{"id":107,"date":"2024-08-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/13\/how-to-use-freebies-to-optimize-your-lead-generation\/"},"modified":"2024-08-13T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T11:00:00","slug":"how-to-use-freebies-to-optimize-your-lead-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/13\/how-to-use-freebies-to-optimize-your-lead-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Freebies to Optimize Your Lead Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Creator Columns<\/strong>, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator<\/a> voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never forget the first freebie I ever created and put out onto the internet: a free guide to help you grow your Instagram following. I wrote all the copy in a Word doc and even hired a graphic design student to make it pretty. I tossed it out to my audience and within hours I had a few hundred new subscribers on my email list. It was an exhilarating feeling seeing people jump onto my list in exchange for the free value I was offering. After that, I was hooked. Over the years I\u2019ve made over 75 different freebies to help me grow my email list and in the process, I\u2019ve learned what makes a freebie generate leads successfully.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Effective Freebies Deserve a Fresh Update<\/h2>\n

Building out a corner of the internet for our businesses means we\u2019re creating within an ever-changing landscape with rules that are constantly shifting. We have to adapt and update regularly<\/em>, otherwise our work can quickly look outdated and irrelevant, and sometimes overnight! So, like every other aspect of running an online business, the lead-generating freebies that are working for you have to play the same game.<\/p>\n

Freebies have the opportunity to pave a pathway for lifelong customers. No matter the type, they\u2019re working overtime to bring new faces into your ecosystem and, ultimately, guide subscribers to your paid offers. Even just one<\/em> irresistible freebie can convert a curious lurker into someone who follows you through every iteration of your business.<\/p>\n

A common mistake people make is that they create a free offer and then they set it and forget about it. For us, reworking and refreshing our top-performing, lead-generating freebies is a consistent practice. They\u2019re on autopilot, sprawled out across the internet, linked up in blog posts, and bubbling up on Pinterest to target new customers and serve people for free. <\/em>That means we need to schedule regular check-ins to see which ones are performing well and how we can keep them fresh and effective! So, what does that entail?<\/p>\n

How to Use Freebies to Optimize Your Lead Generation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1. Examine Your Top-Performing Freebies<\/h3>\n

Before you start the editing process, take a look at your numbers so you can set yourself up to use your time effectively. I always recommend having at least two freebies running so you can see what your audience favors and what they are excited to exchange their email address for.<\/p>\n

Take inventory<\/a>. What freebies are getting the most action? Which ones are effectively generating subscribers for you? Which are truly generating leads and achieving their goals? Start there.<\/p>\n

It might feel counterintuitive at first, especially if you\u2019re a problem solver because your underperforming freebies will pull at your attention. There\u2019s absolutely a time to evaluate their underperformance, but giving your time to your best free offers first means they can stay out there and work hard on your behalf while you update the rest. In time, you might not even need your less effective freebies if your top-performing ones are really driving results for you!<\/p>\n

My business had a few obvious outliers performing best from my full lineup of freebies! From a free 5-day email list-building challenge<\/a> to the \u201cUltimate Pinterest Guide<\/a>\u201d to our \u201cHow to Start a Podcast from Scratch<\/a>\u201d free download, we quickly saw which opt-ins were moving the needle the most and put our focus and attention on those first.<\/p>\n

Depending on how many lead-generating offers you have, pick your top few. You don\u2019t want this to be an overwhelming project, especially if you know you might get stuck in a loop of editing, designing, or rewriting. The focus here is improvement, not perfection.<\/p>\n

2. Optimize Your Freebies<\/h3>\n

What does the process of \u201coptimizing\u201d<\/em> a freebie mean? When it\u2019s time to dive into the editing process, we start by running through a series of questions to create our task list. <\/strong>This helps modify our optimization process for each individual offer because some might need more work than others.<\/p>\n

Does the freebie still align with our brand and messaging style? <\/em><\/p>\n

A focus for my brand is that all my offers truly feel like they\u2019re coming from me <\/em>because they are! The way I used to speak to my audience 4-5 years ago isn\u2019t exactly how I write or show up today, so I like to make sure the voice<\/a> of the verbiage feels right. We do a read-through of the freebie from beginning to end making sure nothing feels too fluffy. We also flag where we need to update the design.<\/p>\n

Does the freebie\u2019s content still deliver high-quality and valuable guidance?<\/em><\/p>\n

I want my free content to be so good that people think to themselves, \u201cIf she\u2019s giving this away for free, I can\u2019t imagine what I\u2019d get if I paid for an offer.\u201d You don\u2019t need to give everything away for free, but you want to make sure that there is true value inside your guide.<\/p>\n

Your \u201cexact process\u201d might have gone through 5-10 new iterations since you created your last freebie. While your freebie doesn\u2019t have to shift every time you do, you do want to make sure that the advice inside it is still something you stand by and know your audience would find valuable in practice.<\/p>\n

Think about your readers doing every<\/em> step that you recommend \u2014 would they still be able to get through it seamlessly? Is it clear and concise? Are there any missing steps you need to add or outdated links you need to remove? This can be what stops your reader from converting into a paying customer!<\/p>\n

Does the freebie have any time-sensitive language or outdated pop-culture references?<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes when we\u2019re in the midst of the creation process of a new lead-generating freebie, we might miss the fact that we\u2019ve dropped something in there that feels more timely<\/em> and less timeless. <\/em>This mistake can make your readers feel like they\u2019ve opted in for guidance that is no longer relevant.<\/p>\n

3. Translate Your Optimization to Your Freebie\u2019s Supporting Content<\/h3>\n

Once you\u2019ve walked your freebie through the editing process, it\u2019s time to dive into the supporting copy that helps your freebie successfully pop up to your new leads. Getting the freebie editing done first will help the rest of the process flow much faster because you\u2019re mentally fresh on what someone will get when they get their hands on your free offer.<\/p>\n

Think through everything that hosts your freebie, specifically your evergreen<\/em> content.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a quick checklist to help your review process. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Landing page
\n Thank you page
\n Delivery or confirmation emails
\n Ads (social media, Google, Pinterest, and other websites)
\n Website pop-ups
\n Pillar blog posts (i.e. blog posts that have your freebie as their MAIN call to action)
\n Automated, recurring social media posts
\n Evergreen mentions in content <\/p>\n

This is also an opportune time to think about new ways to get your lead-generating offer in front of fresh eyes! I like to think about fun ways to talk about our freebies on a podcast episode and, more recently, I like to schedule ways to bring them up organically through our weekly email updates.<\/p>\n

4. Relaunch Your Freebie<\/h3>\n

This kind of process might feel like something done behind the scenes<\/em>, but you don\u2019t have to hide the update and let the same ol\u2019 system roll on as usual. While your evergreen and automated process will continue to do that work for you, a little concentrated boost<\/a> from you could help kickstart a new wave of leads that an automated process simply cannot provide. You likely have tons of people in your audience who\u2019ve never downloaded this particular freebie (or who aren\u2019t even paying customers yet!). They might not even know you offer this specific guidance and have been wishing<\/em> to get their hands on this process!<\/p>\n

So, I recommend relaunching your freebie with excitement and intentionality! You don\u2019t have to drop a link to your freebie in the P.S. of your next email or feel like you have to keep it lowkey just because this freebie isn\u2019t technically brand new. You can skip the bells and whistles, but give your refreshed freebie a mini-spotlight wherever it feels right for your business.<\/p>\n

Send out an email or two to your whole email list (or a segment that would super appreciate this offer versus your entire list). Create a dedicated in-feed post or Reel about its main value points. Write a new blog post that expands on ONE point inside the freebie and link it up as your call to action.<\/p>\n

A good reminder here is that we\u2019re always talking <\/strong>way less about our offers than we think we are.<\/em><\/strong> That\u2019s the nature of operating your business behind the boundaries of algorithms and their ever-changing rules. I remember launching my book and feeling like I was giving annoying levels of hype, and then I was shocked to find out that there were so many people on launch day who had no idea I\u2019d written a book at all! So, don\u2019t be afraid to be loud and proud about your offer and its value!<\/p>\n

5. Schedule Your Next Freebie Update Check-In<\/h3>\n

How often you should update your free offers is entirely up to your discretion and, honestly, how much your business and processes have changed! Sometimes you go through a season where your brand, voice, and the internet have all gone through massive shifts, which means your offers are impacted too. Sometimes you have a year or two where everything stays relatively the same.<\/p>\n

But if you want to make sure this doesn\u2019t slip into the background for too long, drop a date in your calendar for a year from now<\/strong> to double-check all your freebies for another potential round of optimization. You can save and duplicate this process for next time, making the work even easier and saving your time and creative energy (which is highly valuable for business owners and content creators!).<\/p>\n

Turning Optimization into a Habit<\/h2>\n

The ultimate goal here isn\u2019t only to update your top-performing lead-generating freebies, but it\u2019s also to get even better at optimization.<\/strong> An online business doesn\u2019t come with \u2018check engine\u2019 lights (and not even a grammar-bot can make sure our copy is exactly what it needs to be!), which means we have to consistently get under the hood to make sure everything is running smoothly.<\/p>\n

Schedule these little reviews however often feels right for you and your business, but don\u2019t skip on booking them. It makes the bigger overhauls much easier because you have so many high-quality, relevant, effective pieces to work with! Optimization as a consistent habit is a skill that rewards you with a business that runs well while you sleep, adventure, live, and feel that itch to map out your next<\/em> big goal.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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