The Easy Way to Increase Your Sales by 23,000%
January 26, 2009 by Simon Ashton
Filed under All, social media
Another ‘Free-conomics’ Success Story
With so many people from author Neil Gaiman to Nine Inch Nails (who released the best selling album of the year on a Creative Commons license ), now giving away free work to generate sales, the idea is no longer the novelty it once was. But for those who continue to doubt the power of the web, Monty Python give us what is surely one of the biggest indicators yet.
Apparently fed up of seeing their clips being pirated all over YouTube, they took an unusal step. They formed the Monty Python channel, collected all their stuff themselves, and simply gave it away. But not solely from the goodness of their hearts,
“We’re letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there! But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.”
The channel has been a huge YouTube hit. with most clips having 100,000+ views in the first couple of months alone. The real success though is in how these free videos have led to real sales. Lots and lots of real sales. In fact a 23,000% increase in sales, and moving them to the number 2 spot on the Amazon tv bestsellers list!
I think that this shows us two things. Despite all the hype about pirating of music and movies, people are still willing to pay for what they like. As I was working yesterday I heard a song I liked on Pandora radio, so immediately hopped over to Amazon and bought it. It just needs to be made easy for people to do it, without tying them down to contracts, DRM-locked files and other hindrances.
It also demonstrates the amazing power of Youtube for getting your product seen. It seems such a regular part of daily life that it’s hard to believe YouTube is less than four years old, but in those 4 years great strides have been made. Widescreen, HD videos, with captions, links to buy and so on make Youtube one of the most valuable places to be seen on the web. Just ask the Monty Python guys, who are leading the way in making money by selling products which are available for free.
If that isn’t a web 2.0 success story, then I’m a dead parrot.
I still think, in situations where people are buying products for a small investment, give aways can make sense. The above post demonstrates that my post was correct.
http://posituspoints.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/positweet-provide-it-for-free-depends/
When providing services, I still do not think people appreciate advice gained for free. With all the time that I invest in social media, people still seem to be amazed when they contact me and I actually expect them to pay me for my services. My best clients still come from assertive, positive referrals from happy clients who have seen how much I’ve helped them. That’s not to say social media isn’t good for me, that I haven’t met some really interesting people, or that I don’t appreciate every single follower. It is a perfect fit for some longer term goals I have for my business, and I will continue to do it (and throw out some pretty damn good free advice from time to time.)
trent reznor has that “give stuff away and people will buy” thing on lock!