Archive for the ‘Viral marketing’ Category
- Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr
The perpetual arguments about how companies can make money online by giving away free (digital) content still rage but there are some great examples of successful stories.
The latest one is how Nine Inch Nails became the best selling digital album of 2008 by giving it away under Creative Common.
So why would someone pay for something that’s virtually free somewhere else online? Here are a 2 hints…
- When you give people the chance to try something at no cost, the ones that like their experience will have a higher propensity to purchase it. Why? There are a couple of reasons;
- they like it so much they’re ready to buy it,
- they think the money will be put to good use and they may get more free stuff in the future,
- they directly or indirectly want to reward the producer of the free stuff for their work and by making it available at no cost first.
- But whatever the reason, the important is they take the time and money to make a purchase.
- Giving something away for free needs to be part of a very simple and easy process in order to get it. People will not take the time to go through a complicated process even for something free. The barrier to get it should be very low or there should be no barrier at all.
More important is the end result; giving something away help spread it to a bigger potential market. Then if your product or service are perceived as quality ones, more people will buy them than if there would be no other option than pay for it.
Our advice; think how you could give something free online and the easier and simplest way for people to first get it then secondly maybe pay for it. And did we say your product or service should be perceived as quality in order to succeed? That’s critical.
We thought we would share with you our top 5 6 favourite online marketing and optimization blogs of 2007. They will surely remain in our top for 2008 but if you have your own favourite feel free to share them with us. These are, in our humble opinion, the best of the best, the kind of posts and articles making you go hmmm.
- Web analytics: Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik needs to be read if you’re interested in website analytics. Avinash is also the author of Web Analytics and Hour a Day and he’s actually a consultant and Analytics Evangelist at Google. There are goldmines of useful information in your web analytics (you have one installed don’t you?) and Avinash shows you the ins and outs.
- Site Optimization: Jonathan Mendez’ blog and OTTO Digital’s blogs talk about landing page optimization, site optimization, in other words everything you can dream about online optimization. As Reflexity is heavily involved in that space it’s always interesting to read their findings and learn from their experiences. More than a must.
- Online media and marketing insights: Charlene Li’s blog talks about her experiences and findings about how social media, social marketing & networking are influencing the way business use these technologies online. Charlene is VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research and covers their social computing and web 2.0 research. Insightful.
- Viral Marketing, user experience and online advertising: Andrew Chen’s Futuristic Play will provide you with comments, tips, and ideas about users/customers acquisition and how to keep them. His blog is much more than that but these subjects alone will really be worth your time. We can’t wait to see what will be his next business!
- Persuasion, conversions & marketing: GrokDotCom’s blog posts are about online persuasion; from persuasive architecture to content persuasion/copywriting and everything in between. The goal is to make easier for people to convert into a sale, a registration or a lead. Tons of very valuable information.
- Online banking: Colin Henderson’s The Bank Watch brings a bowl of fresh air with the latest trends, news and experiences with online banking. Colin is a firm believer in embracing new technologies and ideas to reach consumers and enhance their experience. So are we. Kudos Colin!
Ok, so we had more a top 6 instead of a top 5. We couldn’t leave one out. Lets be original and call it our top 6.
What are your best blogs? We’re curious to know…
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