One of the best ways to promote your products is through the deliberate use of free samples. Free samples allow you to demonstrate the quality of your product, while at the same time building good will with people. It also allows you to invoke reciprocity. When people receive something for free from you, they’re more likely to feel like they should try to make it up to you somehow – For example, by buying your products.
However, using free samples isn’t something that should be done off the cuff. If you just give away a bunch of free samples to everyone and anyone, it could end up costing you a lot of money that never turns into a return on your investment.
So how do you effectively use free samples to promote your products? Here are a few tips.
Try to Give Away Something That Becomes a Part of Their Daily Life
If you can give away something that becomes a part of their daily life, you’ll be able to use these free samples to keep your brand in front of your customers for weeks and months at a time.
For example, a free coffee maker that’s branded with your company’s logo. If they’re a coffee drinker, they’ll make coffee every day. When they do, they’ll see your company’s brand and be reminded of you.
Are You Giving to the Right People?
When you give away free samples, it’s particularly important that you target the right people. Why? Because samples cost money. When you give free samples to the right people, that money can return a huge ROI. On the other hand, if you give it away to everyone and anyone, you could end up losing your investment.
Start by giving samples for future products to people who’ve already bought your previous products. Then give products away to people who’ve expressed an interest in your product, such as the people on your email lists or people at one of your event. Finally, give free samples away to potential buyers in your demographic – But very selectively if they haven’t expressed an interest in your brand.
Give Away Something with a High Perceived Value
Perceived value is the amount of money someone thinks a gift is worth. It doesn’t have to be tied to the actual amount of money a gift is worth.
For example, at a fashion show, giving away free colored contact lenses has a high perceived value. People often associate contacts with seeing optometrists, which is relatively costly. Giving away colored contacts therefore invokes those emotions and gets people to think you’re giving them something very expensive. In reality, the colored lenses might only cost you a few dollars to acquire.
Use Freebies as a Surprise Gift
Another great way to use freebies is as a surprise gift. This is a particularly effective strategy for strengthening relationships.
For example, let’s say you run a subscription business. You notice that most customers seem to cancel after 3 months. You try sending all your new customers a free gift 2.5 months into their subscription. This surprise gift extends your average subscriber length by another 2 months, adding significantly to your bottom line.
Use it to Stand Out in Events
Free samples are a great way to stand out at events. Trade shows and seminars for example are fantastic places to use free samples.
The key here is to give out something that really catches people’s attention. It should be something that gets people to talk about it. Don’t just give away a free pen or coffee mug – Try to give away something that really “wow”s people. You want recipients of your gift to brag to others at the event about it.
Use it to Eliminate Doubt
Often time’s a free sample is used for the sole purpose of eliminating doubt. For example, you might sell a skin product that promises to make someone’s skin tighter and younger. If they don’t believe you, they can ask for a free sample to eliminate their doubts.
Use it for Lead Generation
Finally, you can use free samples for lead generation. Give away the samples for free, but make sure they give you their address, email and phone number in exchange. This allows you to follow up with them and close the sale at a later time.
Free samples can be an extremely powerful marketing tool. Just make sure you’re using it properly so you get a high return on your investment.
Image Credits – Free Digital Photos
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