Give Most of it Away. The Rest Will Pay.
Don’t be afraid to give away your valuable business insight or product development data. You have more to gain than lose.
Photo by peterjaena
Many years ago when I worked in a very different business — print — we ran across an important, fundamental question that would help shape our future growth strategy and financial viability:
How much content do we give away on our website?
I argued to give away 99% of everything we would put in print, as it was published. This confused and frightened a lot of people, who thought the idea was blasphemous.
I felt that so long as we had something different in print, something fresh to offer, everything else could be freely given away. We parted ways soon thereafter.
I didn’t know it at the time, but my idea wasn’t new at all. Recently I’ve heard it described as The Bikini Concept.
The gist of it is, you can give away as much of your strategy/philosophy/methodology/thinking as you like, and someone will always be willing to pay for that very last bit. In fact, the more you give away, the closer you take them to the final answer, the more they are likely to pay for the very last reveal, so to speak.
Face it, you’re not Steve Jobs
Another company I used to work for was — how do I put this– stingy with their announcements to the public. In fact, the months leading up to public announcements were very structured, very rigid, tight media blackouts, embargoes, and such.
This also never made any sense to me. How else are you going to generate interest in your product if you never show its face, even if it’s not done yet? So many companies want to be Apple about their product releases: tight-lipped, giving nothing away until it’s time for one more thing.
Get people discussing your product
Instead, brands should get as much information about a product out in front of the public as soon as possible. Discussing the development process makes great content. Discussing the marketing challenges and fulfillment challenges make great content. And all of it raises awareness and gives almost everything away about the product.
Everything, that is, except what it feels like to actually use it, try it, hold it, or do whatever it is someone is supposed to do with it.
Learn from your customers how to talk about your product
There are unexpected benefits to an open and transparent product process, too, in addition to an increase in product awareness. Let’s say, for example, that you distribute the manual to a consumer product before the product is released to the public. Relevant and influential bloggers will get hold of it and dissect the product’s features. Pay attention to what they have to say! Their way of talking about the product will use the language that most resonates with the consumers you’re hoping to target.
This language is going to be the way you should talk about your own product, because it’s already been proven and tested to work with a relevant audience. Now you speak their language without the expense of focus groups or market research. All you did was say, “this is coming.”
Does this apply to me?
It sure does. Whether you’re building widgets, selling widgets, marketing widgets, or even consuming widgets, you have something to say about it. And in a community as vast and influential as the internet, your insight is valuable to someone.
Instead of beefing up security, get your information out there. This will generate relevant discussion. And whether it’s positive or negative, don’t be afraid of the discussion. Participate, answer questions, learn from it. Learn from Tiger Woods right now: the more you hide, the more the speculation will run wild on its own, and you will have no control. And, unfortunately, the more you hide, the worse the rumors will become. You no longer have anywhere to hide, so you’d best just step up and speak up.
Set your ideas free
No matter how much people have already seen, if you give access and generate interest with open and honest discussion, they will go the final stretch and pay for what you haven’t shown. They will buy it precisely because you have given them an opportunity to inform themselves, discuss, and decide that you have what they want.
About the author
Brad Schwarzenbach -
As an analyst on the Tippingpoint Strategy team, Brad explores new opportunities for clients to build relationships with their customers. He’s always testing new social media channels, poring over analytic data, and identifying emerging trends. He also speaks at conferences & events about uncovering powerful messages hidden within brands' unique values.
Brad’s research has contributed to the development of content & contributor strategies for such clients as Breville, Rodale, Long’s Jewelers, and Fusionapps, as well as being a frequent contributor to the Tippingpoint blog. He’s been “listening” to the way we communicate online since the old AOL People Connection days and watched the way that digital communication has evolved.
An English and Creative Writing major at the University of Connecticut, Brad’s spent most of his career creating web content and becoming intimately familiar with web theory for Bayard, Inc. and TomTom Inc., giving Brad keen ears and eyes to what, exactly, makes web content valuable.
Outside the office, Brad feels most at home with his beautiful wife-to-be Kristina, or on the golf course. “There’s a distinct pace and rhythm to the way people communicate online. Understanding and taking part in them yields amazing opportunities for my clients to not only grow but to improve their business. I’m constantly looking for those opportunities.”Popular Posts
-
Seth Godin and the Flower Clock
August 24, 2010 -
The Online Brand Value Chain Explained
October 6, 2009 -
Give Most of it Away. The Rest Will Pay.
December 1, 2009
Related Posts
-
Now! That’s What I Call Forward Thinking: 2009
December 30, 2009 -
Get Satisfaction Enables Valuable, Transparent Customer Support
July 10, 2009
Good point well articulated, Brad.
My introduction to this concept came through the Grateful Dead who had no problem giving away the music for free (if you want to hear literally thousands of their shows you can do so at archive.org and elsewhere) because people were more than willing to pay for the experience of seeing them, an experience which couldn’t be packaged and sold, it had to be lived. Dave Matthews followed a similar approach: play colleges, encourage taping and trading, cash checks.
When your product is something that cannot be easily reproduced or circulated (an appliance, a car, a destination), giving away everything else makes perfect sense.
When your product CAN be easily reproduced and distributed (music, video, text, software, etc.), then you have to be able to offer something that can’t (your time, your insight on a specific problem, etc.). If you want to get real paid, that is.
This is something that has been on my mind since I first stumbled across a program you might remember called Napster (1.0) several years back. I thought, “you mean there are people out there that will simply share their music library with me…for FREE?” Being a musician myself, I enjoyed the uncapped potential for building a library of great music to be reckoned with, but seriously worried about the implications this held for my own music. I thought “If people can get it for FREE, why would they pay me, or a label, for it?” This has obviously kept many an artist and record exec up at night since the dawn of file sharing.
With technology being what it is, the ridiculous profit margin that record labels once enjoyed has all but taken a nosedive in recent years. They no longer can control the distribution channels as securely as they once could, and file sharing sites have severed a main vein, leaving them to bleed out, if they can’t address the problem soon enough.
But Michael is dead on, with his comment (above). Those who make it in the recording industry have found alternative revenue streams, or been forced to work twice as hard. While for most, this means they become slaves to the Live Show, essentially touring 80% of the year, others have been forced to find new ways of branding, merchandising and commodifying themselves.
The Roots, for example, are a great case study for this point. They decided after years and years of touring, that they could do just as well taking a steady check for being the Jimmy Fallon House Band, as they could on the road…if not much better. They became a part of an experience that is not so reliant on direct sales of the product that they are creating. They are not losing a dime when someone watches the show on Hulu (another great example of someone who understands the Bikini Effect).
So, I say all of that Brad (and the TPL crew) to take it one step further and essentially pose this question:
Give 99% of it away for free…I got that. I like it and agree with it. That being said, what is the thing that people will FOREVER pay for, regardless of price point? What is that 1%?
Is it information? Is it the euphoric feeling of being a part of something bigger than yourself (concert, iPod/iPhone movement, etc.)? Is it the right to feel exclusive/elite? Is it something more tangible?
I could be opening a can of worms here, but I’d like to get your feedback. Thanks in advance and keep the content coming.
Matthew and Anthony,
Great comments both of you! Outstanding content really. You’ve managed to extend the value of the blog post, as opposed to just piling on. For that, I thank you!
The concept of an alternative revenue stream (a la The Roots) is a discussion bigger than this post, however, it certainly is a part of the discussion and the key to the last 1% I mentioned.
I think the notion of supply & demand comes into practice a bit here. Of course, I’m not an economist so I may be way off. With a plethora of content, of course the price will be zero. However, so long as you can offer something completely different, supply will be low, demand will be high, cost will be high, margins should be survivable. However, if your medium offers a similar/inferior product as another medium, you can’t hope to compete, and you’re probably better off not whining about it.
Thanks again!
Brad
I think this is dead-on, and from my own little universe I inhabit, I’ll give you an example:
Currently I’m the editor the Boston edtion of a mens lifestyle online publication/email newsletter, and all day and all night (and all weekend) I’m constantly scouring the blogs, internet, press releases, etc etc for cool new items to write about that are on brand with my pub as well as fresh, new. I track things for weeks and months ahead of time, watching their development.
The only way I can do that is by the more savvy of the bunch who are open with their content and discussion what’s happening, stages they’ve reached, which initiates a discussion with my superiors on, say, an iPhone app, or new gadget, or service, or whatever it is I’m following – so that in the end, right when it drops I can write about it and basically give them free exposure to hundreds of thousands of potential “buyers” or end-users solely because they made their information available online. From there, when I write about it, it means traffic, exposure, and at the end of the day (depending on the product) actual sales for that company. It’s the Brave New World, and only the visionaries understand exactly how this works.
Now, that doesn’t mean exposing yourself entirely is the way to go (giving all the secrets away) but that’s where the salient point of the Bikini Concept rings the most true. There’s still that last bit that people are willing to pay for (read: the product itself, in this example) and it’s only because I am able to follow the development of a product via content-sharing and information dissemination.
More companies, should they embrace this idea in a larger business construct, would benefit greatly from it. Actually, it’s one of the key selling points for any business that provides the tools and the resources for content generation within new media.
Somewhere, a stagnant legacy print/information model gently weeps….
Give it away I say.
Most of our tracks have been released under a creative commons license.
We are an independent record label not a big bad corporation out to sue you for file sharing, we WANT you to spread our music around.
With such an overcrowded market place giving away your music is essential in my opinion. The biggest problem for emerging indie artists today is obscurity, not piracy. To find out more listen to The Antiqcool Podcast
http://antiqcool.podbean.com/2010/01/22/the-antiqcool-podcast-episode-1-how-can-you-be-a-part-of-our-success/
Great podcast! I’m listening to it now! Thanks so much for your comment and I agree that todays digital distribution allows musicians unbelievable opportunity! Thanks for commenting!
I hold hardheadedly agree, the more you give the better the long term relationship and trust. It’s easier, and I think the more transparent you are the less “trickery” and hoopla you or your customers will fall for. A+ discussion in my opinion
great points here Brad. I like how you’ve related it to a Bikini factor since as a guy, we both understand that there is still more under the bikini than what’s openly being shared. The same thing is true with products, even if we see 99% of it, we still want the whole thing
Great post Brad. Makes total sense but many people think in scarcity and holding back information. Keep up the great work.