Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The "Free"-mium Model of the Video Professor

"Long Tail rule: Understand the power of free"

If any of you have seen the commercials for the video professer, he has got the power of free almost perfected. He must be doing something right because these commercials have been on for while. This morning I saw his latest installment of free software. It is interesting that he even says in the commercial, I'm giving you this software for free because after you try it I know you will want to buy my other products. This is a great example of getting people in the door with a free product with the hope they will spend money later. A lot of the concepts we read about in all of our books could be applied to the Video Professor business model; diffusion and adoption, marketing to the long tail customers, and giving people access to free products.



Ginger

3 comments:

  1. I think their model is great. However, I haven't ordered any of their videos! It's quite simple, hook them with something for free then they will come back and buy.

    Lori

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  2. This model of offering free stuff is not new. Banks used to give away toasters, and ball parks have "bat day", etc...

    My skeptical take on all of this is that you get what you pay for, so how good could the software be.

    The querstion would probably keep me from actually ordering the material.

    Ted

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  3. I have always heard nothing in life is free! There is always a price to pay. I have clicked on windows that come up that say they will give me a free laptop if I will review the item and give feedback. (I can't help but see if it's true!!) Then i go through tons of advertisements and quesitonaires and never make it to the end to get the free computer!!

    I am like Ted, I am skeptical!

    Nanci

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