Godin’s previous book, Purple Cow, presents examples of how to stand out from the herd. Free Prize Inside shows how to make that happen. It answers questions of “How do you create a Purple Cow?” “How do you make something sell itself?”
When we buy cereal, especially kiddie cereal, what’s the best part? The free prizes inside, of course! He walks the talk by packaging this book in a cereal box. Though the book is not free, it’s a catchy and unusual way to package a book.
Wait! There IS a free prize inside. It’s a copy of This Is Not the Journal newspaper. It may not be as fun as the toy cars or game CDs that come in cereal boxes these days, but hey, it’s free! (Note: the cereal box packaging and newspaper are limited, so they won’t always be available).
Free prizes aren’t just the stuff you find in cereal or Cracker Jack. Does your credit card offer free airline miles or money towards the next car you buy? That counts. What about an online store offering free shipping? Every year there is a huge technical tradeshow in Washington, DC for government agencies. What I remember the most about it is the drawings for free prizes, the goodies I received, and the shirts I still have.
This book has impeccable timing. As an editor of a newsletter, I have been struggling to find ideas to pep it up and draw in more subscribers since new subscriptions have slowed down. I cheat and go straight to page 131, the start of the list of “Edges” and look for a spark of creativity to create an “Edgecraft” (book’s buzzword) to find a free prize. The goal is to find something to reel people in, to give them something they want like the previously mentioned examples.
I learn from examples and Godin lists plenty of them using Edgecraft in action. He is not saying you have to invent something new to make something happen. It’s about taking what you already have going and how to make your product, service, head, blog, whatever worth talking about and watching the results.
My dad follows the guys from the radio station and meets them wherever they set up shop. Not only has he made a friend or two, but he has picked up cool stuff like movies on DVD and tickets to events. The radio station obviously has a faithful listener in him otherwise how would he know about these events?
As for the newsletter idea, I am trying two things. One is adding a “gotcha” section where I post a graphic of a typo, bad grammar, or something demonstrating a content blooper. Readers are encouraged to find the blooper and send it in to be entered in a drawing for a… free prize!
The other idea is called Extreme Makeover: Bad Copy Edition. Readers submit examples of bad copy to be torn apart, made over, and reported in a future issue. Of course, we’ll mention the reader’s name and company to give her credit and company recognition.
Guess what? This isn’t the first free prize offered in the newsletter. Existing free prizes do fade away and we have to create new ones to revive interest. After all, my son wouldn’t want multiples of the same cars he got from the cereal. The cereal company puts in a new car and he is after poor mom to buy it again. Thankfully, he actually eats the cereal.
Back to the book and the purpose of this write-up. With three kids, a spouse, two jobs, a house, and volunteer work, finding time to read a book is a challenge.
Even if I weren’t a book reviewer, getting through this book would be a breeze because (a) it’s 183 pages (the rest are detailed endnotes with references and explanations), (b) it highlights plenty of key points for easy scanning, and (c) each section or idea is short. Getting bite-sized pieces of information is enough to get going with the concepts gleaned from the book and make something happen.
VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: Free Prize Inside
AUTHOR: Seth Godin
PUBLISHER: Portfolio
PUBLICATION DATE: May 2004
ISBN: 1591840414
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 256
PRICE: US$19.95