One day last week, I got an enthusiastic email from a guy in the UK.
He’d seen my presentation on what I call horror advertorials. He loved the idea. And he was trying to build something similar for the brand he’s working for.
Would I be willing to review what he had done and give pointers?
I wrote back to say I could do it as a consulting gig.
I got an email in response with a sad face emoji. “No worries – sure that may be interesting – how much would you charge?”
I wrote back with a price that would make it worth my while. More than the cost of a Starbucks Creme Frappuccino… but a drop in the bucket for anyone planning to run cold traffic to an advertorial and have it make money.
But I never heard back.
I don’t know why. It might have to do with the price I sent back. Or it might have nothing to do with it. But if that really turned this guy away, it got me wondering… what might he have been looking for really?
Perhaps a pat on the back. “Wow you really got this. Good job!”
Or perhaps a miracle band-aid. “If you add in the word ‘amazing’ in your headline here, it will increase conversions by 30%.”
But there’s one thing I doubt he would have wanted.
Serious critical feedback. Advice to throw out big chunks of stuff he had spent time and effort on. Advice to do significant extra work in order to have a real chance at success.
So here’s what I’m getting at. I say it for your benefit as much as my own.
In my history of offering free advice, I don’t remember the last time it turned into anything. Anything, that is, other than meetings, excuses, and requests for more free advice.
That’s why these days, I keep the following words from Dan Kennedy on a little slip of paper under my pillow while I sleep:
“Get paid. Do nothing free. Especially dispense advice. There is nothing more futile on Earth than giving anybody free advice. At best, they don’t appreciate it. At worst, they resent it.”
Maybe you don’t appreciate that either.
But maybe you get it. Maybe you just feel hesitant about making the transition… about putting your foot down and charging for things that seem to be common human courtesy… or worse, charging for things that everybody else seems to be giving away for free.
All I can tell you is, I’ve been there.
It’s taken me time and mental effort to make the transition myself. I have advice on how you might do it too. And when I do write it up one day — well, I bet you can guess. I’ll take my own advice. But if that don’t turn you away, and you want to know when I put this advice out, then here’s the first step to make sure you get it.