As a business owner, you may wonder why anyone would want to buy the cow when the milk is free. Giving away information is going to help your business in the long run. You’re not giving away the cow, after all.

So Why Share the Milk?

1. It helps establish you as the expert.

Have you ever experienced a home-owner problem like a leaky faucet and attempted to fix it after Googling the solution? That little experiment doesn’t mean you would never hire a plumber. We know we can count on the expert to solve the problem because that’s what they do all the time.

Providing your customers with free information they find valuable is the true spirit of content marketing. Whether it be informative, educational, or entertaining, free information engages and attracts your audience, giving you the credibility you work hard to achieve.

2. Your generosity involves reciprocity.

Give first, and you will receive later. Your satisfied customers will come back for more. And better yet, they will spread the word. When they find themselves in need of an expert in the field, guess where they will go?

Sometimes the milk tastes oh-so-much-better when you don’t have to milk the cow yourself.

Gum Tasted Better, Too, When You Got  Something Free

In an earlier, pre-computer age, remember when Bazooka Joe won its audience with this then little-known marketing strategy?

Today, there are numerous ways you can market your expertise with valuable, free information:

• Blog posts
• Wall posts (Facebook, Google+)
• Articles published on industry websites
• Tweets (a.k.a microblogging)
• E-newsletters
• YouTube Videos
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• White papers
• Ebooks

What information you choose to share is up to you. It’s entirely unrealistic to ask a plumber to install a couple of radiators before deciding whether or not they got the job. Remember, you set the limits, and then feel good about what you decide to give away.

“This revolution, the information revolution, is a revolution of free energy as well, but of another kind: free intellectual energy.” ~ Steve Jobs

Sharing Information the Twitter Way

The World Wide Web is no longer a collection of static pages, akin to a library with its books scattered all over the floor. The internet has become a publishing platform where its users have evolved from content consumers into content creators.

Your customer audience is now your partner and peer, meeting you on Facebook, Twitter, and their own WordPress site. As a business owner, your ability to use these online tools will help you build relationships as you continue to build an audience.

So Tweet away and be happy.

Photo credit http://flic.kr/p/4NMan2