Are you tired of giving away “the farm”? Do you keep creating FREE content but not getting clients? When it comes to creating content, it’s easy to get lost in what to share when, and what kind of content to create. How much do you share to avoid giving away “the farm”? What do you talk about in your articles, videos, and webinars, and what do you leave for the actual product or program? I’ll demystify and simplify this for you in this special mini-training I recently held inside my Facebook group called Simplicity Entrepreneurs – you can join it here FREE.
3 Types of Content to Create to Sell Your Products and Programs
Introduction
Most of us have been told over and over to create free content to promote our businesses. What happens when you keep creating free content, and it doesn’t work? And you don’t have clients as a result of free content creation?
Also, how do you create content that attract clients, and eventually enrolls them into your programs or sells your product?
We expect free content we create to get people into our programs, but when that leap doesn’t happen, it’s natural to feel frustrated.
Before diving into free and paid content, I want to introduce you to one more layer of content that I call “conditioning content.” This is a type of content you create that bridges the gap between free and paid content. This guide will look into what each means, and will teach you what kind of content to create for each category.
The reason this training came about goes back a time when I was doing a lot of product launches, and I often had to determine where should I share which piece of content. Should I give it away for free? Does it go into my paid content? Or is there another category? And if so, what is that other category?
For those of you who are new to this community, I started my business in 2001 selling my first e-book. I was doing many product launches at that time, and it led me to question why some free content would convert people but other content would simply get the applause, but no commitment.
Free content
The purpose of free content is to build traffic, to create visibility, and to build authority. When people are done consuming your free content, you want them to say “I believe you. I like you. I trust you.” When publishing this content to other platforms like social media or YouTube, you’ll see an increase in traffic.
The kind of things you talk about in free content are topics related to your business, but they are not topics you are directly teaching in your paid product. You can share personal stories, commentary on related current events, top-of-mind topics (something that just came to you), big picture topics, standalone topics, or even controversial subjects. For example, this training guide is part of free training.
How do you come up with topics for free content? You look at your target audience and determine what is important to them around your topic.
Suppose your target audience is startup business owners. Your free content can consist of anything you feel startup businesses need to learn about. For example, it could be finding funding to start a business or building a dream team.
I have been learning more about podcasts recently, and because I’m so used to creating conditioning content, I decided podcast interview is a good place to condition. However, Nicole Holland, who I am training with, made me realize the podcasts are actually just good place to get people to know you, like you, trust you. For most, podcasts are a fun place to hear stories and get entertained. Rather than serious topics, listeners want to know my life stories like how I came from Ukraine, how I learned English, how I left a business I was unhappy with, and how I started my business now.
Conditioning Content
If the goal of free content is to build authority, the goal of conditioning content is to change beliefs or to further educate your potential clients. You’re essentially indoctrinating people in what you believe in. This is your chance to get people to buy into your big idea. You want to inspire them into a different way of looking at something.
When people are done consuming your conditioning content, you want them to say, “I agree with you, and I’m interested in what’s coming next.”
This can be done in the form of a webinar or through tool and quizzes. I would often do it in pre-launch videos, where I would share things that would build up the idea or generate interest and desire in the product. This is also a good place to hold Q&A polls, or to answer any buying objections.
Another goal with conditioning content is to be strategic. This is also the reason free content doesn’t sell your program – it’s not strategic. Conditioning content conditions people not just to have interest, but to make a commitment and invest in your product.
Some quizzes from my training strategically enlighten people to issues with their businesses. They make you think in a way I want you to think. It’s not being manipulative, but rather making something previously invisible visible to you, and bringing awareness. It’s simply putting something in front of you that maybe you weren’t thinking about before. Sales videos, sales pitches, or live stage presentations are some great ways to connect people to your big idea.
A wonderful quote I heard from a participant in my training sums it up perfectly. “Buy into me, buy into my idea, buy my product.”
Furthermore, the content you share in your conditioning piece must strategically connect to your product. Before and after stories, how you discovered your solution, why alternatives don’t work as well, how this product changed your life, or even steps for getting started all make for excellent content. This helps people imagine what it would be like to work with you in your program.
I like to create a lot of clarity, focus, and simplicity around what type of topic I’m teaching. Your goal as well is to help people see more clearly, because it shows clients that you are the missing ingredient to their success.
Another thing you can do here is share principles, mind sets, and ideas. When doing so, you must take a stance. As an example, I took a stance for simplicity in my business, Simplicity Circle. Most people don’t want the burden of running a complicated business, but do want to grow fast and make money. I made it clear that it’s ok to want a simple business. Simple business also grows faster and with more ease. Plus, they’re fun and make more money because of their simplicity.
Paid Content
Paid content is where people say, “I’m ready to make a commitment, just show me the steps.” This is the point when people are ready to invest.
What kind of content goes here? This is your system! This is what delivers a specific, tangible outcome or will allow people to implement your strategy. Your modules, steps, building blocks, methods, exercises, workbooks, and anything else that helps people achieve what you promised goes in this category.
Example 1
Let’s say you are a nutritionist specializing in the vegan lifestyle. Your paid content is a five-step guide to becoming a vegan, or perhaps a five-week program. With your conditioning content, you must sell the idea that the vegan lifestyle is the best and healthiest lifestyle on the planet. In your free content, you can talk about healthy lifestyle choices and habits, the history of veganism, how to shop at the local grocery store, or how to read labels so you can avoid products that are bad for you.
Example 2
Let’s say you are a business coach and you’re selling Six Steps to Creating a Big Vision. With your conditioning content, there’s only one thing you need to make a case for: having a big vision is absolutely critical for running a successful business. If you cannot sell this idea, you will not sell your product. For a business coach who sells a big vision system, what might free content be? Anything related to business, such as marketing, teambuilding, business strategy, challenges, growing a business, or starting a business.
The basic strategy here is to decide what you’re selling and figure out what the big idea behind it is. For conditioning content, you want to figure out how to support that big idea. Free content can be anything related, but not directly a part of you’re selling.
Example 3
For any business, the goal is to make a good case! Pretend you are a trial lawyer and it’s essential to make a good case to free your client. Or imagine you are writing a thesis, and you need to prove it. Perhaps you can use three points to make your case.
When I was created a program on teaching people how to make their own membership websites, the big idea was that a membership program doesn’t have to be an ongoing program to be successful.
I realized that an average member stayed in a program for four months before they unsubscribed. I found this through statistics that I pulled from my own membership websites. Looking individually at members, the number varied for everyone. Some stayed for twelve months, others for two years. Some would sign up and leave within a month, but the average statistic for overall membership was four months.
I used that to back up the case that most people don’t stay past six months, anyway, so why not just make a program for six months. That was my big idea, and how I got people to create a finite program.
A lot of programs I put out into the world are exactly in that format. Either a three-month program or a six-month program. Though these days it’s less clear what exactly constitutes a membership program, especially with Facebook.
In my program, the membership program was the paid product, my conditioning content was why membership programs don’t need to be ongoing, and my free content was teaching things like recurrent revenue, how to generate income as a coach, and how to leverage yourself. These topics were around memberships, but not necessary about membership itself just yet.
Q&A
Q: (from Joan, who is a web developer interested in selling more website package) Would my conditioning content be the importance of mobile websites that are maintained?
A: If you’re saying to me that mobile websites are very important to your success online with websites, I’m going to expect that the program or service you’re selling is one in which you create my mobile website. You need to indoctrinate or condition people in this idea that for people to be successful online with their website, they need to be mobile ready and you are going to be the one to help them to make it happen.
Q: (from Anita) I want to sell my eight-week program for going sugar free. What kind of content do I create?
A: Well It’s kind of obvious, right? Why the heck should I go sugar free for eight weeks? Why do I have to subject myself to this torture? You better sell this big idea in a way that makes me totally convinced and inspired and seeing things in a differently. Everyone knows sugar is bad for you, but the question is what can you say to make people see differently? What is your big idea? If you look at everyone who is saying sugar is bad for you, what can you say that is a fresh take, or is a little innovative? For me to go eight weeks without sugar, I need to be totally convinced and committed. Perhaps, it’s a stress-free way to go sugar free. What’s the big idea behind stress-free?
Q: Is live training better than a download?
A: A download is a great way to get people on your list or increases conversion. However, you can expect most people to not read it. Often, they will request a free download but not read it, and your message will not reach them.
People will more likely watch a training video or participate in live training. For maximum communication and engagement, it is best to do both. Equally important is to remember to deliver content in a way that’s simple and enjoyable to you.
Conclusion
The big idea is such a cool thing. It supercharges your entire marketing strategy whether you’re launching, teaching, or creating content. Without a big idea, you can’t quiet move forward because it’s not clear what you stand for. Then it becomes very difficult to figure out what you’re trying to prove or looking to achieve. That’s why in Simplicity Circle, one of the first things we do is figure out your big idea. Without it, it’s hard to market your product or make it stand out.
For example, Joan is a web developer, but there are millions of web developers in the global scale. What makes Joan different? It’s her big idea. (And yes, here I’m selling you on the big idea of the big idea.)
In the included cheat sheet, you will find the three types of content organized into a circle. The center of the circle is core content. This is your paid product. Outside is condition content, where you back up the idea and get people to say, “I’m interested, and I want to know what’s next.” The outermost circle is free content and can be all kinds of things your target audience could be interested in, all with the goal to build authority and drive traffic.
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