Making Money Off of "FREE"

Expanding on my prior post...if you're still looking for ways to monetize "FREE", check out this list of interesting business models:

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_Money_Around_Free_Content

To "Free" or not to "Free"...

This week in class we were asked to review the Google, Facebook, etc. models and all their proclaimed free freedoms.  The argument is that a person can pretty much load photos, video, manage email, calendar, etc within all these online applications and no one EVER asks for a dime.  The class discussion is to provoke thought about how this affects our lives as business people first, how we advise other business people as a credible consultants later. 

The concept of free is a bit counter intuitive for me.  I've been taught it’s a naughty naughty word that commoditizes you and it completely devalues one’s unique selling proposition.  It was enough of a pivotal career shift to learn how to apply the “I’m not free or discounted, so don’t even ask” notion to my work in the first place.   It took me forever to outgrow those early years’ bad habits where I gave everything away for free in effort to get clients.  The wrong kinds of clients!

I believe that building the audience on the premise of “FREE” first, one can then have leverage in other areas; but in my opinion not a sustainable model.  Everyone says "Google and Facebook are doing it...so it must be working."  Indeed, for giant players with millions of members it's fine.  Their goal is not to attract the “Buy one get one free” short term customer, but a “Get free, park your butt and stay,” long term member.  However for the medium or small businesses that can't afford to have a customer base that pays...oh, "nothing," it could be playing with fire.

So how does a small to medium sized business do "FREE" without having to move back in with the parents?  A couple ways:

1.  Groupon.com - This site is a gem for offering bulk coupons within a geographic area.  They're awesome at representing a business' special offer as a value added benefit of going through them to get a deal.   That's completely different than the business itself offering the discount sending message "please do business with us."  They also do a great job of spelling out the retail price, giving that business much more creditability.

2.  Game it up bebe!  That's right.  It's all about games today, 65% of Americans are playing some sort of digital game.  Endlessly farming digital crops on Farmville and cooking up fabulous virtual cuisine in Cafe World, for the purpose of what?   Garnering points!  Yep.  Points.  Points towards rewards, points to show off to friends, points, points for everyone.  Get creative and find ways to turn the activity of doing business with you into a game.  Don't be afraid to even hire an app creator (former webmasters) to create a virtual game for your company.  It's not as expensive as it may sound.  I expect at least 100 free points for this tip by the way.

For the record, I don’t think ‘FREE’ is here to stay.  We're a society of classes, levels, whatever you want to call it, of people and things.  The Internet is not exempt from this law.  There will be  those that value a service and will pay for it (like the $35 I just paid Pandora.com for ad free radio); those that don’t, won’t.  Time will tell when the FREE frenzy will end...till then I have a virtual pet that needs to be fed before points get deducted.

Comments?

 

I’d love some comments on this one.

Two Free & HOT! Press Opportunities for the Perfect Millennial Boomer!

Looking for someone to feature in our Financial Makeover column - Money Magazine

Contact: Holly Gilbert 

query-e1l@helpareporter.com


Deadline: 05:00 PM EST - 23 June

Do you need financial help or advice? Money Magazine is looking
for someone to feature in its monthly Financial Makeover column.
You would need to reveal financial details like assets and
income, but will receive free targeted advice from a financial
planner. Ideal candidates are couples with a combined income of
$100,000+ per year. All those interested should send an email to
holly_gilbert@moneymail.com with the following: 1) Name 2)
Age 3) Occupation 4) Location 5) A brief paragraph describing
where you are financially, as well as any goals or challenges you
have encountered 6) A snapshot of you/you and your spouse

---------------------------------------

How to land a job - Forbes Magazine Online
Contact: Seth Cline

Email: SCline@forbes.com

Deadline: 04:00 PM EST - 21 June

I’m working on a Careers story for Forbes.com. I’d like to give
readers job hunting tips based on real world advice from people
who have recently landed jobs. To that end, I’d like to speak
with people who have landed jobs within the past six months. They
can work in any field, in any part of the country. If you or
someone you know fits that criteria, please email me at
SCline@forbes.com by 4:00 EST today. Many thanks.

----------------------------------

Good luck guys and don't forget to re-tweet and comment!

Millennial Boomer Professional Shadow - Featuring Bill Vick

This month I had the pleasure of shadowing and interviewing someone I consider to be a rock star Millennial Boomer.  Bill Vick, entrepreneur, long standing executive with Revlon, Maxx Factor, speaker, writer, recruiter, mentor and the list goes on.  At 70ish years young, he’s not only made the decision to embrace this crazy tech world we live in; he's making technology work hard for him! And oh how he does it.  His latest venture?  A dynamic lifestyle/career website dedicated to Boomers:  www.BoomersNextStep.com

I could go on for days about why I wanted to learn more about Bill, but to put it simply, he just plain intrigued me the second he asked “do you want to meet on Skype.com?”  He then  proceeded to send me a link to his Tungle.me site where I could pull up his calendar in real time and book myself a groovy little time that worked best for both of us.  Amazing and impressive to say the least.

“So, tell me what you’re finding out there Bill.  You’re a retired head hunter.  You know what the world of business demands and you’ve worked with Boomers since forever.” He empathetically replied, “Well it’s defiantly a different climate out there today Patty.  Like anyone else that is in today’s workforce, Boomers are looking for stability and want to make sure they can stay employed.  In the past, many of these folks have experienced the luck of recruitment right out of college and not had to search very hard to find work.  However, today they’re finding themselves faced with an entirely different game.  They’re having to keep up with technology to maintain that stability.  I talk to people that were used to making $100-200K per year that are happy to find a job for $30,000 simply because of the healthcare benefits!  On top of that, they’re beaten down with negative messages of dispair, claiming that Boomers don’t have what it takes to compete in today’s market.  It’s just simply not the case.  If I can learn the tools, anyone can.  The difference between a Boomer and a Millennial Boomer is that the Millennial Boomer is not afraid to ask for the help and seek out solutions,” shares Vick.

Wow.  What an amazing amount of truth spilling out all over the place.  I couldn’t agree more.  How does a Boomer cross that bridge and more important how does a Boomer now communicate with younger generations without feeling inferior?  It’s a process and very much a learned skill.  Bill believes it starts by embracing where one is TODAY, learning to use one or two of the many tools the Internet has to offer and understanding that it’s not going to happen overnight, but that it can happen!

It’s super exciting to meet and chat with someone that mentors other Boomers, has so much figured out and is willing to share perspective; but that’s not all I discovered in chatting with Bill. As he shared the stories, his concern was not that it’s all soooo big or that it might take time for Boomers to comeback strong.  The point he kept alluding towards was not even related to age.  It was related to FEAR.  The hope that this not become an epidemic of Boomers downgrading themselves purposefully, some to the extent that they leave valuable experience off their resume in order to look more marketable. 

In closing I can’t express what a breath of fresh air it was to meet someone that has so much passion for his fellow Boomer.  I strongly recommend spending a little time on the BoomersNextStep.com site.  To read more about Bill and his amazing Millennial Boomer journey, check out: http://boomersnextstep.com/about-2

Don’t forget to comment and share your thoughts!

Social Media Revolution Clip

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to take this next class. This month we’re auditing the 7 different types of Internet business models. I’ll post my finds along the way, but first a reference that’s so powerful, I just needed to blog it out of my system.

Socialnomics! [spin, spin…happy dance]. Okay you Millennial Boomers out there….are you going to make a joyful noise and learn it with me? Hope so. Nothing to be afraid of, just a project or two (I’ll do all the work). The trade off is that when I share the precious finds, I expect you to take our new found knowledge and RUN with it!

Now take a deep breath, sit back, enjoy and then share your thoughts!