What does FREE really mean to you?

This is one of the few posts directed to Wedding professionals as well as to Brides and Grooms. It comes back to the old saying which is still true today, that if something sounds too good to be true, it most likely is, so BEWARE! Here is an interesting article by Alan Berg, writer and speaker. - Over the years I’ve heard many discussions revolving around “free” things. Couples may be asking for you to throw in free services, or wedding pros may be talking about getting free ads, so I got to thinking about the value of “Free”. On the surface free usually seems like a good idea: free parking, free samples, free speech, free advice, etc. When we’re on the receiving end of free services and products, we rarely seem to mind. Everyone likes free stuff, regardless of their income bracket. Is free really free? In reality, free is not free. There is a cost, it just may not be yours to bear. Free parking is paid for by the merchant who owns the land, or the municipality that built the parking lot (paid for with tax dollars). Free samples are paid for by the merchant who wants to get your business. Similarly, the free advice you get on the WeddingWire Pro Forums is supported by the technology and manpower behind it, paid for by WeddingWire. You get to use the Pro Forums for free, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a cost. Do you really get what you pay for? So, is free better than paid? I see the discussions on the Pro Forums all the time; wedding pros asking if it’s worth paying for an ad, versus taking a free one. Why would they think that a free ad, at the back of the listings, would be representative of what a paid ad at the front would get them? That’s like saying that an iPod would do just as good of a job as a professional DJ, since they can have all of the same songs; or their HD consumer-grade video camera will do just as good of a job as a pro. Find the lake with the most fish and then get the biggest net When you go fishing, you look for the lake that has the most of the kind of fish you want to catch. Then get your boat and the biggest net, or the best fishing gear you can, and start fishing. Sure, you may have to buy a permit and the better gear, but you know the reward is worth it. Similarly, when you buy an ad you’re really buying access to an audience. If you feel the audience is worth your while, you should want to get as much exposure to it as you can, not the least. If you don’t feel it’s worth your while they you shouldn’t want to be there at all. Sure, having a free listing will allow couples to find you and read your reviews… if they dig deep enough, or if they already know your name. If they already know your name then it wasn’t the ad that brought them to you. That’s the same as with a search engine result. If you look at your tracking reports for the words and phrases that are used to find your website and the most common ones are your name, then it wasn’t SEO (search engine optimization) that brought them to you. They already knew your name, you just don’t know how. Go Big… or Go Home! When I got my iPad last year they offered free engraving on the back. It’s not that many characters and I didn’t want to put my name. I was starting a new business and I wanted it to reflect my philosophy on business and life: Are you in or are you out? Do you have a toe in the water, or are you in all the way? So I had Apple engrave “Go Big… or Go Home” on my iPad. That’s what I tell my consulting clients when it comes to advertising and business. If you’re going to do it, go all in. That’s the only way you’ll really know if it’s going to work. Is the investment bigger? Sure. Is the potential reward bigger? Absolutely. Almost every wedding pro I know that has a Spotlight or Featured Listing wouldn’t give it up.