Help! I've Attracted An Audience of Freebie Hunters! (Ep#23)

You’ve put out the masterclasses. You’ve created the freebies. Your email list is growing. But when it comes time to sell? Crickets.

If you’ve ever worried you’ve attracted an audience full of freebie hunters who’ll never buy – this episode is for you.

In this episode of The Upside-Up Marketing Podcast, I’m digging into what’s really going on when your audience engages with everything but your offers, why this doesn’t mean your audience is broken, and how to shift the dynamic so more of your fans become buyers. Plus, I’ll share one powerful question you can ask today to uncover who’s ready to buy… and what’s been holding them back.

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MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO: 

👉 Download my free resource “Three Techniques to Validate your Offer Before You Launch” here: www.orangesheepresearch.co.uk/validate (if the link doesn’t work send me a message, I’m having migration-related tech issues right now!)

🟦 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-spreadbury

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🧡 Enjoyed this episode? Why not share it to your social media and tag me @orangesheepkatie – here’s the link: https://youtu.be/OqrQYE6wDrc

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When you’re ready, here are three ways I can help you get faster results: 

SUBSCRIBE to "The Upside-Up Marketing Podcast here on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts 

DOWNLOAD your "Ideal Client Anti-Avatar" to help you focus on the things that DO matter, forget the things that don't - and how to tell which is which: www.orangesheepresearch.co.uk/anti 

WORK WITH ME: Go deeper with me 1:1 to create "Perfect Fit" offers and content – if you're ready to say goodbye to having to work so hard for every sale, and let your content and sales pages do the heavy lifting for you so you have people in your DMs already pre-sold on the idea of working with you, work in depth with me as we craft your magnetic message and create an offer that (pretty much!) sells itself – connect with me on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/katie-spreadbury and send me a message for the details! 

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Connect with me on socials: 

➡️LinkedIn (the best place to find me): https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-spreadbury 

➡️Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orangesheepresearch 

➡️Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orangesheepkatie 

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TIMESTAMPS ⏱️

00:00 Introduction: The Freebie Hunter Dilemma

01:23 Understanding Freebie Hunters

03:43 Strategies to Convert Freebie Hunters

06:33 Buyer Psychology and Offer Alignment

12:08 Dealing with Non-Buyers

14:11 Final Tips and Resources

16:34 Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser

You can download your complimentary guide to "Three Techniques to Validate Your Offer Before You Launch" here: https://www.orangesheepresearch.co.uk/validate

Find me on socials!
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Transcript

0:01

Ever feel like your audience absolutely loves you? They come to your free master classes, they download your freebies, your lead magnets, but when it comes to actually trying to sell them something, you get nothing. You are not alone. This week we are digging into a very real fear one that comes up a lot. What if I have attracted an audience of freebie hunters? Now I'll be sharing why this isn't necessarily a problem. What you can do to shift the dynamic, what you shouldn't waste your time worrying about and how can, you can tell whether the offers that you are selling are actually a right fit for the people that are in front of you. All that and more and make sure you stick around to the end because I'll be sharing the one question that will help you know if your freebie hunters are really secret buyers in disguise Using marketing to persuade people to buy your thing is hard, icky, and not an effective use of your time. It's an upside down way of doing things. Introducing upside up marketing, helping you create offers people want to buy and share them in a way that feels good. All over a nice cup of tea. Hello and welcome to the Upside Up Marketing Podcast. My name's Katie Spreadbury. If we've not met before, um, and I am the ideal client whisperer that is, I help you find the exact right words to say to your ideal clients to help them know why you are the perfect. Person for them to, invest with. Um, today, yes, we're talking about freebie hunters. Now, this is something people come to me with a lot. My offer isn't selling. I think I've attracted an audience of freebie hunters. So let's first look at where that belief comes from because, um, one very, uh, popular way of attracting people into your world, say onto your email list that use that as an example, is to put out a free, something free, whether that's a free guide, a PDF or a tool that they can use, whether it is a masterclass you run for free, that you invite people to, and in signing up to the masterclass, they join your email list. Um, whether it's going out to other communities and giving free value in there. Um, and then bringing people into your world. And that will of course attract people who want things for free, but it'll just attract people that want the thing as well. Okay? So that's one way of doing it. But then this fear creeps in that you might have just attracted people onto your list who they want to scrap around and bootstrap and do everything themselves and just absorb as much free advice as possible. Take up as much of your time as possible, but never buy anything in return. Now that fear has led to a, uh, movement in one direction where people are actually charging for their lead magnet. So putting a low value price tag on them, for example, seven pounds or 27 pounds, um, to get people in. But to get them to commit some money. The idea being that, it's easier to get someone who has spent money with you before to spend money in future. So if they're already defining themselves as a client of yours, it's easier to upsell to the bigger programs. Now I can see the argument there. I don't love it as a tactic, but I can see the argument there in terms of, um, it'll bring a better quality of people onto your list. It'll be only people that really want this'cause it's really people that want to. Invest. Um, and therefore, you know, they may be more open to making a further investment. So, um, I mean, I hate the term higher quality of lead. We're not judging the person. When we say higher quality, we mean more likely to buy your bigger offers. Um, but at the same time. Fewer people are actually gonna sign up for the thing in the first place. So if you are in a list growth phase, you may find that you're getting fewer people that way. And if you're not, um, it can be a good tactic if you're running ads'cause it can mean you're get an immediate return on that ad spend. But if you're not running ads, this might not be the best tactic for you. Um, and still putting out a free guide will be the way to get more people into your audience. But what if they're all freebie hunters? How can you make sure you're attracting the sort of people who want to buy? That's what we're gonna be looking at today. So let's start with a confession. I love a freebie. Give me a downloadable checklist. A quiz, a five ways to x, y, z guide. I'm there clicking like a fox who's just found a load of bin bags on the front lawn. Yes. It was bin day yesterday. Yes. That happened to someone in my street. Oh. Poor things. Anyway, I know. I'm not alone. We're all freebie hunters at some point. Of course we are. We are trying to get the best value out of what we do, and we're trying to do the best for our businesses, so we'd be, it'd be ridiculous to overlook something that looks really valuable. That's free. But that doesn't mean we are never gonna buy. Just'cause we wanted the free thing doesn't mean we are never going to buy. In fact some of my best purchases have been made after I'd hoovered up someone's free content with no intention of buying in the first place. Um, so for example, um, like I knew I was gonna need to rebrand sometime in the next 12 months or so. It was in my, it was in my not too distant future, but it wasn't on my priority list. But I was still sort of following some graphic designers whose work I liked. And. In the meantime, I wasn't really happy with how my social media looked, so I signed up for a webinar about how to make my social media look better. I ended up buying her full branding package and I wasn't there going with my card out ready to invest. I wasn't like, I want branding. Oh, let's you know, let's check out this designer by going to this webinar. It was something that was on the periphery of my thoughts and she, her content was spot on. She described things I've been struggling with, but like hadn't really. Been able to articulate, hadn't really realized, um, she even, okay, this is, this is, this is a bit much, but she even used some of the same stock images that I'd used in my Facebook group in her examples, um, which is, was just a random coincidence, but it made me feel all the more connected and she hit me with exactly the right offer. It was exactly what I wanted and it was at a price point that was really appealing to me as well. It wasn't like super cheap, but I'd been imagining I was gonna have to spend multiple four figures on this. And it was not that. So if you are feeling like, if, if part of what you're feeling is, oh gosh, you know, I've attracted an audience of freebie hunters, I need to throw it all out the window and start again. I want to just gently push back on that and let's explore what that means, what you can do about it, because, and explore. What we mean by that, what the actual issue is here And um, yeah, like it is really frustrating. I get it. Yeah. Okay. I've been there too. Um, you're getting engagement. You are, um, getting signups to your free things, but you're not getting the level of sales that you need. But that doesn't mean that your audience is broken. It doesn't mean it's full of freeloaders. Um, it might just be that you haven't shown them the offer that absolutely hits the button yet, you know, hits the nail on the head for them. And that's, you know, that's actually good news'cause you can fix that. Okay, so let's talk buyer psychology for a second. Psychology one of my favorite subjects to talk about, but there are three stages every potential buyer moves through. And you've probably heard this before, but first there's the awareness stage. So they have to become aware. Or know that they've got this problem that they need fixing, or they've got this desire they need fulfilling. Then there's the consideration phase. So they're looking at ways to solve it, and then there's the decision when they're ready to invest, either with time, with money, or both. Your freebie hunters. They're often floating between stages one and two, so they have identified that this is an issue for them or something that they need fixing. And they're kind of putting their fingers out there, having a little look at what's around. That's the kind of content that's catching their eye, but they're not necessarily, um, actively looking for it yet. They, they're just allowing themselves to be distracted by it. They are, um, allowing themselves to explore this area. They're not necessarily there thinking, I'm ready to invest. They're not quite at that decision stage yet. So if you are trying to sell them something that assumes they're ready to leap and they're still just dipping their toe in, they're not gonna jump. The water's still too cold for them. Not'cause they're tight-fisted, just because it doesn't feel relevant enough yet. It doesn't feel like the right time for them to invest. And that's why the language of your offers matters so much. So, um, to tell you a story from my business. I had decided I was gonna focus on my one-to-one work, and I was trying to sell quite a high ticket program to my audience, but I was struggling, like I was struggling to get anyone to really. Buy into it. You know, I could see they all needed it. They kind of knew they needed it, but it was big, all encompassing. It was like everything, you know, fix your whole business and marketing with this one program. Um, and it was a bit overwhelming to be quite honest. Looking back now, I can see that. Um, but then, so then I thought, well, let's just do a masterclass to help people dip their toe and see what they're gonna get and. I created a masterclass. It was literally based off one throwaway comment that someone made to me one time, which was, I'm sick of creating rubbish that no one wants to buy. The word he used wasn't rubbish. But I am, I am aware that some people listen with children in the background, so I won't use the word that he did use. Um, and I created a whole webinar off the back of this one throwaway comment someone had made. It was called create an offer that, sells itself. And by the way, if you want to put yourself under pressure to make sales. Make an offer about creating offers that sell, that is the way to put pressure on yourself. But thankfully, this one sold better than any offer I'd ever made because that, that phrase, I'm sick of creating rubbish that no one buys. That really resonated. Lots of people were sick of creating rubbish that no one buys, and people signed up in their droves and it was a really successful webinar. And what is telling here is that some people that have been on my list for years came to that webinar having never bought anything from me before they came to that webinar. So that was a real, um, validation that, um, you know, sometimes you just have to hit that nail on the head if you're gonna get them, convert them from, uh, something they're kind of looking at, kind of know it's they need to address. But don't really know if you can say, actually you can take action on this specific thing right now and it will move you forward. That's when they'll jump. Okay? So ask yourself, is your offer matching where your people are at or are you trying to sell a wedding cake to someone who's on their first date? Now this, of course, this doesn't mean you can't offer your bigger offer or your premium service to these people as well. Ultimately, there will be people there that want to buy it if it's the right offer. But some people might just need a bit of coaxing along. You might need to take a few steps back. Um, imagine you're climbing a mountain with them. You wouldn't like run up to the summit and then wave down at them. Hey, the view's great from up here. If they're like struggling along with blisters and their water bottles leaked and you know they're getting hot from the sun or whatever, you walk back to them, give them something that would help them maybe. Your water bottle, maybe your hat or a, a spare hat. They probably don't want your sweaty hat. And, and walk forward with them, take them forward, those next few steps this might look like, um, repositioning your offer around a quick win It might look like, um, creating a low risk taster that leads into your main product. So the masterclass I was just talking about, or it might be simply rewriting, rewriting your sales page so that it talks to the problem that they know they have, um, not the one you think that they should care about. So go back to episodes I think episode one of the podcast is probably the best way, the best place I've described that where you are talking about the problem that you think they have, not the problem they think they have. So making sure that's aligned. Go back to episode one of this podcast to listen to my take on how you can flip that around, um, because that is a really, really, really common problem too. Okay, so those, those people in your audience that are kind of not quite ready to buy and are just looking at the freebies at the moment, those are the steps you can take to actually encourage them to take that first step with you, make the purchase and get the help that they need from you. So I'll just go through those again. There's repositioning your offer to make it to around a quick win so that they feel like they're gonna get action straight away. They're gonna get results straight away rather than this big, overwhelming thing that is gonna take ages and cost loads of money. Um, creating a low risk taster that, um, leads into your main service. So maybe a masterclass, maybe you could splinter off a bit of your course and give them just one module, which then, um, they can buy the rest of the course if they like that. Or maybe rewriting your sales page so that, um, it talks to the problem that they know they have so the language resonates a bit more strongly. And they get into that place where like, actually I can see how this will get me results now. This is worth my time now. And it gets them to sign up. Okay, so there's that. But then what about the ones who do never buy? It is never gonna be true that everyone in your list is going to buy from you. That's just never gonna happen. I'm afraid. I mean, if you've got a very, very small list and you have a lot of personal, uh, engagement with them, maybe, but it, let's face it, there's always gonna be ones who don't buy. So let's talk about them, because some people will stay in freebie mode forever. That that's fine. Okay. Maybe they're not the right fit for the offer. Maybe they find the advice useful. But they're not the exact right fit, so it's not worth them spending their money. For example, what I, when I work with people, I work primarily with service-based businesses. Now I know I've got a lot of people listening to this podcast on my email list example, for example, who have product-based businesses and still find the advice useful, but the exact strategies and tools I use when I work with my clients, aren't as relevant for, for them. So they are very welcome to take and if that's you, hi. Very welcome to take all the advice and apply it to what you are doing in your business. But working with me probably isn't gonna be for you and that is fine. So there's probably people in your audience who just, who find your stuff useful, but they're just not quite the right fit for your offer. Maybe they're not ready yet. Maybe you've got a lot of people there who just aren't ready and it will take them a long time to be ready. Or maybe they do just want the free stuff and nothing more. Maybe this is an area they actually feel quite, quite confident in and just enjoy your take on it, your extra advice and things like that. That's fine. You know what, these things, they're still, they're not a waste of your time because these people, they might share your content. They might talk about you to their business mates. When they're at networking, when they are, uh, talking to their own clients, um, you know, they, they might have a friend who is your perfect client. And they might become raving fans who hype you up in places you'll never even see. You know, if, um, if it's really clear what you do and these people know you well, then when someone online says, oh, I'm looking for someone who can help with that, anyone got any recommendations? They're the ones that are in there recommending you. So think of them as your warmup crowd. You don't need every single person to buy, you just need the right ones to see your offer and say, oh, that's exactly what I need. So if you are stuck in freebie land with an audience of freebie hunters. This is what you need to do. Number one, check your offer against your audience. Is it the right fit for them? Are they ready for it? Do they see themselves in it? Do, does it feel relevant for them? Is it something that is gonna be something they can take action on and get results now? And if you are not sure if your offer does, I've got a brilliant resource. It's called, um, three Techniques to Validate Your Offer Before You Launch. It also works if you have launched. Then you just want to sense check it against your audience and it'll walk you through. See three simple ways. That you can test the water before you sink time, money and energy and hopes and dreams and emotions into something that's never gonna fly. Um, I'll pop the link to that in the show notes. Um, you can go and find yourself that, that guide three techniques to validate your offer before you launch, and that will help you check your offer against your audience. Number two, listen to their language. What words do they use when they describe their problem? How do they explain what they're struggling with? Your messaging should mirror this exactly. You want to be triggering those mirror neurons in their, in their brain, you know the things that, um, help them feel that connection and feel like this is exactly for them. So use the exact words that they use. And the third one is, don't panic. Don't panic. A quiet launch does not mean you failed. It is not the end. It means you've learned something. Treat it like data, not doom. Look at what's there. Go back to the techniques I've shared and validate your launch. And check. You've got, your offer is the right fit. Check the language you're using. Check in with all those things. And, um. Use it to improve it for next time. And then you, and then every time, every iteration get a little bit better, a little bit better, until you have something that your audience are falling over themselves for. Okay. So just to remind you about that, um, resource I mentioned, the three techniques to validate your offer before you launch, they're not in depth big. Massive exercises. It is literally, you can have the first one up and running within a minute of downloading the, downloading the resource. Um, there's no guesswork, no avatar worksheets. Absolutely promise. Um, just three practical ways to check if you've got something that people both need and want. And also to identify what might be stopping them buying, which, you know, sometimes that can be such an easy fix that can make all the difference. So, like I say, link is in the show notes. www.orangesheepresearch.co.uk/validate. Um, and go and go and download it. Then come over to, uh, LinkedIn and tell me how you got on. Um, and if we're not connected on LinkedIn, once again, check the show notes. I'll pop my link in there. Okay, so at the beginning, remember I promised you a question that you can use to help find out if your freebie hunters are just sleeping buyers. Um, it's this. Go out on your socials or go out to individuals, however you want to do this, and ask them what's stopping you from doing the thing that you already know you need to do? Now, you might want to personalise this to your business. So instead of saying. The thing you already need to do, be a bit more specific or they'll be like, oh, I dunno, what do I need to do? Um, so for example, if you are a graphic designer selling full branding package, what is it that's stopping you from investing in a professional brand for your business? For example, or if you are in the, if you are, you know, I always love a running example. If you are in the fitness industry, what is it that's stopping you doing your strength work, even though you know it will help your running? Can you tell someone's been avoiding their strength work again? But that's it. Ask it in your stories. Ask it in your groups. Ask it at the end of your emails. Um, you'll be amazed what people say. You'll uncover gold about what's really holding them back. And often it has nothing to do with your price or your product. Okay? It's something else that you can help them with. Use those answers, speak to those fears. Build those objections into your offer and into your messaging so people know they don't have to let that hold them back anymore.'cause in that, in that moment, someone will feel truly seen, not just marketed to, that's when they start to lean in. That's when they switch from freebie, hunter. To buyer, thank you so much for listening. I release one of these every fortnight, so make sure you're subscribed so that you get the next episode. Next time around we are talking about networking. Um, I've got a special guest, Janine Friston. She's a business coach who, also runs the female business network, and. We are coming at it from the angle of specifically how we can make it more than just a nice chitchat over coffee. Um, and use it to actually grow our businesses, help us understand our ideal clients, so, do tune into that, it is gonna be really, really good. I've really enjoyed my conversation with Janine. I can't wait to share it with you. Um, so I will see you then. Make sure you've hit subscribe and in the meantime, keep that marketing upside up. Bye-bye.