How to get people to pay for something they can find for free
Posted On August 16, 2024
Why would you pay for something that you can find elsewhere for free?
You might if it’s a superior product or service. Or if it’s a service personalized specifically for you.
Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” has done just that. Rob Lightbrown is a lifelong weather junkie and former National Weather Service intern who now runs Crown Weather Services, a subscription-based website that serves, essentially, as a personal weatherman for its subscribers.
While there is a plethora of weather forecasts available for free on television, the internet and social media, Lightbrown said many are sensationalized in order to gain engagement. His subscribers want him to cut through all that noise.
“I step back and use all the guidance – I don’t look at just one model,” he said. “And I use all that, plus my own experience, to try to summarize what’s out there and try to give you a down-to-earth, hype-free – as much as I can – look at what’s going on out there.”
Lightbrown said the idea for the site came when he was working as an NWS intern and Hurricane Andrew was bearing down on Florida. He got a call from a woman who was worried about a relative in Fort Lauderdale that she was unable to reach. Lightbrown was able to reassure her that the area was outside the core of the eyewall.
Thirty years later, Lightbrown provides daily weather forecasts, with information on how weather patterns are expected to develop over the coming days and weeks. His clients are farmers, coastal residents, people planning trips, and anyone else with a keen interest or stake in the weather.
He built his site’s following by answering one-on-one questions about weather situations specific to the client – and it’s a service he still provides today. He emails his forecasts to subscribers, and they can call him at any time with questions about the weather in their area or an area where they plan to travel.
In an era where technology has made more information readily available than ever, the expert analysis of all that information and personalized delivery of that analysis are perhaps more important than ever.