The Ethical Bribe

One sure fire way to get your message read by others is to offer them a good enough reason to open it and that is where the use of an ethical bribe is usually guaranteed to get them to open your posting, read your message and then give you their e-mail address for the privilege which is what you were after in the first place.

So what can you give them to ensure the posting is opened and in what format should it be delivered?

Many people use an instructional e-book as their introduction, usually a shortened version of one they sell, but enough to grab someone’s interest and encourage them to sign up for more information and to join your mailing list. The hope is that the taster will be enough to grab the e-mail address and to get a sale for the full e-book.

The second type of freebie is a short course on a general topic related to the subject of your blog and your product and these sessions get delivered every two days or so to keep them on the line for longer and you can use the gaps in between the course lessons to give them more reasons to remain on your list or to try and sell them other related affiliate products.

Other typical formats are MP3 files where you might just read part of your e-book or even, for the brave and good looking among you, you can record a video message for your freebie.

Remember that when you give them this ethical bribe as a freebie, you must make sure that you do quantify the value of the offer as $49 say especially if you are selling similar on your site so that they realise they are receiving a brilliant deal from you and that you deliver great content in the free offer.

What you need to give them in this initial sampler of your knowledge is a lot of good value and information, but without telling them everything they need without buying your main product. For example if your product is “Nine Great Traffic Generation Methods”, you might go into some depth on one of the methods and just gloss over the others indicating what they might be, but without telling them too much so that they want to buy your product.

In conclusion, a good ethical bribe can be a great way to build relationships with new clients as it can be used to both demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in the specific subject as well as to develop the trust and goodwill that is needed to encourage them to buy your products.How many times have you taken the bait of an ethical bribe and developed your relationship further from the original offer? Have you been successful is using your own ethical bribe and building your own list? Let me know your experiences and what you think about the ethical bribe concept below in my comments box!