be easy and really, really, really clear. That's the other thing.

Vivienne Joy: 6:05

So the next thing, the final thing for this, is it needs to be effortless for you long term. So if you're creating an evergreen freebie, yes, you're going to have to put some effort into it. You know the less effort you put in, the more shit that freebie is going to be. So it's a front loaded thing. You can create that, sculpt it, make sure it's perfect and then make sure it doesn't take any of your time, because otherwise you can't scale your business. So discovery calls are probably one of the first things, and they are for me, but then I don't take on many clients. Therefore, I haven't got to do 28 discovery calls a day. I'm probably doing two or three a week, basically to work out who I'm going to work with, whereas if I wanted to build a bigger business and I was selling online things, maybe I would need something that was going to scale with that. So if I was selling 1,000 of something, I need at least 5,000 of something for the freebie probably to be able to go out effortlessly.

Vivienne Joy: 6:59

So this is about automation, and that is where most people lose their brain, because the tech is a terror. Right, we talked about this before. Like they go oh my god, I don't know how to set this up on automation, they're still emailing things and messaging links and, oh my god, like you know, you could drive yourself to insanity. It will take all of your time and therefore you won't bother. You won't bother marketing it, because the next thing is not just about creating it and making sure it's the right thing. You've got to get it out there, which we talked about last time. That needs to be your first port of call. If you build a powerful freebie, it needs to be the first thing, always not we've got 50 other things, this thing, and then you can work your whole funnel from that thing because we have the freebie. And then what's next? The low cost sale, typically, and then what's next the medium ticket, then what's next the high ticket. This is a very typical funnel. Not everybody's like that, though.

Vivienne Joy: 7:49

If you sell something. For example, my coaching certification is a you know it's multiple thousand pounds, so it there's nothing in between that. So my free freebie has to be, with respect, fucking shit hot, like it has to be everything it needs to be to get them to say yes to spending like five grand to come and do my six month certification. And there's nothing really in the middle of that that I can do. I could do a masterclass on NLP and occasionally do those, or I can. I've got a group where I can put content and information about NLP processes. I've got a group where I can put content and information about NLP processes, but essentially it's got to be fabulous enough for them to come and get it. So it also is depicted by the level of your actual product or service. If it's a low cost one, then the freebie should be quite easy. If it's a high ticket, then that freebie needs to be something really powerful, so it could take you a lot longer.

Vivienne Joy: 8:43

One of my freebies is a seven step video program. So that took quite a lot of creating and quite a lot of tweaking. Got a few of those actually in different genres for different people, but it was worth it, because then they do seven videos with me. They kind of get used to me. They get used to the fact I am going to drop an F-bomb when I get passionate. They get used to the fact I'm gonna ask something provocative. They get used to the pace of me. They get used to me and then they can decide if they want to work with me. So seven videos is better than one for me to get a concept of that. So yeah, so that's. That's essentially what we're all about.

Vivienne Joy: 9:11

And if you don't get your freebie right, it's really important. Otherwise you're serving and not selling and you will drive yourself crazy. You'll start to think you're yourself crazy. You'll start to think you're not worth it. You'll start to think you're not good enough. You'll start to think maybe this isn't the right business. That freebie creation, the right thing, sold in the right way. Because you're still selling it even though it's free, because you're selling the first step of what you're doing and getting it out in the right way to the right people at the right time consistently is absolutely pivotal to lead generation. No leads, no clients, no business. So lead generation is number one. So although we're just talking flippantly about freebies, they are the cornerstone of most businesses.

Vivienne Joy: 9:49

Low price or free, it doesn't have to be. You know, I've got my book. My mindset for business book is five pounds so it costs me money almost to deliver. That probably just about breaks even, but what it does is it gets people used to self-coaching questions, nlp, my tonality through that, and it's the first step in my funnel. So I've got various funnels. So it doesn't have to be completely free. It can be low price, but something that is a no-brainer like it's a no-brainer to buy it. Like people say, oh, fiverr, even no-brainer. Like it's a no-brainer to buy it. Like people say, oh, fiverr, even if it's shit. You think, oh, it's going to be, it's a fiverr, isn't it? It's a punt. So we're okay with making a punt on something.

Vivienne Joy: 10:24

I'm sure you've done it as well, don't know where. You just think, oh, I mean, I do it on tiktok shop all day long. I just think, oh, that could be amazing. I have been burnt a few times, I'm not gonna lie, but then a lot of the times they're amazing products. Jesus, how was that six quid? You know that was free delivery as well. How was that incredible cleaning device is what it typically is. How is this incredible cleaning device Only six pounds? So, yeah, we need to trust it, we need to believe it and it needs to do the hard graft of your beginning, of your selling process Brilliant brilliant, brilliant, and I think that's it's really important to hear that.

Donna Eade: 10:56

So it's not just about you know that price. It's about making sure that the value is there so and that it links to your business. So that's what I really got from that was make sure that it is actually linking to the highest thing that you sell, which I loved. I love that from cold to sold, and make sure that it is of value. So it's's not a case of going, oh, but I should be charging for this. It's about finding the thing that is going to be good enough that people are going to say, yes, I want that. And now I like this person, I want to buy from them, rather than going at it like, oh, but I could sell this for £10. It's like, well, great, you could sell it for £10, but really you're wanting to sell this £ pound thing over here. So surely giving away something that's 10 pounds is worth it for the the payout.

Vivienne Joy: 11:46

So brilliant it doesn't have to be. So I talked about it being evergreen. So, um, I've got, as you know, because I'm sure you've been to it, but I run a networking every month. Uh, it's networking and training and what happens is that's free, it's my give back, so and it's not a case of they can just come to one or whatever. They've. Some people been coming for years but actually what happens is over time they get used to me, so when they have got a problem they'll come to me. I'm the first person they're going to trust. But actually, so that's evergreen in the way that I run it. So it still takes me effort an hour each month, essentially a bit of prep work, but actually I love it and I get to connect with those people as well.

Vivienne Joy: 12:18

So really think about what type of freebie that you want. You know, is it an audio? Is it a podcast? Is it a visual? Is it a download? Is it a workbook? Is it a real book? Is it an event?

Vivienne Joy: 12:28

Because group events are really, really powerful, especially if your business is community-based. People get to understand the level of person in there. The get to understand the level of person in there, the energy of it. You know the personality types if they fit, so for me that's really important, so that's one of my freebies. And then what I do is I record the training and then I put that out as another freebie which then becomes evergreen. So it's ever, forever.

Vivienne Joy: 12:47

Someone can get that training 20 minute training on whatever landing pages or emails or whatever has gone on for that month. So if you're a bit smart about it, you can create multiple freebies out of one freebie. And if you like running events and I absolutely love running events, as you know, been doing it all my life pretty much. It's a no brainer for me and I get to meet the people too. So your freebie can be something live, it can be something like that. And if that's something you do easily, like yours would probably be podcast training of some description I would imagine. Imagine that doesn't even need your face. Realistically then you know, as long as it makes sense to your audience, makes sense to what you're selling, then it'll work brilliant love that.

Donna Eade: 13:25

Thank you so much, I could. There was tangents there that I was like, oh, I could say this, but we haven't got time for it. So unfortunately, guys, you're gonna miss out on that because we are at our 10 minutes. So thank you so much for today. Viv, it's really, really appreciate your input on that. And, guys, go and create your valuable freebies and let us know what they are, and we'll see you in the next one. Bye for now.