Creating a list on autopilot

Your example is even better than you told. If your client is any good at running his business, that $40 dinner will only really put him about $10 out of pocket. For $10 "advertising cost", he would pull in a $160 tab, of which at least $50 would be profit. I'll buy $50 bills for $10 all day long.

This isn't just limited to list building, either.

A few years ago, we had a family vacation in Hawaii. The tour company had a 'welcome breakfast' (estimated cost, ~$3/plate), during which they pitched other paid activities (luaus, helicopter tours, etc.). In addition, they had several door prizes to make sure people stuck around after the plates were cleared.

I won a $76 ticket to a luau. I had a choice - go alone, pass up the prize, or pay for 4 more tickets. What did I choose? We all enjoyed the show...

Extending that, this was the second time we attended one of these welcome breakfasts. The first time, it was just my wife and me. We didn't win anything. But several lucky people in bigger groups won single prizes...

The marginal cost of a single luau probably wasn't anything close to the $76 face value on the ticket, and it generated $230 worth of sales for the luau operator.

You're right. Making like Santa Claus can make for very happy trips to the bank.

This is going to be a popular post with plenty of response... Giving something away for free is a cool strategy (especially in IM like eBooks etc.) particularly to promote response & viral reaction. No one will argue with this concept... However, just as there are positive viral reactions (possibly based on reputation or word of mouth) there are bad outcomes from viral response examples... For example BMW recently having a technical problem allowing fraudsters to manipulate certain vehicle security malfunction or a restaurant exposed as having an issue with an insect pest issue magnified by regional governmental cut-backs & the like (perhaps to neighbouring premises where pest control was usually handled by local funding). Whatever it is... I say giving away technical details or insect pests for free can be really popular to many sad people lol...
Hey mister, I am running out of a sense of humour but at least I enjoyed writing this post.

create compaign in google adwords

Definitely works look how many fan pages offer free stuff if you like or if you opt-in, now problem is where to advertise this offer

Here are my thoughts being an authority affiliate marketer in niche of building muscle ... so

Someone gave me this idea in another thread, basically to give my away a free 5 day videos /slideshows that go hand in hand with the stories that I tell on my autoresponder.

Some people learn better by reading, some visual, some both. But the great thing about it is that I can further engage my subscriber and give them coaching that usually values around $50 / hour. AND open up, tell more personal stories, provide rapport, value, etc

Yep, a funded proposal is always an effective marketing strategy, has been for years.

It would be great if you would implement it properly. Best of luck dude.

This idea looks promising.

Internet marketing is all about "quantity" and thinking in "masses"

In collecting optins, the biggest initial challenge is to get target traffic.

Great sharing, it let's me think about how to build my lists, and I can provide some real services to let visitors opt-in, such as setup a wordpress site or setup an autoresponder account, these tasks are very easy for me.

The exact fundamental I've studied in my first semester of Bachlors in Marketing Management, it is called razor and blades business model, if I give a razor for free then that guy will have to purchase your blades to use the razor, I would suggest to mix this method with the conditioning methods it would bring some cool result

Great post. I wish I have a BMW to give away! I guess the more valuable your give away is, the higher the conversion rate is going to be.

I think it is rather difficult for anyone to build a list without giving away something.

I always found that an honest sales letter and an honest give away product converts really well.

Hey, I like your concept on Bmw. Everyone here knows it sounds too good to be true. Bmw has been a established brand for very long years. So definitely people would opt in. What I am actually getting about is if you are just starting out you should always remember to create a valuable brand for yourself. So people would recognise your brand. This in turn would really help your visitors conversion rate improve drastically for the long run.

You have hit the nail on the head here

I always tell people to give away something of value otherwise your subscriber is never goingt o open anything from you ever again if you sent them garbage the first time

First impressions are very important

My first list which i built i initially gave away 5 free videos out of my 23 videos but a few months later i ended up giving away 15 videos and then sold the last 7 or so

People loved it and i often and still do get emails saying that it is high free value

Paul

Great post. But to make your list grow even faster you need to add a viral element to it. I suggest you make a sales page with an offer.

To make your offer go really viral you need to make sure that your visitors will know that they are getting a high value product for free!

To do this just add 2 options to your offer.

A paid offer and a viral element to let them get it for a tweet or like.

Well said -- quality goes before anything I'd say.
You offer them something really sweet, they'll just love you, trust you, and finally pay you. I guess that's how internet marketing work )

Word FREE is a magic word if used correctly.

i also believe in giving free good info products and building a relationship first with your list

Sabluuk

Where do I get this valuable stuff to give away? I have a squeeze page giving something away to build my list..autoresponder ect.. the problem is finding valuable stuff. I want to build it out so all I have to worry about is new subscribers..

I really like this and thanks for sharing. Its a concept that works really well and its exactly why webinars are so popular at the moment. Giving away 45 minutes of great content and then a 15 minute pitch seems to be the guru's blueprint at the moment. Also a really good idea to implement offline with recorded webinars.

Hook them with free information and club then with a paypal button

In your example, you're making money for both businesses. Only a fool would not go for this.

How could this work for a dentist or oil change place?

Great post. Thanks for sharing.
Offering value to your subscribers is KEY! But making it really appeal to that target audience makes the difference between a responsive list and an unresponsive list.

Great thread

Great points sabluuk!

I can attest to this working really well as I just recently launched a FREE WSO and bagged me just shy of 700 subs

I could have easily sold the WSO for $27 but instead decided to give it away for free. It not only has built me a nice targeted list but it has also allowed me to build relationships with other product developers.


Manie

Hi sabluuk,

The problem most people seem to have is that even if they get this part right, they don't appreciate that they are setting expectations - so when they follow up with pump and dump tactics the disconnect is too obvious.

To use John McCabe's analogy (post #2) it's like offering a high quality meal very cheap to get people into the restaurant, then once they have eaten there, the only option thereafter is overpriced junk.

Or in your example, give them a free BMW for opt in then send them emails trying to sell a Skoda with BMW bodywork for $150k. They will take the BMW, then unsubscribe quickly afterwards feeling tricked.

In my opinion, the quality has to be continuous and consistent to make the initial effort worthwhile.

Alternatively, claim to offer a free BMW for opt-in, but send a screensaver image of one on sign up. Then sell ad swaps to unsuspecting newb IMers and practice creating subscriber remorse. I don't recommend this pointless method or practice it myself, but apparently it's very common.

awesome!! very nice example of the important of giving value.. i really like it...
thanks for sharing