Eben Pagan teaches the 'move the free line' strategy, which involves giving away your best ideas and knowledge for free to attract prospects. He explains how digital technology has made it possible to give away $100+ value content at virtually no cost, transforming customer acquisition.
Moving The Free Line
Eben introduces the move the free line concept as his most successful business strategy. He explains how giving away your best knowledge and ideas, rather than holding them back, can transform customer acquisition and business growth.
The cost revolution in content creation and distribution has made it possible to give away what used to cost thousands of dollars for free. This technological shift has created an abundance of information and new opportunities for businesses.
Using the African monkey trap metaphor, Eben challenges the common belief that you should keep your best ideas secret. He argues that ideas will spread anyway, so you might as well be the source and get credit for them.
Eben shares specific tactics for creating $100+ value content, building opt-in pages, and partnering with others. He reveals how this strategy generates 50,000-100,000 new subscribers during product launches, leading to multi-million dollar results.
“The idea of moving the free line is simply taking some of your very best knowledge, techniques, insights, and packaging it up into reports, ebooks, videos, and other forms that you can give away to prospective customers.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 1:27
Move the free line is a marketing strategy where you give away your best knowledge and ideas for free to attract prospects. Instead of holding back your best content, you package your most valuable insights into reports, videos, or ebooks and use them to build your email list and attract high-quality customers.
“I like to follow the rule of thumb of making something that is worth at least a $100.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 8:54
Your free content should be worth at least $100 in legitimate value. This creates a compelling value proposition that makes opting into your email list or following you a 'no brainer' decision for prospects.
“your best ideas are going to get out there into the world anyway. Whether it's you getting them out there or someone else that learns them from you. Eventually, they're going to get out there. So it might as well be you that gets your best ideas out there so that they can be associated with you.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 5:27
Your best ideas will eventually get out into the world anyway, whether through you or someone who learns from you. By giving them away yourself, you ensure they're associated with your brand and can attract high-quality prospects who will want to learn more from you.
“instead of spending $20,000 to give away one thousand one hour videos, we can now do it for free. We can literally create the video with the software that's on our computer.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 2:49
Digital technology has revolutionized content distribution by eliminating physical production costs. What used to cost $20,000 to give away 1,000 one-hour videos can now be done for essentially free using computer software and online distribution platforms.
“When we do an online product launch right now, it's typical for us to get, oh, 50 to a 100,000 new opt in leads, new people on our list over the course of two or three weeks of doing our prelaunch. And we don't pay a dime for these people.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 17:11
Using high-value free content during launches can generate 50,000 to 100,000 new email subscribers over 2-3 weeks without paid advertising. This approach typically results in multi-million dollar product launch successes.
“every business is an information business. Now all of us have to get good at educating our customers.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 7:38
Every business can become an information business by creating educational content about their products or industry. Golf club sellers can teach better golf techniques, restaurants can share recipes, and any business can educate customers about making better purchasing decisions.
A step-by-step process for giving away high-value content to attract prospects and build your email list
Identify your best ideas
Ask yourself what are the very best insights, techniques, and advice you could give - the things you'd normally save for the end and charge for
Create high-value content
Package your best ideas into a video, report, or ebook that has legitimate $100+ value
Build an opt-in landing page
Create a simple page with video or graphics that offers your free gift in exchange for name and email address
Distribute through partnerships
Reach out to others with email lists and offer to do free webinars or training for their audiences
Treat subscribers like friends
Send valuable content, exclusive interviews, and bonuses rather than just promotional emails
Leverage for product launches
Use multiple pieces of high-quality free content during launches to attract thousands of new subscribers
The word 'free' is one of the most powerful marketing words in the English language, and moving the free line is the most important idea Eben has implemented that led to his business success
Eben states this is 'the most important idea I've implemented in my business that's led to the most success' and calls it 'a very powerful mindset, very powerful approach'
Moving the free line means taking your very best knowledge, techniques, and insights and packaging them into reports, ebooks, and videos that you give away to prospective customers
Eben defines the strategy as 'taking some of your very best knowledge, techniques, insights, and packaging it up into reports, ebooks, videos, and other forms that you can give away to prospective customers'
Digital technology has revolutionized content distribution costs - instead of spending $20,000 to give away 1,000 one-hour videos, you can now do it for essentially free
Eben explains that in the past 'if we wanted to give away a one hour video, we would have to invest something like $20 each' and 'instead of spending $20,000 to give away one thousand one hour videos, we can now do it for free'
You must give away your very best ideas, not hold onto them like a monkey holding a nut in a trap - your best ideas will get out anyway, so they might as well be associated with you
Eben uses the African monkey trap analogy where 'too many of us are like that monkey holding on to our ideas, get clamped onto them selfishly' and explains 'your best ideas are going to get out there into the world anyway...so it might as well be you that gets your best ideas out there so that they can be associated with you'
Popular music artists release their best songs as singles to represent their albums - the same principle applies to business content marketing
Eben asks 'When they're about to release a new single, do they take the worst song that they've created and then release it to the radio stations?' and explains 'Imagine if they took their worst song and then they put it out there to represent them'
Every business is an information business - even if you sell physical products, you can create educational content about your products or industry
Eben quotes his friend Alex Mundosian saying 'every business is an information business' and gives examples: 'If you sell golf clubs...you can teach your customers how to play better golf, or how to shop for golf clubs, or how to get the best deal. If you own a restaurant, you can teach your customers recipes'
Create free content worth at least $100 in value, then use it to capture email opt-ins through dedicated landing pages
Eben states 'I like to follow the rule of thumb of making something that is worth at least a $100' and explains to 'offer it in exchange for an opt in to your list'
Eben's original Double Your Dating ebook contained most of his best ideas, and he expanded the business by taking individual chapters and creating entire products around each concept
Eben explains 'when I go back to my original ebook that I wrote...most of my best ideas were in that book' and 'to create my product line, I just took a chapter of the book and expanded it' creating '12 or 15 other products'
Eben and his company pioneered early landing page designs that were copied by tens of thousands of people, even causing Google to change their algorithm
Eben states 'I and my company, we actually pioneered a lot of the kind of early landing pages and opt in pages online. And the last time I checked, literally tens of thousands of people had ripped off my original landing page' and 'Google actually changed their algorithm based on so many people ripping off this landing page'
Treat email list subscribers like friends by providing extra value, exclusive interviews, and bonuses rather than just sending promotional emails
Eben explains 'once you've got their email address, don't just spam them with a bunch of offers. Send them valuable stuff. Treat them like you would treat a friend' and describes setting up 'live one on one exclusive interview with the person or a webinar'
Partner with others who have email lists by offering to do free webinars or training for their audiences, providing value while gaining exposure
Eben suggests saying 'hey, I noticed you have a list of, people that have this particular interest. Would you like it if I did a free class for them? And then I'll give them, this free report or free video that's worth a $100'
During product launches, Eben typically generates 50,000 to 100,000 new email subscribers over 2-3 weeks without paying for advertising, resulting in multi-million dollar launches
Eben states 'When we do an online product launch right now, it's typical for us to get, oh, 50 to a 100,000 new opt in leads, new people on our list over the course of two or three weeks' and 'We don't pay a dime for these people' and 'this is why when we do product launches, they're usually multi million dollar successes'
The word 'free' is one of the most powerful marketing words in the English language, and moving the free line is the most important idea Eben has implemented that led to his business success
▶ 0:30Moving the free line means taking your very best knowledge, techniques, and insights and packaging them into reports, ebooks, and videos that you give away to prospective customers
▶ 1:27Digital technology has revolutionized content distribution costs - instead of spending $20,000 to give away 1,000 one-hour videos, you can now do it for essentially free
▶ 2:49You must give away your very best ideas, not hold onto them like a monkey holding a nut in a trap - your best ideas will get out anyway, so they might as well be associated with you
▶ 5:27Popular music artists release their best songs as singles to represent their albums - the same principle applies to business content marketing
▶ 7:04Every business is an information business - even if you sell physical products, you can create educational content about your products or industry
▶ 7:38Create free content worth at least $100 in value, then use it to capture email opt-ins through dedicated landing pages
▶ 8:54Eben's original Double Your Dating ebook contained most of his best ideas, and he expanded the business by taking individual chapters and creating entire products around each concept
▶ 9:44Eben and his company pioneered early landing page designs that were copied by tens of thousands of people, even causing Google to change their algorithm
▶ 11:53Treat email list subscribers like friends by providing extra value, exclusive interviews, and bonuses rather than just sending promotional emails
▶ 14:38Partner with others who have email lists by offering to do free webinars or training for their audiences, providing value while gaining exposure
▶ 16:12During product launches, Eben typically generates 50,000 to 100,000 new email subscribers over 2-3 weeks without paying for advertising, resulting in multi-million dollar launches
▶ 17:11Scroll for more
Claim: “Keep your best ideas secret and only share them with paying customers”
Reframe: Give away your best ideas for free because they'll get out anyway, and this way they'll be associated with you
Claim: “Only give away low-value content to protect your premium offerings”
Reframe: Give away your very best content, just like music artists release their best songs as singles to represent their albums
“The word free is one of the most powerful words in the English language. It's one of the most powerful marketing words.”
“too many of us are like that monkey holding on to our ideas, get clamped onto them selfishly trying to, you know, keep them secret and not let anyone know what they are.”
“every business is an information business. Now all of us have to get good at educating our customers.”
“your best ideas are going to get out there into the world anyway. Whether it's you getting them out there or someone else that learns them from you. Eventually, they're going to get out there. So it might as well be you”
Persuade Masses
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Build Relationship Customer
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Landing pages that capture leads before selling can grow your business 5-10x even though you lose 80% of visitors
Eben Pagan credits Dean Jackson with creating the first landing page concept. Instead of letting traffic come directly to the website, they required name and email before entry. This single change made their business 5-10 times larger than it would have been without lead capture.
Moving the free line means giving away so much value that prospects think 'if this is what they're giving away, how valuable must their paid products be'
Eben Pagan developed this concept specifically for internet businesses where you can distribute audio, video, printed materials, and software at very low cost. He created what he calls 'the most valuable newsletter ever' with thousands of pages of free information, as valuable as newsletters that charge $1000 per year.
Most prospects don't buy on first contact, so systematic follow-up using email newsletters, podcasts, or video series is essential for building relationships over time with prospects at different stages of the buying process.
Eben explains that some house buyers are a year out from purchasing while others need to buy within a week, demonstrating the varying timelines prospects operate on.
Adding an email newsletter follow-up series can increase business results by 10x compared to having no follow-up system in place.
Eben states his business would be 'one tenth the size that it is right now' without his email newsletter series, and millions of people have been on his dating tips newsletter receiving dozens to hundreds of follow-ups.
