We all know what power marketing with free content offers.  We just don’t agree on the best way to go about it.

I teach my readers to set up a landing page, with a unique URL, for each free content offer. An example is my latest market research report on selling to males age 50 and over:  www.marketing2goms.com.  The landing page requires the visitor to submit his e-mail address and opt into my e-list in exchange for getting the free information.

My colleague David Meerman Scott thinks it is an error to set up a landing page where you require information in exchange for giving your content away.  His method is just to give a hyperlink to the URL where you can download the free content immediately upon clicking on the link — no need to fill out a form or provide any information on yourself.

According to David, the number of people who download free content without being asked to fill in a form is 50X greater than the number who will download it if you ask them to fill out a form first.

He concludes that having no form is better, since your content and ideas will reach a much larger audience. But without a form, you do not capture the prospect’s e-mail address for follow up marketing. So you are generating zero leads.

Also, in online marketing, your e-list is  your most valuable business asset. David says he doesn’t even have an e-list, because his method doesn’t capture e-mail addresses or permission to mail to them. So you have two choices when giving away free content — capturing the prospect’s e-mail address or not. Which do you prefer and why?