We are rapidly becoming a society that sees its experts as sources of valuable information and opinion rather than as directors of behavior. For example, patients come to their doctors having already done extensive Internet research on the conditions they think they might have.

Businesses of all kinds are finding it profitable in the long run to give away free samples of their specialized knowledge. This was one lesson shared in a recent conference call to promote the book Get Content Get Customers, hosted by the authors, Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett, along with Ryan Caldwell of copyblogger and Rohit Bhargava, author of Personality Not Included.

Businesses are used to selling their products or services. Instead, argue the content marketers, figure out what customers need to know to accomplish tasks. But if we give away our specialized knowledge, why will anyone need to hire us?

Here’s why. First, demonstrating expertise repeatedly and publicly establishes that you can be trusted. Take the example of Out-Law.com, which offers “free legal news and guidance, mostly on IT and e-commerce issues.” Out-Law delivers two to five news stories every day on IT-related court decisions and regulatory rulings, plus a big back catalog of free IT business guidance, such as its series of guides to the legal risks of company blogs, message boards, and social networks. The site even gives away a free Communications Policy.

Out-Law is bankrolled by the international corporate law firm Pinsent Masons, and the firm makes no bones about its reasons: “The site exists because we want you to choose our law firm when you need more help.”

The concept works because Pinsent Masons can be quite sure that no matter how much information it gives away, in the end most people cannot be their own IT lawyers, just as, no matter how much information we may find on the Web, ultimately we cannot be our own doctors. And when the time comes for an IT lawyer, all the IT managers who read Out-Law will know whom they trust.

Posted in Audience research and strategic planning, Marketing and promotion