I have been very busy this whole spring, so I apologize to the two or three people who have been waiting on the edge of their seats for this post to be published. I most recently returned from Colorado for a Dispatch show. To see photos from the trip, please visit the travel blog @ RC's Travels. As I've seen over the past couple of months (in-lieu of writing this), the economy is buzzing right now in America. Everywhere you turn, there is a new venture starting and capitalizing on recent changes in legislation and economic trends.
I recently finished a book by Chris Anderson entitled "Free",
which highlights a new marketing trend that is rather
unprecedented in both its technique and its potential impact on
consumer spending as time progresses. Now, goods and services
could actually be offered "free of charge" without expected
compensation later or an another form.
In the "all-digital" world, and with an ever-more accessible network
of users (and their devices), the ability to promote an idea is
much simpler than before. With this radical new way to get brand
exposure, the basis of a free service would generate traffic and
the enterprise would be supported on adds and premium content.
Creating this market brought down the cost of the service, and thus
made it more accessible to the small business community.
Take YouTube for instance: YouTube offers video streaming/
sharing services free of charge. this is supported by targeted
advertising via their parent company, Google (and more
specifically Google Ads). They never expect you to pay them for
uploading all those kitten videos, but you can pretty much expect a
humane society or Eukanuba pet food ad in the margin above your
video.
This "completely free" business model is coming to fruition for
the first time in history. The same can be said for Facebook and
Twitter. In these examples, you can thank the tech boom for
generating the products and services that make these business
models actually sustainable. Networking- the ability to reach
millions or billions of people as opposed to hundreds or thousands,
brought down those costs, and firms realized that they would make
more money on volume (the volume of free service users/revenue
stream(s) that support that service).
Before this "free concept" emerged, the word generally
denoted "buy one, get one free" or some sort of cost-masking
scheme. But this new business model does actually allow users to
actively participate in a service without every having to sacrifice
financially for that service.
As time progresses and generations age, the exposure to the "free
concept" by consumers will cause the trend radiate out to all
possible business models as they (the consumers) become more
accustomed to the free aspect of the transaction, in what ever form
that may be. The challenge will be for businesses, large and small,
to flex with the marketing trends and use it to their advantage. The
enterprise that employs the "free concept", where relevant, in their
business, is one that is betting on a solid, long-term marketing
strategy that will keep their brand relevant for many years to come.
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