sandy82 wrote:Mike and tsslut, I hope you don't mind being lumped together in the same response. The two of you have more in common than you realize. You've both come on to a website that charges no admission, and you both want to tell the owner/administrator how to run his business...
I never made a statement that indicated I was telling the owner/administrtor how to run his business. I presented my own perceptions based on what I have seen in this site and from my experience in the world of business and marketing over a couple of decades. Plus, I even complimented him on the way he ran his site by stating that he was very clever. The word "clever" was being used in a positive sense and not a negative sense. So, please don't admonish someone for something that they did not do or at least try to understand their meaning first.
sandy82 wrote:I have heard many notions bandied about on this site. That's one of its strengths. I have even seen aspersions cast on the owner/administrator of the site, but cooler and wiser heads--who knew a good deal when they saw one--prevailed.
But I never thought that I would see a Phyllis Schlafly/Jerry Falwell-type conspiracy theory take root. Perhaps, on your next trip to the movies, you should try out your theory about being lured-to-buy through exposure to free items. Tell the ticket-seller that you intend to watch 60 free movies and then you might then be lured to pay for 6-8...but you hope not to be duped and deceived so easily. Then waltz past the ticket-taker and into the theater. The first several times, you will meet the men in navy blue coats and gold badges. After that you'll meet the men in the white coats.
I have to give EMG credit. Never did I believe he could be so sly and cunning as to give away 80-90 percent of his work product on the off-chance that you could be lured to buy one or another of the remaining items. What a clever guy! :P
It amazes me how someone has a hard time discussing issues without demeaning someone or cutting them down personally. I have seen this happen in several of the forums. We all have the right to our own thoughts and assumptions whether they are correct or not. We may or may not agree with what others think, but we can at least learn how to discuss the issues without personally attacking the people or even demeaning those thoughts and assumptions in any way.
As for giving away free items in order to develop a customer base to either sell to them right then and there or in the future is a common marketing practice. It doesn't necessarily work in all markets but it is a marketing practice used by many, including those who market through the internet, on late night tv, and even now with some hotels out of Las Vegas. Many people give away free information (i.e. pamphlets, booklets, books, products & etc.) in hope of developing a contact base that they can later market too and hopefully and eventually sell other items to. I have even been approached with a free multi-day trip that included hotel stay, shows, food, and other things by some hotels in Las Vegas just so they can get me there to spend my money on the gambling at their hotel. That means they are giving away a lot in order to hopefully get something from me - my money.
Why is it so hard to believe that someone would spend hours and hours in developing a bunch of hypnosis files and put them for free on a website in hopes of...
**Developing a "customer" base and
**Maybe later on selling other items of interest to some of those very same people that visited the site out of curiosity at first and returned later on to use the free items?
After all, many companies are willling to spend millions and millions of dollars on advertising, some with offers of something for free, with the hope of luring people to purchase their products. Companies spend thousands and thousands of dollars on direct marketing in hopes of getting at least a 1-3% return on investment in that marketing method.
It is not a conspiracy theory. It is simply a smart business model this site is using at this time.
Even the practice of providing loss leaders (items sold under cost or near cost) as Wal-Mart does in order to get you to come into the store and thus hopefully spend more money is a very similar practice. Coupons are given on the same principle...if you buy one of these items we will give you another one for free (that is giving away 50% of that particular type item in order to sell the other 50%). Restaurants do the same thing by having "kids eat for free nights" or offering two for one specials.
So the idea of giving away free items or even heavily discounted items in order to draw in customers in hope of them buying other items that catch their interest while visiting that store, restaurant, or internet site is not an uncommon practice.
And we can even possibly learn some of his intentions of getting people to return to purchase services and products from him just by reading some of the curse scripts. They clearly state in those scripts that HE IS THE ONLY ONE that can release you. In other words, he implants in your brain that you can't go to anyone else to be release but that you have to come to him and only him to be released. And if I remember correctly, there is a fee at times, if not everytime, for this to take place. Is this a conspiracy? No. Just a smart business move and anyone using the curse is warned up front both in the description and by reading the scripts that are available that He is the only one that can release them from the curse. Whether he is really the only one that can release them or not, I do respect him for warning people up front in regards to this and that they may have to pay for that service.
Even with this site as it is currently set up, if only 100 people visited this site in a month's time and used all the free files and 5 of them decided to buy his $200 CD then he just made $1000 that he probably wouldn't have made otherwise if he had not offered the other items for free. If he made a $1,000/month he would make $12,000 per year all from people who probably came to the site originally out of curiousity and probably used the free files for some time before making the purchase they made.
Will I buy something from him? I don't know. But if I do, it is because I was first drawn to the site; first out of curiousity and then remained because of the free files. However, while at the site, I have learned about the other files that are for sale and the services he offers and have been thinking about spending some money here and there. So, whether he intended this marketing concept to take root or not, it has and he is benefiting from it because of it and THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. I admire him for how he has developed this site by seeing a need and filling that need using a skill he has and over time hopefully developing a profit making business from it, no matter what his orginal intentions were.
A Last Thought: Unless we have personally talked with the owner about his business model, then neither one of us knows for sure what his original intentions were when developing this site. It really doesn't matter and it really isn't any of our business. But at some point he took a look at all the visitors to his site and realized that he could make some money from some of those visitors (can't make money from the site from people that don't visit his site) and therefore decided to start charging for various files, memberships, CDs with a bunch of files on them, and "Releases from Curses". Otherwise, it would all still be free. He is a very smart business man it seems and I admire him for taking hold of an opportunity and running with it and hope it has proven to be a successful venture for him and anyone that is helping him with it.
Have a great weekend!