Amy Gahran of Contentious.com shared a great podcast that I felt was important to share with you:
Chris Anderson – Editor in Chief, Wired Magazine and author of the New York Times bestselling book “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More” – gave a speech in June of 2007 about his upcoming book called “FREE: the Economics of Giving Stuff Away“.
The speech is available as a free podcast on IT Conversations
And to show his allegiance to this concept of FREE, Chris Anderson plans to give away the audio version of his upcoming book. Sure, he has a logical reason…
So, go over and download his important (and free) podcast to find out how this will work to your advantage. It is more than worth the 29 mins and 58 seconds of time it takes to listen. (I found it so valuable I listened to it 3 times! OK, it was on in the background, while I worked, but you get the point.)
After all, anyone who knows me is aware, I am a big proponent of Free. I give away lots of my clients' stuff for Free – hehe.
But it isn't only my clients' stuff: In my own business, I offer a free 1-hr consultation. When I do a workshop, in addition to providing copies of my presentation to anyone (even if they didn't attend), I have been known to giveaway treats.
And, we all know I love giving away free advice – that is probably why I have 5 blogs and respond when people ask a question.
But really, what is the reason I do all this? It's simple, it lets you get to know me, to make sure you understand why I would ever ask you to do something like give away your products for free.
And you can be sure, at some point in our professional relationship, I WILL find ways to give your products away free – but you will love me for it!
In fact, that is what I did for companies like SONY, JVC, Anheuser-Busch (Get Bud, Get Music), and a host of musical acts: Bonnie Raitt, Frank Black (Pixies), Led Zep…
And yes, I can hear you shouting “BUT I am not a big corporation like those guys! I can't afford to give it away” Don't worry, there are easy ways for indie artists and small locally owned businesses to do this in a practice method AND increase sales.
In fact, we increased sales 75% for DreamQuest Software, game developers who worked out of their Louisville, CO home, by strategically giving away their products. (Ask me 
and I'll tell you exactly what I did.)
PlayFair Toys of Boulder, CO has been seen giving away free prizes at Baby Loves Disco events. It got them in the same room as their core audience, opened up conversations, and grew their mailing list, all at the same time.
The Video Station, a locally owned and operated video store, gives away free movies all the time. Just sign up for their newsletter. In addition to knowing what films just came out, you automatically get sent a free movie rental coupon.
You'll notice some giveaways are obvious, some are more subtle. Yours can be as big or small as you want, but giving it away is a great way to gain exposure and increase sales (without losing revenue). You just need to know what to giveaway and be sure you understand how it will benefit you.
Start by listening to this free podcast on giving it away, by renown author and editor Chris Anderson. And, when you are done, let's brainstorm great ways to give your stuff away.