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06.25.10 Looking At The 'Free Then Fee' Business Model  By John VinsonI have no hard figures to back up what I'm about to say, but just think about it for a second. People are more interested in what you have to say, or sell when it's free. Giving away free white paper is certainly the way to go if you're looking to adopt new business. However, there are risks involved when trying to build a customer base with free product. The gist of the 'Free then Fee' method is you provide content for free, to hype up the white paper. With any luck, it will go viral and you'll have all new subscriptions for future releases. After you've garnered additional readers, you then begin charging for content. If you've impressed readers enough, your free content has just helped you to sell what you're actually charging. AdAge was the company who invented the method. They began by providing free white papers to interested parties. They provided content for the advertising industry, and their white papers caught on quick. They went further to release another set of free white papers. Eventually, they released their paid content, at around $99-$249 which saw increased purchases. They weren't as successful as their free white papers but still did well. AdAge now is providing content from anywhere $695-$795. All the viral success they found with their free white papers stuck with them, and even their paid content was talked about. Obviously this system has the chance for success, and if handled properly, could be beneficial to you. There are risks involved. Most notably being if your subscriber base doesn't increase; your paid content doesn't pick up any news readers. Plus, you've wasted resources on free content which didn't ultimately help you. For smaller businesses 'free then fee' has a much lower chance for success. Many successful white paper companies rely on their name and vast resources for creating their content. Smaller businesses simply don't have these resources to relay the same quality content. Therefore, providing content for free isn't going to help in the long run. Hopefully, you can discover if providing free content can be beneficial to your business. White paper can be a tricky practice, even without exploring new strategies. If you feel as though you can sustain the model, then be prepared for some solid returns when using 'free then fee' About the Author: John is a staff writer for WebProNews. |
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