Many health professionals struggle to know just how much free content they should be sharing through their online channels.

It’s common to feel concerns around the amount of content that you share for free and worry that it may become more difficult for your audience to purchase your paid offerings in the future. 

Here, I explain the differences between free and paid content and why you should include BOTH in your content strategy, along with a quick practical tip that you can use to determine if you are oversharing your paid content for free.

Understanding the difference between free and paid content starts with your customer

In order to explain what the difference between your free and paid content is, we first need to talk about your ideal customer as this is the person at the receiving end of every piece of content you share.

At the moment your customer is at Point A.

They have a problem (or a number of problems) that they are dealing with and they want to be able to get to a place where, put simply, their problems are fixed.

This is Point C – the place where your customers' transformation takes place.

Between Point A (that being where your customer is now) and Point C (where your customer wants to be), is Point B.

And Point B represents your paid product and service offering. Because in order for your customer to experience the transformation that they desire, they first need the help of your paid offering.

For example, if you are a women's pelvic health physiotherapist and your ideal customer is someone who is postpartum and wants to correct their prolapse, then they would need to book in and engage you for your 1:1 services. Similarly, if you are a dietitian and your ideal client is someone who is a yo-yo dieter and wants to develop a healthier relationship with food, then they would need to join your group coaching program in order to experience the transformation that they desire.

The difference between free and paid content

The main difference between free and paid content is that the role of FREE CONTENT is to get your audience from Point A to Point B (that being the place where they are ready to invest in your paid offering), while the role of PAID CONTENT is to take your audience from Point B to Point C (that being the place where they achieve their desired transformation).

So to put it simply, your free content should be focused on the WHAT and WHY of what you do, whereas the paid content should highlight the HOW.

Demonstrating the difference between free and paid content. An example.

To explain what this looks like in practice, let's consider the content I create for Gramtini, my Instagram marketing course.

My ideal customer for Gramtini is a health practitioner who wants to make more money in their business. They're an early-stage business owner, perhaps their business is currently a side hustle, and they are struggling to attract clients. They may also be someone who is interested in working with brands and diversifying their offering beyond the 1:1 services that they currently offer in their business.

I know as the marketing expert that Instagram is a platform that can help this person attract more clients to their business and place them in a good position to pitch to brands and pursue creative brand opportunities. However, the issue is that this person may not understand how much Instagram could help them achieve the goals that they desire. Alternatively, they may know that Instagram could help them but just need a little bit more convincing that I am the right person to support them.

With this information in mind, I create free content that will help to educate this person on the power of Instagram marketing.

I highlight WHAT is possible for businesses on Instagram and WHAT results they can achieve if they use Instagram as a strategic marketing tool within their business.

I also develop free content to address the limitations that may be holding them back from getting started on Instagram. These could include that they may feel like they need a larger audience to see results on social media or they might think that they do not have the “right personality” for Instagram due to their introverted nature, but these are all objections that I can break down through my free content. And so I offer an explanation as to WHY these beliefs aren't true and WHY Instagram marketing can work for them.

By focusing on the WHAT and WHY, I am also building my authority as an expert in the area of Instagram marketing. Plus my audience is able to gain a little insight into my teaching style and what it is like to work with me.

However, at no point in my free content do I show my audience HOW to create and execute a content strategy on Instagram. This is because, in order to learn this and the transformation they desire, they would have to join Gramtini.

The biggest content marketing mistake: oversharing free content

One of the biggest mistakes that I see health professionals make when it comes to content marketing is sharing too much content that helps their audience achieve the transformation that they desire for free (i.e. content that gets them to Point C).

So often there is an eagerness to prove how much value your brand can offer, and so you create and share content that helps your audience achieve the outcome that they desire for free.

The issue with this is that if you are giving away too much content for free, then it can make it a lot harder to get your audience to invest in your paid offerings. Why would someone pay for something when they can get it for free, right?!

This can become problematic as your paid offering is what drives revenue into growing and scaling your business.

Does that mean that you shouldn't be sharing any HOW-based content for free?

No, it does not!

In fact, there are times when sharing HOW-based content for free can be beneficial. A great example of when it would be appropriate to incorporate HOW-based content into your content strategy would be during a launch period or on an opt-in page as it can deliver a “quick win” to your audience and may actually help to move them closer towards investing in your paid offering.

However, as a general rule of thumb, I would suggest that you don’t share any more than 20% of this HOW-based content for free because this, along with your free content, is going to be more than enough to move your audience closer towards your paid offerings. 

So for every five pieces of content that you share with your audience, one of those could be a HOW-based content piece. Any more than this and you’re only devaluing your paid offering.

How do you know if you are sharing too much paid content for free?

Here’s a quick practical tip that you can use to determine whether you are sharing too much paid content for free.

Conduct a mini self-audit on your latest 10 pieces of content and identify how many of these, if any, were HOW-based content.

If you’re sharing too much, then take this as your sign to tweak your content strategy to include more content pieces that focus on the WHAT and WHY of what you do. 

And if you’re not sharing enough, then you might like to consider including a little more HOW-based content to help your audience achieve a quick win and build you credibility within your field.

The take home message?

To build a profitable business, you need to be strategic about the type of content that you are sharing for free as a part of your content marketing plan.

Focusing on the WHAT and WHY of what you do within your free content will help to get your audience from Point A to Point B where they are ready to invest in your product and service offerings.

Content that takes your customer from Point B to Point C, that being the place where they experience their desired transformation, requires focus on HOW-based content and should be reserved for your paid offerings.

Following the general rule to only highlight 20% of your HOW-based content as a part of your free content strategy could be beneficial in moving your ideal customer closer toward your paid offerings.

If you want to create a killer content strategy that masters the balance between your free and paid content, then I would love to invite you to join Markerita.

In this twelve-week marketing experience, you will learn the exact ingredients you need to build a modern-marketing system that converts your *dream clients* like a breeze and sets your business up for success in a way that feels good to you. Learn more.