This is something I've actually been thinking about for a while but I never knew there were actual business models made on it. Earlier in this semester, I posted something about Old Spice and how their amazing efforts and new advertising campaign that everyone has raved about still falls short of free promotion. Consumers, given the choice to have something for free or pay, will always choose free. Nobody wants to willingly spend his or her dollars. That’s just common sense. But I do like the spin on Anderson presents, especially in the digital age.
People love websites where everything is free. I know many peoples’ biggest fair would be a Facebook they would have to pay for. I’ve heard that many would practically abandon it if they had to pay. But how then do sites make money? This is also what I’ve been thinking about. Traditional Internet advertising is probably not the most efficient these days. Amongst all the clutter, it’s hard to get impressions and viewership. This is what advertising guru’s need to focus their efforts on.
My thing with Anderson is there are holes in his free concept. He seems to not back it fully as the book was ONCE free and is no longer. Isn’t that the basis for his argument…make something like a book free and offset costs by other means? My other thing is although it is ideal for one, getting people to be interested in your product, and two, pleasing consumers; it cannot be applied to everything. Web giants like Facebook and YouTube are still struggling to figure out how to increase their bottom line to favorable outcomes. It’s tough. So although I fully agree with the freemium concept, I would say use it sparingly. No matter what, when starting a business, there will always be costs to deal with. Nothing in life is free.
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