It’s a given – brands need to up their content marketing game as the value it brings is becoming more and more apparent.

Those who know how to leverage it properly, reap the rewards and thus increasing investment into it makes sense.

However, did you know that giving content away for free is actually one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness?

Not just any content though, the key here is to share highly valuable content that helps your target audience with solutions to solve pain points.

And by sharing your best advice, you build trust with your audience as they see you as the real deal.

With this in mind, let’s look closely at 5 of the big benefits giving away free content can bring.

Generate Leads

Obviously, when you are offering content for free the people who are consuming that are not paying a penny.

But, this does not mean you can’t receive any value from this in exchange.

For instance, let’s say a user visits your site to read an expert blog post, it’s likely they will return to keep up with future messages.

Especially when the blog is packed with knowledge, which brings them closer to being a qualified lead.

As an example, let’s say you’re in the food industry and want to sell baking products – what do you think would attract people more; constant promotional posts or a mix of recipes and video tutorials with tips and tricks – definitely the latter.

As such, if you want to attract more people to your product or service, generate good quality leads and grow your email list, giving away free content is a good way to do so as it gives people value up front as well as suggesting how they would benefit from you if they were to pay.

Related to this, here’s how you can convert more leads into clients:

Establish Yourself as an Expert

Providing free content to your audience is a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your industry.

By sharing useful content through blogs, videos or social media shows your potential customers and clients that you know what you’re talking about, therefore building trust with them before they spend their money.

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes, if you went onto a website but couldn’t find any information, you’ll probably click off and try elsewhere, which is why it’s important to provide valuable content for free to show people you know your business.

Furthermore, you have full control over what it is you’d like to share; from deciding on the blog topic to sharing your top how-to strategies, you’re essentially creating your own lesson plan to help your community.

Provide Value

When we say to give away free content, it doesn’t mean to be self-promotional – of course, a little won’t hurt, but it shouldn’t be all about you.

Rather, you should take advantage of creating blog posts to demonstrate the solutions your goods or services can bring.

In fact, this is a great way to win over potential customers or clients who are in the early stages of the buying process.

So, instead of trying to simply just sell your brand, communicate your value and position your free content in a way that supports your overall message.

Enhance Social Presence

Another great benefit of giving away content for free is to enhance your social media presence.

To add, if your content is well-written and useful, you’ll find your followers will share your content of their own accord – boosting your visibility to a wider audience.

With that said, the content you produce will need to be easy to read and in a format that is compatible on desktop and mobile devices, as well as including sharing tools for your readers to repost your content.

Filter Out Deadweight Prospects

Last but not least, a big benefit of giving away free content is that it gives you the opportunity to filter out any deadweight prospects.

Sometimes, business owners worry that giving away free advice will threaten their business model – why would someone pay if you’re giving them solutions for free?

Well, whilst this may be true, it’s actually a great way to filter out those who wouldn’t pay for your goods or services anyway.

In essence, people are likely to dip into their pockets once they see how much work is involved to sort out their problem, and it’s these who will reach out to you after reading your content, resulting in customers who are more than happy to pay.

The Final Say

With all things said and done, providing free content is benefitting your brand, be it generating new leads or increasing traffic – it’s a win/win for all!

If you think about it, there’s no such thing as offering too much helpful advice and by giving away everything you know, rest assured there will still be people out there who will pay for your goods/services to meet their needs.

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