Why Freebies Are the Secret Sauce to Email List Success

Today I’m diving deep into one of my favorite strategies for growing your email list: leveraging the power of freebies. But before we get into that, I want to touch on a crucial aspect of your business strategy—diversifying your income streams.

If you’re still relying solely on traditional methods like ads and affiliate links, you might be putting your business at risk. This is where MiloTree shines, allowing you to sell unlimited memberships, digital downloads, workshops, coaching, and mini-courses swiftly and seamlessly. We’ve even upgraded to AI-driven sales pages to make the process faster than ever!

Why Email Lists are More Crucial Than Ever

In the current online landscape, where social media algorithms are a moving target, owning your blog and email list provides a stable, reliable platform for business growth. I can’t stress this enough: your email list is where the money is. The larger your list, the more potential customers you have for your digital products. This is why having a well thought out email marketing strategy is so important.

Show Notes:

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• Personality Quiz: What Digital Product Should I Create?
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The Power of Freebies

What’s the fastest way to grow this valuable list? Offer something of value for free in exchange for an email address. This is the simplest way to grow your email list. But it’s not enough to just offer anything; your freebie needs to be like a Hershey’s Kiss—small, desirable, and immediately satisfying. This is what the start of a successful email marketing strategy looks like.

Imagine you’re at a manicure salon, and right by the cash register, there’s a bowl of Hershey’s Kisses. You’re likely to grab one and enjoy it right there, rather than saving it for later—because you can’t just put a Hershey’s Kiss in your pocket; it will melt! This is the essence of a great freebie. It should be something your audience can consume instantly and leave them wanting more. It’s about immediate gratification.

The Ideal Freebie

Your freebie should be:

• Immediately consumable: It should be something that can be accessed and used as soon as it’s downloaded, viewed right on the phone or computer.
• Satisfying yet simple: Not a ten-page ebook, but something that provides a quick “sugar rush” of value—solve a problem, answer a question, or satiate a curiosity.
• Engaging and desirable: It should make the new subscriber crave more interaction and content from you.

Types of Effective Freebies

Through numerous discussions with you, my audience, we’ve seen that the most engaging freebies aren’t necessarily the most complex. They are:

• Guides and cheat sheets: Short, sweet, and to the point.
• Interactive content like quizzes: Especially those that offer personal insights or fun revelations.
• Done-for-you resources: Templates or printables, like those we offer on Catch My Party, provide immediate utility.

Using AI to Generate Ideas

One tool I find incredibly useful in generating freebie ideas is ChatGPT. You can prompt it to brainstorm freebie ideas that fit within specific categories, like saving time, making money, or raising social status. These are triggers that motivate people to opt into your list.

Chat GPT Prompt: “Generate a list of freebie ideas for [insert niche] that fits into one of these categories: Make somebody money. Save somebody money. Save someone time. Move someone toward happiness. Move someone away from pain. Raises their social status.”

Introducing MiloTreeLeads

And speaking of making things easier, I’m thrilled to introduce MiloTreeLeads, a new addition to our product suite. This tool allows you to effortlessly create and distribute unlimited freebies. It integrates with major email service providers, simplifying how you collect and manage your leads. It’s designed to help you set up a freebie in less than five minutes, so you can start growing your list right away.

Final Thoughts

Remember, your freebie is often the first impression you make on a potential subscriber. Make it count. It’s the first step in a relationship that can climb the ladder from a simple free download to purchasing high-value products or services.

For those eager to try out MiloTreeLeads and take advantage of our special launch pricing, head over to MiloTree.com/leadsbeta. This is an exciting step forward for anyone looking to expand their digital footprint and monetize more effectively.

Before I wrap up, if you have a freebie that’s working wonders, or if you’re seeing success in a particular area, I’d love to hear about it! Shoot me an email, or better yet, if you found this episode helpful, share it with a friend or give us a review on iTunes.

Other Related Blogger Genius Podcast episodes You’ll Enjoy:

MiloTreeCart, the Best Tool for Non-Techies to Sell Digital Products

I also want to introduce you to the MiloTreeCart, a tool designed for non-techies to sell digital products easily. It comes with features like fill-in-the-blank sales pages, check-out pages, a sales dashboard, upsells, and customer support. MiloTreeCart is currently available for a lifetime deal of $349 or three easy installments of $116.33.

#335 Transcript: Why Freebies Are the Secret Sauce to Email List Success

Jillian Leslie (00:00:00) – Hi, I’m Jillian, welcome to a brand new episode of The Blogger Genius Podcast. But before I launch in, let me pose a question to you. Have you started selling your knowledge and expertise directly to your audience, or are you still relying on traditional methods like ads and affiliate links to monetize? In today’s rapidly changing online landscape, relying solely on these methods is a risky strategy. You need multiple income streams, and this is exactly where MiloTreeCart shines. Imagine being able to sell unlimited memberships, digital downloads, workshops, coaching, and mini courses in less than five minutes. Yes, you heard that right. What used to take ten minutes is now even quicker. Thanks to our newly rolled out AI sales pages. They are simply magic. As I mentioned in my last episode, sometime in June, we are transitioning from selling MiloTreeCart as a lifetime deal for 349, where you pay once and you own it forever to a monthly subscription. Our lifetime deal is definitely the most cost effective way to get military cart.

Jillian Leslie (00:01:17) – Plus, if you sign up now, you get a one hour bonus coaching call with me. So if you’re ready to start selling digital products in the easiest way possible, go to Military.com and sign up. We offer a 30 day, no questions asked money back guarantee, and there’s even a place on our homepage to book a 20 minute exploratory call with me. So again, go to Milotree.com and sign up. You would not believe the success our customers are having.

Announcer (00:01:53) – Welcome to the Blogger Genius podcast, brought to you by MiloTree. Here’s your host, Jillian Leslie.

Jillian Leslie (00:02:01) – Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Blogger Genius podcast. Today, I’m recording a solo episode about one of the most effective strategies for growing your email list, and this is leveraging the power of freebies. But before I start talking specifically about freebies, I want to say that growing your email list is even more important today than ever before. I sound like a broken record, but with all the crazy things happening with Google Plus, we know social media algorithms aren’t something we can rely on.

Jillian Leslie (00:02:39) – But one thing that has always been true is you own your blog and you own your email list. These are two assets that can’t be taken away from you. And as I say over and over again, the best way to make money is by selling to your email list. So I’ll say it again. The money is in your list. So as you know, I get on calls with so many of you and if someone tells me they have an email list of, say, 2000 people I know, they can make money selling digital products. It might take some trial and error to find out what their audience wants from them, but it’s at the end of the day, it’s all a numbers game. The more people you can put your offer in front of, the more people will buy. And it’s really just simple math. So of course, the question is what is the most effective and fastest way to grow your email list? And I’m going to say it’s by offering something of value for free in exchange for your email address.

Jillian Leslie (00:03:48) – And this is a freebie. Or other people like to call it an opt in. But when you step back, like how many blogs have you been to where there’s an opt in box that says something like, stay up to date on what’s happening at Susie’s baking blog, and then you’re supposed to add your name and email. Like, who would sign up for that? Who cares what’s happening at Susie’s baking blog? What you need to do, though, isn’t just say, okay, I shouldn’t do that specifically, but I should offer like a checklist or an e-book or a guide. No, it’s about offering a checklist or an e-book or a guide that solves a real problem for people in that moment. I like to think of successful freebies like Hershey’s Kisses. Like, you know, when you’re say you’re at the at the manicurist and right there when you’re about to pay, there’s a bowl of Hershey’s Kisses. Well, I want you to know that I never pass up the Hershey’s Kiss. And not only do I not pass it up, I pop it in my mouth before I’ve taken out my credit card because I want that chocolaty goodness.

Jillian Leslie (00:05:02) – And after I eat it, I kind of want to have another one. But I probably won’t take it because I don’t want to look greedy or haughty. But notice you can’t put a Hershey’s kiss in your pocket and eat it later because of course it will melt. This is called immediate gratification, and this is how I recommend you think about an opt in or a freebie. So your freebie should be something someone wants to consume immediately. They get the download and they’re looking at it on their phone within seconds. So it should be small, like a Hershey’s Kiss. Like not a ten page e-book. I’m going to talk about that a little bit later, and it should give the person a little rush, like you get from that pop of sugar from the Hershey’s Kiss. So your freebie is something that’s not good for somebody like a vitamin, but should have a little, maybe pop of excitement, solve a quick problem, answer a burning question, and it should leave that new subscriber wanting more from you.

Jillian Leslie (00:06:06) – So keep this in mind while I talk about a variety of freebies you can offer. And the first one that always comes to people’s mind is an e-book. But a free e-book isn’t something I recommend you start with. I have so many free ebooks in my download folder that I’ve never read, and I would argue they’re typically not snackable enough. So yes, you’ve gotten someone’s email address for your e-book, but you’re you miss that opportunity where you can introduce yourself to them and show them that you can solve someone’s problem, because chances are they will never look at that e-book. Now, I do recommend people sell ebooks, because then by the time you sell that you’ve already built a relationship. You’ve. Built up credibility, and if they pay for your e-book, chances are they will value it more. So there’s definitely a place for ebooks. I just don’t think offering an e-book as a freebie is the way to go. Especially because I’m going to talk about how to create freebies fast, and an e-book can take a fair amount of time.

Jillian Leslie (00:07:15) – So the second thing is a guide, and I like guides better because it’s kind of like that little solution. Like if you took your e-book and you shortened it to one page, I’d call that a guide. And it’s like a quick hit on a specific topic. It answers a small question. It solves a small problem. It entertains in a small way. So guides I like. Another option is offering, say, a free course or webinar. But again, think small. One thing I personally like is when you maybe get people to sign up for like a 3 or 5 day email challenge where you drip them emails and again, you can imbue them with your personality. Make them short, make them punchy, solve a problem, or answer a question with them. Another example is just a discount code or an exclusive offer. Those are great freebies, but here I’m going to say these are my three favorite types. The first type I really like are checklists and cheat sheets, and I’m putting them together because they’re quick, they’re easy to consume.

Jillian Leslie (00:08:23) – And if you think about it like if I say cheat sheet, it kind of feels like I am sharing a secret with you. People love to get information that other people don’t have access to. My second favorite type are quizzes. We love learning about ourselves. In fact, one of my most popular freebies is my Digital Product Personality quiz. And by the way, you can go get this at Military.com slash quiz. I’m not using fancy quiz software. This is just a I think it’s a two page PDF with some fun questions, and at the end of it you’ll find out what your digital product personality is. And the call to action is, hey, now, if you want to start selling digital products, book a free 20 minute call with me. And then my final favorite type of freebie is what I like to call done for you. And what I mean by this is instead of teaching someone how to do something, do it for them. Instead of teaching someone how to write emails, give them email templates.

Jillian Leslie (00:09:35) – Canva templates are great for this. Another example free printables so it catch my party. We give away gosh over 100 sets of party printables in exchange for an email address. All you have to do is print out our printables and you’ve got instant party decorations. Spread sheets are another good done for you tool and ChatGPT prompts. I mean, give people the prompt so they don’t have to come up with it themselves. So now let’s talk about how to come up with one of these great freebie ideas. And I recommend two things to keep in mind. The first is my six purchasing triggers and ChatGPT. So what are these triggers that I talk about a lot? Well, these are the problems people will typically pay to solve. So if you can solve one of these small problems in your freebie, people will typically opt in to get it. So here they are. Can your freebie make somebody money? So maybe it’s like the five easiest ways to make money online. And it could be just a cheat sheet.

Jillian Leslie (00:10:45) – The second is can your freebie save me money? Like five hacks for saving on Air Travel canned your freebie? Save me time, move me toward happiness, move me away from pain, or raise my social status. These are things people are very interested in. And if you listen to my podcast, you’ve heard me talk about this concept I like to call the digital product ladder. So you might start selling something small, like an e-book. And then if people like your e-book, you solve their problem, you gain their trust. They will probably sign up for your workshop and then maybe join your membership. And each one might be more and more expensive. Maybe they’ll book a coaching call with you or a package of coaching calls. Maybe they’ll join then your VIP mastermind or go to your retreat. So what I like to do is think of my freebie as the first tiny step of this ladder. Solve a. Any tiny part of this big problem that people struggle with in your niche, with your freebie.

Jillian Leslie (00:11:59) – Solve it. Make it easy to digest. If you can make it fun, all the better and make them want more from you. And remember, your freebie is your subscribers first impression of you. So think of it as the beginning of this relationship. Now, while you’re listening to this, you can either open ChatGPT or I will definitely put this prompt in the show notes, but here’s a prompt that you can use to help you come up with your freebie idea. So the prompt that I wrote is something like this. Generate a list of freebie ideas for insert niche that fits into one of these categories. Make somebody money. Save somebody money. Save someone time. Move someone toward happiness. Move someone away from pain or raises their social status. Then see if you like any of the ideas that ChatGPT presents you. And if not, ask directly for ideas for, you know, using this framework for checklists or cheat sheets or hacks, quizzes, or really anything in your niche that you can provide done for you.

Jillian Leslie (00:13:09) – Help. Once you’ve done this, I recommend you then just use Canva, create your freebie and put it out there. You know, I talk about B-minus work. This is ultimately a place where you should be doing B minus work. This freebie is not making you money, but it is moving you toward making money. This is your Hershey’s kiss. My second piece of advice is promoted everywhere. Put it all over your blog, put it on social media. Promote it more than you think. Connect it to your Instagram bio, get people to see what you are offering. And three you don’t know if this freebie is going to work. This is why you want to move quickly because you are always testing. Remember, you need lots of tests, lots of freebies to try. And this is why I am excited to talk about our new product that is going to live under our MiloTree umbrella. This fits in nicely with our product called Military Cart that I talk about a lot. Our new product is called MiloTreeLeads.

Jillian Leslie (00:14:18) – This is software that enables you to offer unlimited freebies easily. So like with MiloTreeCart, say you’re selling an e-book. You just upload that e-book to MiloTreeCart. And then we have AI generated sales pages for you. We deliver that e-book to your customer. Well, with MiloTree leads very similar. Upload your freebie to our platform. We will deliver it directly to your new subscriber. Also, we give you. I created landing pages where you can talk about what your freebie is and have an opt in box for people to add their name and email address. Super easy. Plus, we integrate with all major email service providers. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to set this up yourself with your email service provider. It is hard with military leads. It is simple. So one thing I always recommend is take your top 3 to 5 blog posts and offer a customized freebie on each of those pages. And this is so incredibly simple with military leads. In fact, if you have your freebie done, you could be offering it in five minutes.

Jillian Leslie (00:15:45) – For all you listening, this is what I hope for you. You use a tool like MiloTreeLeads to grow your subscribers by offering unlimited freebies. Once you have an audience, you then sell to them using something like MiloTreeCart. Now, I’m very excited about this because people have been asking for this for so long. So if you want to be one of the first to know when we actually launch MiloTreeLeads, which should be in the next couple of days and get our special launch price, please head to Milotree.com/leadsbeta. So it’s milotree.com/leadsbeta. And I will let you know as soon as we go live. So before I wrap up this episode, I want to quickly recap the most important points about growing your email list with irresistible freebies one. Remember, your email list is a valuable asset. That you own. It’s a direct line to your audience and it is unaffected by changing algorithms or Google updates. Two. Offering freebies is one of the fastest and most effective ways to grow your email list.

Jillian Leslie (00:17:09) – Because they provide immediate value and they establish a connection with your subscribers. Three your freebie should offer immediate gratification. Be easy to consume, small address a specific need or problem, much like the instant delight of a Hershey’s Kiss. Four types of high performing freebies are things like checklists and cheat sheets. Quizzes done for you. Resources. These are the the freebies I like the most, but there are a whole host of other things you can offer. Five. Use AI like ChatGPT to brainstorm and create effective freebies. And remember, platforms like military leads can simplify this process so that you can test and offer and move quickly. And the tech is simple. Six. Sign up for early access to military leads by going to Military.com. Slash leads beta if you have an opt in or a freebie that’s really working for you, I would love to see it. So would you email me at Jillian at Military.com? I’m always looking for where people are having success. And to close, I just want to say, if you have a friend who could benefit from this episode, please share it.

Jillian Leslie (00:18:31) – And if you’re enjoying the podcast and you are feeling generous, please go to iTunes and give it five stars. I would be so appreciative and I will see you here again next week.