Free is the new black

Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Chad Jaggers

I would like to publicly thank McDonald's.  For $2.78 (about 2/3's a gallon of gas), I am not only properly hydrated from the two medium teas that I purchased today, but also satisfied by the two chicken sandwiches I received for free (in case you didn't know, McDonald's is giving away their new southern-style chicken sandwiches with the purchase of a drink. There's still time to get yours). Now, I didn't buy any fries or other extra items this time, but McDonald's knows the next time I come I will be purchasing the value meal that has fries and I will probably even super-size it. 

Element Fusion, along with many other companies, takes a similar approach as McDonald's by giving away free software.  In our case, we give away free websites. If you need a quick site for yourself or one of your clients, you can sign up on Water, Sky or LightCMS and have it launched with a domain name in a matter of minutes. Not only that, but you can use your free websites for as long as you want. Why do we make these free sites available? Because we hope that once you experience our CMS, you'll want the "value meal with fries." That is, perhaps you'll upgrade your site to add more space for your podcasts or more pages for the family photos in the photo gallery. Plus, we hope you'll tell your friends about it, or bring more of your own clients onto it. A free site can be a great start to a lasting relationship.

One of my favorite articles about businesses giving away free things is one that Chris Anderson wrote in Wired Magazine entitled "Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business."   It talks about the hows and whys of businesses giving things away for free, and how it is paying off for them. It is a great read. I would be interested to know some of the important free tools that you use if you would be so kind as to let me know in the comments.

1 comment (Add your own)

1. Jarrod Skeggs wrote:
You hit the nail on the head with your title. I have personally used several free online products such as Light as well as software applications that were either free initially, or the "light" version was free. In many instances I have upgraded to the "heavy" pay versions. It's really a win-win for everyone. The customer gets to "test drive" the product at no risk and the developer is at a point where they have done 95% of their heavy lifting as it relates to development. Worst case, the app or product is not a good fit for the client. Best case, its a perfect fit. Likely case is somewhere in between, which means that the customer is probably going to give very valuable feedback to the developer. The developer in turn can make the call and say, good idea we can do that, or thanks but that's not what our product is about.

Free=good for everyone. Look at what Apple retail is doing. Need free advice on using your Mac? Make an appointment at an Apple retail store. Great for the customer, and its great for Apple cause they have a captive audience. Are they helping people learn to use their Mac? Absolutely. Are they also selling them more stuff while they sit there? Absolutely. Further, for me, (I'm have an Apple Consulting/New Media Consulting business), its huge because if my client just needs a little guidance they can get it for free in most cases. I come in and do the heavy lifting and troubleshooting. Everybody wins.

Good post, Chad.

May 16, 2008 @ 8:30 AM

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