Always Giving Your Very Best!

I received an email today from a famous Internet marketer, a name you would recognize if you've been in this game for any length of time, extolling the virtues of an online business owner giving away his very best content.

His rationale was this: don't you want prospects to be exposed to the very best you have to offer? If they experience your value and they see what you're giving away freely, they will believe that your paid offerings are even better and their "natural resistance" to purchasing from someone they don't know (you) will be reduced significantly.

Of course, those who don't subscribe to this strategy argue that if you give away your very best content, you will have nothing really good to sell!

Still others, sitting midway between these two extremes, suggest you give "pieces" or "teasers" of your best content away for free, but reserve the "big enchilada," the full product, for a paid sale later.


Here's my take on this debate, which is probably different from yours, and that's OK. (You do what you feel is best for your business.)

I personally believe that I should give my very best every time I distribute content, regardless of whether it's given away for free or sold.

I say: dont limit your thinking about what is your "best" work. Make everything you do your best work!

Once you give your best away, get busy and create your new best. Dont limit your own personal potential by believing that you can only have one best.

Here's the key: dont get too absolute in your definition of the word best because in marketing terms your best isnt limited to only one thing you put out, is it? Everyone that experiences your content will have their own personal opinion about what your best may be - and it's their opinion that really matters, right?

All that really matters is that you create content and products that you feel are your very best. If you do that, then you will never short-change your subscribers or your paying customers.

Best selling author Tom Clancy passed away a few years back (October 1, 2013). He had 17 New York Times best sellers to his name. Im sure there were lots of Tom Clancy fans that bought every new book he penned.

In 1985 he released The Hunt for Red October, probably his best work to that point IMO. Then in 1987 he released Patriot Games, his new best novel. Then in 1989 came Clear and Present Danger, also his best work. Next was The Sum of All Fears in 1991, his next best offering in his line-up.

I hope you see what Im trying to get at.

Tom Clancy may not have given any of his books away but Im guessing a significant number of his returning customers borrowed one of his books from a friend, got hooked on Tom Clancy novels because he always gave his best, then proceeded to fill Mr. Clancys bank account with their dollars over the subsequent years! The lesson to be learned from his effort still applies to this discussion.

Always give your best in everything you do. Open your mind to the possibilities! There is no limit to how many times you can give your audience the very best that you have.

But you know . . . some people will never get to experience anything you offer if you dont give them an easy, simple, non-threatening way to see a sample of what you can produce.

A great way to do that is to give something of your very best away for free! I would suggest keeping it short (a page or two as a pdf maybe), relevant to one topic, and focused on one important point. Make it your best work!

Contrary opinions are always welcome in my threads!

Steve