Cognition #6: The journey and promotion of my freebie | Case Study

Welcome back to Cognition. It's always fun writing issues for you.

In our previous edition, we discussed how brands could leverage freebies to build image, relationships, visibility, and gather data.

Today, I will present a case study of the freebie I launched.

The case study includes:

• What, why, and how of the launch!

• Timing + Targeting of info products/freebies.

• My promotion strategy!

And, of course, the non-technical segment follows.

Before we start, I'd like to mention this issue is a sequel to the previous edition. I urge you to read Cognition #5 to comprehensively understand this case study.

Let's get started. Switch on your cognitive mode.

What, why, and how of the launch!

What is my freebie about? Why did I create it?

I heard multiple stories about freelancers getting ghosted after work. Even I fell prey to it. I never got paid for an article I wrote three months ago.

It made me think about how early-stage freelancers lack protection.

The realization gave me an idea of a contract.

A contract legally binds the service provider and seeker, thus protecting both parties from scams, ghosting, etc. Contracts are mandatory in all major organizations, but they're not even a thing in early stage service providing businesses, especially freelancing.

Hardly a few folks were paying attention to contracts or protecting freelance businesses. Also, many existing freebies were on tools, skills, cold outreach, etc. It was a great opportunity not only to create content around contracts but also an info-product.

That's it. I saw a gap. I dived in.

Within three days, I researched all about contracts and drafted an editable contract template that protects freelancers' business.

How did I write and launch the freebie?

After I decided to go forward with the idea, my focus was on a few primary things:

Research and terms to include: To protect freelancers from maximum possibilities and use the right language.

Convenience: The template must be simple to use and understand. It has to be generalized for freelancers of all industries. I segmented the contract into different sections, provided instructions to edit, and gave analogies to relate to.

Platform to launch: It was a crucial step due to the accessibility factor. I didn't want the visitors to bounce because freebie was hard to acquire.

• Shoutout: I approached Expy to design the page for me. It was during Christmas, and they've been very generous to fulfill my needs under very short notice. The team is sexy, the community is sexy, and Expy as a product is sexy. I highly recommend getting an Expy page—it's a monetizable bio-link homepage for creators.

Verification: I asked Mitesh Dube to validate the freebie. Apart from being a fantastic human, Mitesh has a great taste of content quality + he's a law student. I felt he was the right person to verify the contract template, and he gave his inputs.

Aggressive research + right platform and people made is easier for me to create freebie in just three days.

Also, I feel it's a highly effective approach—to list out primary elements of the project and work towards accomplishing them.

Timing + Targeting

One thing is the product. Or content.

But what's even more important is when you launch it and who you launch it for.

I'll tell you how the right timing and targeting multiplied my Twitter growth.

Timing

The freebie was ready by 23rd December 2021. I launched it on the 25th for two specific reasons: Storytelling, engagement spike.

Storytelling:

I didn't just want to launch on the 25th. I wanted to launch on Christmas.

I didn't just want to give a freebie. I wanted to gift a Christmas present.

That's the story I was trying to adopt for promotions—"A creator gifting an editable contract template for freelancers to protect their business."

And trust me, storytelling is real, and promotions went really well! We'll get to it in a while.

Engagement spike:

I didn't have many followers on Twitter. I was stuck between 300-320 followers for seven months.

I began speaking in spaces on December 10th and noticed a spike in the follower count. There was an audience inflow, people were engaging with my content, and I began knowing people via spaces followed by DMs.

This spike of followers and engagement was rising for the next ten days, and I capitalized on it.

If I had launched the freebie in December's first week, it might not have been as effective.

Targeting

My targeting was based on my future goals.

I knew I would launch my newsletter in Mid-January, and as you know now, Cognition is about freelancing, content creation, and writing.

Hence I targeted freelancers primarily and creators secondarily with the freebie.

I built the relevant audience for the newsletter for ~20 days and launched Cognition on Jan 14th, 2022.

This ensured Cognition got traction and visibility from day 1.

I had a plan. Now I have to sell it. The promotions!

It all began with a Tweet. I just announced it.

I applied the Christmas gift storytelling, but I knew it wouldn't be enough. The freelancers needed more. They needed to understand it's not some festive marketing to gain traction but something very very valuable.

To address this, I did the simplest thing.

I just mentioned the value they'd get.

—1500 words aren't less.

—People know contracts are long and time taking to draft. Eight pages naturally imply the length.

—There are multiple threats in a freelance business. "17 terms" assures at least major factors are covered.

—"Instructions" for the audience skeptical about understanding the contract.

That's the value!

'Storytelling + Mentioning value' wasn't enough

Despite taking all the measures, I gained average traction to the tweets.

I didn't want people to think, "Oh this is good. Let's see how it goes when it's launched."

I wanted my audience to be curious about it and wait for it.

So I tweeted this.

I picked one value proposition and elaborated on it.

The next day, I launched the freebie!

Added another value point during the launch—Eight hours are important for people who value time.

But there was a problem

Remember I mentioned the importance of accessibility a while ago?

There was a problem with the tools that let people download the freebie. Most tools only had the pdf feature since creators sold ebooks, guides, etc.

To make the freebie editable, it had to be a word document. But I can upload only in pdf format.

Some softwares allowed me to upload and download the freebie in .docx format, but I wouldn't be getting any data of the number of sales, email IDs, etc.

This is what I did

Two things were certain: I can upload only in pdf, and I need data.

It means I need to ask freelancers to download in .pdf and convert it into a .docx file.

It sounds like a minor issue, but it makes the audience redundant when they need to go through multiple steps.

It's on me to make sure this doesn't happen. So I attached the below tweet to the previous one.

Yes, the steps were more, and it's inevitable. But at least I've made the process easier by providing instructions and links in one place.

Number-Based promotions

Ever heard of the popular phrase "Money is in the follow ups?"

I believe it holds true in promotions too. You can't just launch an info product and expect it to sell itself. You need to follow up.

I used the numbers.

...and then I promoted happily ever after!

Info products are a long-term game. You need to keep reminding the audience you have a product, and they need it.

Keep promoting your products every now and then but make sure it's not the only thing you do.

People don't like to be sold, and you popping up regularly on their feed with promotions might make them dislike your content.

I promote my freebie 1-2 times a month. It works for me.

And at last, the word of mouth

These are the best promotions! Freelancers use your product and suggest it to others when the topic arises. Like Tripti Garg replied to a conversation about contracts here.

Few more options to promote

1. You can retweet when someone mentions you. The good part is your audience doesn't feel you're selling something.

2. Peer promotions: Your fellow creators who know you and the quality of your work can give you shoutouts.

3. You can comment with the link of your product when discussions around the pain point you're trying to solve occur, and they're looking for a solution. Try not to look spammy here.

4. You can promote in your other platforms or info products like I'll do in this newsletter now:

200+ freelancers downloaded the contract template and used it to protect their businesses. You can do the same by downloading the template here.

Grab it now! It's FREE.

That's it from the technical segment!

I'm happy I wrote this. There was too much information, and articulation was hard. This issue challenged me as a writer.

Before we wrap this up, let me just give a quick summary:

In Cognition #5, I explained:

1. Brand visibility, image building, and data collection with freebies.

2. How not to give freebies?

3. Types of freebies one can provide.

In Cognition #6, we discussed the case study of my freebie:

1. What, why, and how of the launch!

2. Timing + Targeting.

3. How I promoted my newsletter.

I hope this was helpful, informative, and insightful.

We've worked had to consume long content. Now let's have some fun.

Non-Technical aka Fun Segment

Favourite quote from a book

This book is therapeutic. I love the peaceful and deep conversations between Mitch and Morrie.

Coming to the quote, I wanna say if you feel miserable and want to cry out loud, just find a place and do it.

You sometimes need that energy exertion, and I'm sure you'll figure out solutions sooner or later.

Movie I watched this week

I watched Bad Boy Billionaires: India this week. It's about Indian entrepreneurs who built empires and fled away without repaying debts.

I liked the part where Netflix explains how these brands are built and what led to their downfall.

It's a three-episode series.

Originally in English. Available on Netflix.

Watch the trailer here:

Tweets I loved

[tweet https://twitter.com/orangebook_/status/1494643097271209997] [tweet https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103969781448704]

YouTube video I loved

If you're a Shark Tank India fan, you're gonna love this podcast.

Raj Shamani got Ashneer Grover on Figuring Out podcast, and it was a blast!! Don't miss out on this.

Song I’m listening to on a loop

Idk why but I'm obsessed with the BGM of Rocket Boys. Do watch the series. It's sexy.

That's it from Cognition #6.

Do share it on your socials if you like the edition. It'd mean a lot to me and encourage me to deliver more quality and insightful content.

See you next week!

Stay safe, take care, and cry if you have to.

Love,

Vikra Vardhan.

Enjoyed Cognition? You can always gift Vikra chocolates as a token of appreciation. He’s a BIGGG foodie. He loves to eat.