Lots of places are giving out things for free these days. Today I heard someone say they can’t remember the last time they paid for a rental at RedBox. I used a $50 groupon for dinner with my wife the other day which I purchased for $15. Cheap is good, free is awesome. But what’s behind free?
For example, I saw this on GatherMoreClients.com yesterday (Note the link in the top third: “get your free productivity tool…”):
So, you can get something for free, right? A free productivity tool? Well, not quite. The catch is, it doesn’t cost any money. That doesn’t mean free. You have to give up your email address, which means getting on mailing lists, which means being solicited. That’s not free. It costs me time, privacy, and annoyance. It doesn’t cost money, and you may say that’s fine. It may be worth the inconvenience. Truth is though, it’s not really free. Free would have been “I’m trying to be generous, this may help you, just take it.”
Note, I don’t have a problem with the technique. Well, maybe a little, but not much. I just can’t stand it when we pretend to be really generous, yet there’s strings attached.
The things we do have cost associated with them. Everything we do costs us resources, even if it’s just attention, time, or energy. In our organizations, every single program or project we take on takes manpower or some kind of energy. You have to decide, is it worth it?
So, the two lessons here;
1. Marketers: please don’t try to deceive us and pretend your giving us something for nothing. If there’s a cost, be upfront about it. If you want to be truly generous, just give it away no strings attached.
2. Evaluate what you do. Everything. It is a wise use of resources. Time is valuable, don’t give it up for nothing (necessary rest excluded).
This is what the people at http://www.unthink.com/ are trying to do. I’m also going to assume that their products are ultimately not as “FREE” as they claim, but they are raising awareness and trying to push back against myspace and facebook for exactly those reasons.