It is definitely okay to share your ‘trade secrets’

I have a principle when I first started my copywriting practice,

“Sharing is Empowering.”

This is something that was taught and inspired by one of my mentors in the early days.

He constantly reminded me about knowing how to create the ‘Why’ in running a business. Why would people choose you over other competitors despite, the size of your company, your price, and your experience?

And the ‘Why’ led me to follow his principle which is “Sharing is Empowering.”

When I first started my own practice, I was so excited in wanting to share my the experience I have throughout my years working as a marketer in a corporate setting.

Sharing what works and what fails, and what would be the best way to move forward towards the modern marketing setting. However, my actions led me to a lot of disapproval from my peers.

The disapproval comes from me revealing the so-called ‘trade secrets’ for free was a concern to them. They were claiming that I’m spoiling the market and I was digging my own grave because people would copy what I’m doing and may even do better than me.

Well… they were WRONG!

Here are some of the reasons why I find that sharing is empowering and not throwing your business away.

There are already an ABUNDANT of ideas in the internet

Here’s the truth… are you ready for it? Here it goes!

While you might think that you have the best strategy in the whole wide world; or that your idea is the million dollar idea, I’m here to break your bubble.

Your ideas might not even be a fresh one. Probably someone had thought this out years back but failed to execute it properly.

What I’m trying to say is that,

ideas are only ideas if no action is taken.

Many times, we would get this idea of how we can make our business fly, but later on we did not go through it due to many reasons.

The lack of funds, the lack of confidence, the lack of whatsoever…

So, even if I’m sharing my ‘trade secret’ on how I conduct my business, I have no reason to be afraid. If you see that my strategy works for you, please use it by all means. I’ll be happy that you’ve made it as well.

This brings me to my second point.

The market is HUGE

I’m not sure about others, but I’m pretty much sure that I only have a pair of hands and one brain. And being a content creator that is what makes me special and why my clients look for me.

That is my niche, my unique selling point.

And as a single individual, I can only pick up that much of work. Hence, why should I be worried about sharing how I do it?

Maybe for a someone that runs a company you might think that this is bad. Because you’re aiming to reach a larger crowd.

But remember this, we humans have a tendency to COMPARE. Moreover, we are living in a digital era, people would seek to find research over the internet.

Think of this, if your sharing is able to create a healthy market standard for people in the industry, people would know how to appreciate your service rather than constantly look for price adjustments, discounts and freebies.

Keeping market HEALTHY

At the end of the day, you would want a market that understands what you’re doing and how your charges are justified through the service and the work you provide.

Take my career for instance,

I’m a copywriter from Malaysia. Here the crowd doesn’t really appreciates the kind of services that I’m providing. The constant feedback that I had in the earlier days was,

“Why should I hire your services where I can easily get my staff to write these things?”

“You’re charging way too high for just writing such a simple content.”

It was frustrating, constantly getting rejections with these same few reasons over and over again. And that led me to provide a different approach.

I began providing free consultations for the first 2 hours. (Who doesn’t love free stuff) However, that only applies if the enquiry comes from the clients first. This is to help set that you’re looking for my services but I’m providing you with a bonus offer =)

As I began this practice of giving ‘free consultations’ to them. I realise that the chances of me closing a deal became better. So, one fine day I decided to ask one of my longterm clients on the reason why they picked me at the first place.

The first thing they told me was that, no other people are sharing the things I’m sharing. Basically what I shared are things that they would only normally hear when they go for paid marketing seminars.

They were able to understand more about how content creation works and with that they feel empowered and gain clarity on their marketing direction. And that led them to entrust their content creation to me as we were on the same page.

Through that experience, I really taught me that there is no harm in sharing content free of charge. Because in the midst of sharing this knowledge and experience, we are empowering our clients and helping them to understand the need for these services and why we exist.

Know what you’re selling

Knowing what I was selling, I was able to share confidently. Because I wasn’t selling my experience but the end result of my experience.

In many occasions we tend to place negative ideas in our mind, thinking that if we overshared ourselves they will not need our services.

Well, sometimes these cases happen. But it didn’t bother me at all. If they are able to understand and grasp what I’ve shared and do it by themselves, it’s an added value for me as well. Now, there’s one more person to help preach my cause to the market. And often times I get clients referrals from them.

In conclusion, there’s only one key point that I’m highlighting. “Sharing is Empowering” and in today’s market it’s no longer about who creates the best ads but it’s about who creates the best value.

Value-based niche helps retain reoccurring clients. The trust is built and there’s a ‘friendship’ between you and your clients.

So, don’t be afraid to share, as you share and as you empower the people in your industry, you’re creating an irreplaceable value. And that will take you to a very far place.