Some content (e-books) should be given away for free so they can take their message as far and wide as possible. This is Public Relations. (Was it Ted Nicholas who said that if you can’t sell it you probably can’t give it away, either?)

But sometimes, direct marketing principles dictate that we collect a name and an address in order to build a list. This is Direct Marketing.

I have always believed in giving enough content away for free (obviously you do too since you have this blog) but then to somewhat restrict premium content in order to build a list.

The two tactics can peacefully coexist–especially when the overriding strategies are different.

If David had used this technique with his free book, and 10% of the 250,000 who downloaded it took the offer, he would have built an opt-in list of 25,000 names.

For an information marketer like me, if we assume sales of $10 per name per year, that list would be worth an extra quarter of a million dollars a year in passive income.

David has to make a lot of speeches and ride a lot of airplanes to make that kind of money his way! Some folks I know could get along nicely on that $250,000 annual income!!

Personally, I do both. One approach is for maximum reach of audience. The other is to maximize value per individual audience member.

I have to agree with Bob that a customer / prospect list an enormous asset.

With all due respect to David Meerman Scott, I am certain he would make more money if he added some elements of list building along with his current free, no registration, ebook approach.

Think of it this way, if feedburner crashed one day, how would a blogger reach his or her audience? Will 100% of those readers both re-subscribing? No way… it’s always less than 100%.

It’s for the same reason the local restaurant should build a list of its best customers. What if the place burns down and they have to relocated (happened to two restaurants in my area). A big chunk of that business just disappears.

A relationship with a fan is not an asset. A relationship with a fan that you can contact IS a much more valuable asset… and its an asset you have some control over (e.g., doesn’t matter if feedburner crashes, goes out of business, gets shut down, gets bought by Microsoft and they start charging, etc…)

Similarly, I’d bet Bob could very easily build his email list faster if he had a totally free viral ebook out there. I’m pretty sure Bob would know what to do with 250,000 fans coming back to his website for more after getting something for free.

If you look at average income range of a blogger (free content only provider) and compare it to a direct response marketer in any major media - print, infomercial, direct mail, pay-per-click… you’ll find the top echelon of direct marketers have incomes/revenues in the hundreds of millions an in some cases single digit billions range.

Bottom line: lists work extremely well when it comes to monetization. One is definitely leaving serious money on the table by not building a list.

I think the summary is this:

Different documents for different purposes.

The ungated ebook is NOT for lead generation.

The gates white paper is NOT for viral marketing.

David, I would like to see some good examples of business-to-business companies that are using white papers to actually “sell” products, not just ideas.

Any good examples?

It seems the ebooks are great for ideas.

Mike

There are typically 2 reasons why people may want to write an eBook or have a digital product. They either have some knowledge that they wish to sell to others, or they want to have fame and kudos and develop themselves as an authority on that subject. Each has a different strategy behind it.

In the selling your knowledge scenario,there are typically 2 ways to handle this.It is quite common, to simply have the standard sales page with a ‘buy now’ button at the end. You are not looking to establish a mailing list.

Or the other version, where you are looking to develop more of a life time value for a customer. You therefore typically give away a free sample of your work, which is the driver behind the opt in mailing list. In this example, you then get the chance to promote many other products and services to your customers, as well as give them more information.

In the other scenario, where you are looking to establish yourself as an expert etc… then I would suggest that simply allowing people to download the product as easily and without any possible barriers, is probably the way to go. You want mass adoption and mass downloads of the product, as the end result that you want is more fame and kudos.

Cheers

Mark Shaw

After reading the above, I decided to offer it with no strings attached BUT put the opt-in box for the newsletter right with the offer for the free download. I won’t make it mandatory but I’m sure I’ll get sign-ups there but at the same time not restrict those who would prefer NOT to give me their email address until they know me better.

Of course, they could know me better through my blog and free articles but I needed to figure out how to promote this item very specifically.

To further solve this, I’ll put a reasonably unobtrusive link at the bottom of every other page in the free eBook that leads people to the newsletter opt-in page.

I am VERY interested in David Scott’s mention of a 50-1 ratio. David, can you tell us a bit more on how you came to that measurement? I’m almost finished your “New Rules” book and it’s exceptional!