What is the real meaning of FREE ?

28 replies
Marketers are getting more and more creative.

But there is a fine line between misleading, and marketing strategy.

Have you seen or heard programs where they say FREE and ended up not being free ?

I heard of 1 program that says, get google ads totally for FREE.
And the course was teaching you how to integrate adsense into your website. So what was the gimmick?
You still pay for google adwords, but you earn back in adsense revenue.
Therefor its free.

I mean come on.. Is it just me or what?? :confused:

Then today i saw another program on free wireless phone network. Basically providing services like your normal cell phone network. ie atnt.

Just that they are saying its free.
End up..... yea you guessed it. You have to refer 3 people and its free.
But they have a monthly fee of $50+/month.

So roughly it means you are earning 34% commission, and once u have 3 customers referred by you, its 102%. Thus its considered free. But you still pay every month, just that you earn back in commissions.


Seriously..


Like that there are many things that are free in this world according to such marketers.

Imagine our government are this "infamous" marketers that promote in a gimmick way.

I can almost imagine the news going "And todays latest news update, the government has announced that if you join the army, your utility bill are free, they will be taken care of, all your water bills, electricity bills, gas bills and so on.


Then only to find after you signed up into the force that what they meant was if you join the army, you would be drawing a salary from them. Thus you will be able to use the salary to pay for the bill!!!!


I dont know about you but i for one will freaking VOTE THEM OUT!



I mean there is a fine line between marketing tactics and pure misleading.
Using psychology in marketing is a whole new level of marketing that is still acceptable.

But playing around with words like FREE is purely LOW LIFE.
#free #meaning #real
  • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
    Sorry, i intended the initial post to be just voicing out and asking for opinions, but it turned out to be a rant.

    Becos the freaking video took 44 mins. And ended up being this kind of gimmicks.
    And even if i were interested. It was only in the US which im not, and they only tell you after the FREAKING 44 MINS VIDEO!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
    Originally Posted by Resale Rights Ninja View Post

    lets see. free is free. like free in my sig (blatant self promotion) lol.
    lol. becareful.
    im not sure if that post was allowed.

    mods might remove it.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      Unfortunately in this skeptical world, free is starting to lose some of it's lustre.

      It's so over used and abused, many people will put up their hands, arms or even fist when it's mentioned.

      It's like you're wating for the punch line after you see or hear it. But still you can't resist it when it's married to a compelling offer.

      Here's what the FTC says about the word "FREE" and how it really should be used. Some surprising gems included most marketers don't know.
      Check it Out Here!
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  • Profile picture of the author Oliver Williams
    Yes the word Free has been has been abused online but on a positive note this provides an opportunity for honest people to really stand out and build relationships based on trust and honesty.
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  • Profile picture of the author recyclyetogreen
    'Free' a word almost every single individual is obsessed of, though we know and have experienced most of fake assurances with this we tend to click or check it. I don't think free will ever lose its existence unless we will start focusing on quality and relevant things.
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    • Profile picture of the author orebian
      Usually, FREE is used to attract people. Business is not charity.
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      • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
        Originally Posted by orebian View Post

        Usually, FREE is used to attract people. Business is not charity.
        Yes, but business isnt about deceiving either.


        If you say get a free XXX when you sign up or whatever it is. Then yes, it can be used to attract people, but of cos make it free.

        Not a "pay and earn back " gimmick using the word free.

        That way, in the example i use in my OP, your bills are considered free.
        Is it? i doubt so.
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  • Profile picture of the author dadamson
    In some cases it can be ok, they are simply pointing out the best points in their service (ie; the FREE bits).

    But it is not good when you have invested time reading through the sales page and/or filling out details, etc. BEFORE finding out you need to pay something, ie 'the catch'.

    This is a very deceptive marketing tactic. They hook people in without telling the whole story and then they strategically let you in on the catches after you have already invested some time and interest in the offer.

    Unfortunately it is a tactic that works well and it is something I suspect more and more people will be using.
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
      Investing in something to get your money back does not make the initial investment "free".

      "Free" does not involve money.


      Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author hyperlynker
    Free for me it tells that you get something WHOLE and FULL without costing any cent.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chips Fletcher
    SEO software is hardly ever free - same with PPC offers. You just have to hope you run into some friendly person on forums if you want something for free.
    Here at Pawpoint, we will send our SEO sheet to forum buddies and we never ask for money. Maybe these SEO companies dont like this, but a simple trust of PM your email to us gives no spam or special offers - just a free SEO Cheat Sheet. (ps my boss, Pawpoint, says this is ok - company policy). Backlink is always appreciated though.
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  • Profile picture of the author josephvijay
    I know just one thing about free. . The word FREE looks fancy but it might have some pit behind it to make us fall in to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrick Batty
    Newbieee

    I agree.. the term "free" has been abused quite a bit.

    And to sit through 40 minutes of video to find out that it was misleading would tick me off too.

    I think we all have to be aware of some basic fundamentals.

    Nothing really truly is free.

    Even signing up for a free report means you are paying by providing your email address. It's not much of a payment, but it is a payment, none the less.

    This is a simple business, made complicated by:
    1) some unethical people
    2) most peoples desire to take shortcuts

    The simple part is: create offer, get traffic, sell offer.

    The complicated part is usually about people playing on ones emotions to take shortcuts.

    Just my humble opinion.

    Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by dadamson View Post

      In some cases it can be ok, they are simply pointing out the best points in their service (ie; the FREE bits).

      But it is not good when you have invested time reading through the sales page and/or filling out details, etc. BEFORE finding out you need to pay something, ie 'the catch'.

      This is a very deceptive marketing tactic. They hook people in without telling the whole story and then they strategically let you in on the catches after you have already invested some time and interest in the offer.

      Unfortunately it is a tactic that works well and it is something I suspect more and more people will be using.
      Originally Posted by Daniel Evans View Post

      Investing in something to get your money back does not make the initial investment "free".

      "Free" does not involve money.


      Daniel
      Originally Posted by hyperlynker View Post

      Free for me it tells that you get something WHOLE and FULL without costing any cent.
      Originally Posted by josephvijay View Post

      I know just one thing about free. . The word FREE looks fancy but it might have some pit behind it to make us fall in to it.
      Originally Posted by Patrick Batty View Post

      Newbieee

      I agree.. the term "free" has been abused quite a bit.

      And to sit through 40 minutes of video to find out that it was misleading would tick me off too.

      I think we all have to be aware of some basic fundamentals.

      Nothing really truly is free.

      Even signing up for a free report means you are paying by providing your email address. It's not much of a payment, but it is a payment, none the less.

      This is a simple business, made complicated by:
      1) some unethical people
      2) most peoples desire to take shortcuts

      The simple part is: create offer, get traffic, sell offer.

      The complicated part is usually about people playing on ones emotions to take shortcuts.

      Just my humble opinion.

      Cheers

      Exactly! AMEN to you guys! lol.

      At least i wasnt the only one.
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  • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
    remember to vote guys.
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    • Profile picture of the author Centurian
      We had a whole discussion on this on another thread. Another day long gone.

      FREE is a powerful word that has been totally *******ized today. When we began using it in the early 90's, it produced massive results for quality offerings.

      The difference was what we offered had tangible value. Like offering a free car to fill the garage on our new homes.

      This produced more tangible value for buyers and increased our traffic. When that became common we went as far as offering to buy people's homes from them so they could buy ours.

      Lowering the threshold to premium offers of market or tangible value reigns supreme over the tripe people pass off today.

      Free is now a commodity that goes to the lowest bidder. And you can't get much lower than what's offered for free these days.
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      • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
        Originally Posted by Centurian View Post

        We had a whole discussion on this on another thread. Another day long gone.

        FREE is a powerful word that has been totally *******ized today. When we began using it in the early 90's, it produced massive results for quality offerings.

        The difference was what we offered had tangible value. Like offering a free car to fill the garage on our new homes.

        This produced more tangible value for buyers and increased our traffic. When that became common we went as far as offering to buy people's homes from them so they could buy ours.

        Lowering the threshold to premium offers of market or tangible value reign supreme over the tripe people pass off today.

        Free is now a commodity that goes to the lowest bidder. And you can't get much lower than what's offered for free these days.
        Oh is it, my bad. I missed it. =)

        But what you said, i agree.
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        • Profile picture of the author Centurian
          Originally Posted by Newbieee View Post

          Oh is it, my bad. I missed it. =)

          But what you said, i agree.
          No. It's not your bad. Needs sayin' anyway.

          Not all 500,000 WF members read every thread.
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          • Profile picture of the author gvsridhar171
            How about this offer ? The software you get is "free" but while signing up you have to sign up with an autoresponder for which you have to pay. When you sign up for the autoresponder, it is the seller's affiliate link and if you want the software you have no choice but to pay for the autoresponder. The seller says no other autoresponder will work with his software.

            From the sellers point of view, he is right because, he designed the software which he is offering free but the software will be of use to you only when you sign up with autoresponder who is a third party and the fee payable is $15 per 1000 emails, whereas there are many other autoresponders which are available cheaper than this price. I am using onewhich allows you to send 5000 emails for $15.

            What do you guys say about this offer made very much here in WF ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Studio13
    FREE — the oldest lie in the book.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cataclysm1987
    Warrior Forum definition of the word free:

    "Pay me with your e-mail and your time and energy"

    Still costs a lot when you think about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author dreagle
    I am 52 years on this Earth. My Father always said to me, when someone says free,

    there is always more than meets the eye."

    Peace: DreamEagle
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Warrior Forum definition of the word free: "Pay me with your e-mail and your time and energy"
      Ummm... where do you come up with this stuff?

      The only place in this forum where you can require an email address for something is in the paid advertising sections. If you give something away in the MMO or War Room sections, you are specifically forbidden to require an opt-in.

      See that thing in my signature? That's free. No opt-in, and no products for sale in it. You don't even have to leave the site to get it.

      Then there's the grand-daddy of them all: The millions of posts worth of information you can get for the low, low cost of setting up a free account. Yes, you have to provide an email address to verify the account, but no advertising is sent to it. And you only get notifications for things you ask to be notified of.

      Oh. Wait. That's right. You don't even need an account to access that info. How silly of me.

      But yeah. "Free" is all a big, fat lie here. Yep.


      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author harrydog
        I was always told that there is nothing in life for free! But in saying that there are some things that are virtually there. I have an offer which is Totally free but as other people have said you need to sign in so there is a small exchange of value there so is that "Free" not sure

        If you look at the giants of the Internet they offer "Freenium" services.

        Google totally free to use but push ads at you
        Yahoo totally free but again ads
        Pinterest totally free but they use skimlinks to monetize
        Twitter free - Not sure how they are monetizing that
        Facebook free - again pushing ads

        The downside to these "Freeium" services is you are giving them your data that they can use for their other marketing services - personally I don't use Facebook as its scary the amount of information they hold on you, so there is again a virtual exchange going on there.

        No company can offer totally "Free" services unless they are a charity, there has to be some value exchange somewhere in the model to make it work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Usmile
    Free- getting something with no effort required.

    In the modern world, the meaning of free is being abused. In business it is use as a bait for money and credibility. The word "free" today is not that safe the way it used to be.
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  • Since we're talking about online marketing, put "free insurance quote" in an e-mail message and find out what the spam filters think about the word free. I have a website, FreeTelemarketingScripts.com, and I'm a little reluctant to do e-mail promotion of it because even with an opt-in list it'll have some flags on it.

    On another forum I gave away 100 free sales leads with literally zero strings attached. I needed an e-mail address to send it to, but I never sent them anything other than the 100 free leads. I got a lot of "what's the catch" questions, but it really was as free as free can get. I have done very well with my list business and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping to get at least a little good karma out of it, but the reality is I never asked anyone for anything in terms of money or permission to harass them later.

    I think it's especially nasty of the folks to make you listen through a pitch for nearly an hour before coming out with it. Heck, why doesn't google advertise adwords as free advertising under their logic because in theory you can be making sales off the advertising and netting a positive cash flow, but it really isn't free so that's why they don't advertise it that way.

    Speaking of adsense, I think that really is as close to free money as it gets. I make a few bucks off a handful of sites and it doesn't amount to much more than around $100-$150/month as of now, but it's basically finding $3-$5 on my doorstep every morning, so that doesn't suck.
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  • Profile picture of the author wesker123
    Free is kinda rare nowadays. In the internet, often there are dollars involve to get free stuffs so in a sense its not totally free.
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  • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
    i agree with most of you guys, bumped anw.
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