Should You Be Afraid of Giving Away Too Much Free Content?

Aleric Heck
5 min readJul 30, 2024

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Have you ever held back from sharing your best content because you were afraid of giving away too much value?

I used to do the exact same thing too ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—น ๐—œ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ #๐Ÿญ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜.

Someone recently commented on one of my YouTube Videos: โ€œ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฑ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ?โ€

Itโ€™s a great question and one that I think a lot of experts, coaches and consultants struggle with.

But after many years โ€” hereโ€™s what I learned:

๐——๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—•๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜.

Youโ€™ve probably heard Alex Hormozi shouting this from the rooftops โ€” and his rise, especially on YouTube, has been incredible to see!

That said, I still see a lot of people debate back & forth on the benefits of giving out value versus holding it back โ€” so I wanted to drop in & share what Iโ€™ve discovered.

โ€œ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป-๐——๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜โ€ ๐— ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜

Hereโ€™s the truth: You canโ€™t give away too much value in your content.

In fact, the more value you give, the more clients youโ€™ll attract.

Why? Because people donโ€™t pay for information. They pay for transformation.

Let me share a personal story that illustrates this perfectly.

For years, I was hesitant to reveal our โ€œsecret sauceโ€ for YouTube ads on my YouTube Channel, in my posts (like this) & in my Marketing Minds Newsletter. I thought if I gave away our step-by-step process, why would people want to work with us?

But then I had an epiphany. ๐—•๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—œ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ.

Sure, some people may watch the content & get what they need โ€” great!

But many more will watch the content, learn from it & then use that to make a decision that I am the person they want in their corner helping them implement the strategy.

Note โ€” I said you can never give too much free content away โ€” I didnโ€™t say you do free work to implement โ€” thatโ€™s what you charge people for, the execution, customization & the transformation.

Itโ€™s one thing to learn a concept from a video & itโ€™s a totally different one entirely to have someone help you implement that from A-Z in a way that is tailored & custom to a business.

๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ต โ€” ๐—”๐—น๐—น ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—น๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜† ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ข๐—ป๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ.

So why does anyone hire anyone for anything?

3 Big Reasons are Skills, Expertise & Customization.

Iโ€™m not going to try and learn from Wikihow how to fix my water heater, Iโ€™m going to hire a skilled professional, with expertise, who can customize their work to my specific needs.

Itโ€™s the same thing with whatever it is that you do.

Especially for Coaches & Consultants!

For us I can share the details of how to write a winning YouTube Ad Script, how to target that ad, how to scale & all the ins & outs โ€” but itโ€™s just not the same as hiring our team to actually help you hands-on execute the process & customize it to your business from our expertise.

However, one way for you to stand out from the crowd is to be seen as the knowledgeable expert, sharing your knowledge in a way that makes it clear YOU are the person they want to work with (& not someone else).

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ โ€œ๐—ฉ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜โ€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜†

So how can you implement this in your business? Here are the 5 key pillars:

๐Ÿญ. ๐——๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ: Share your most powerful strategies. Donโ€™t hold back. The more you showcase your knowledge, the more you position yourself as the go-to expert in your field.

๐Ÿฎ. ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜†: Be open about your processes, your successes, and even your failures. Authenticity breeds trust, and trust is the foundation of any coaching/consulting relationship.

๐Ÿฏ. ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ด๐˜†: Your content should give people a taste of what itโ€™s like to work with you. Itโ€™s not just about what you teach, but how you teach it.

๐Ÿฐ. ๐—”๐˜๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—œ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—–๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€: By giving away high-value content, you naturally attract people who resonate with your approach. These are your ideal clients, the ones most likely to invest in your full programs.

๐Ÿฑ. ๐——๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†: In a world where everyoneโ€™s holding back their best stuff, youโ€™ll stand out by being generous with your knowledge.

When you follow these 5 principles, youโ€™ll create content that becomes an Ideal Client Magnet online โ€” attracting clients, generating good-will and growing your business!

In fact โ€” this is the same principle that I inject into our clients YouTube Ads โ€” we encourage them to create โ€œValue Adsโ€ โ€” ads that have real value in them (Hook -> Educate -> Call to Action) the education provides value that demonstrates to your ideal client your expertise & makes them far more likely to take action!

Thatโ€™s what people are really paying for โ€” not just the information, but the transformation.

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป-๐——๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป

So hereโ€™s my challenge to you: Whatโ€™s the most valuable piece of content you could create for your audience?

If it feels almost painful to give away โ€” like youโ€™re sharing too much โ€” thatโ€™s exactly the content you should be putting out there.

A few months ago I asked myself this question & published my YouTube Ads โ€” Complete Beginners Guide โ€” a 33 minute video breaking down my A-Z YouTube Ads Strategy & actually walking through how to setup a campaign from scratch.

Providing Massive Value is not only a generous thing to do โ€” but it also paints you as the definitive authority & expert in your field โ€” and the business people want to work with!

Are you ready to be one of them?

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Aleric Heck
Aleric Heck

Written by Aleric Heck

YouTube Ads & Video Marketing Expert | Founder & CEO of AdOutreach | CEO of KeywordSearch.com - AI Ad Targeting SaaS | Free YouTube Ads PDF AdOutreach.com/Gift