What is Your Free Offer?
Posted 21st May 2014 at 07:58 AM by charbrown
Whenever I go to the mall nearest my home, I usually use the same entrance. I seem to have an easier time finding a parking space nearby, and it takes me into a central area of the mall, making it easier to get to get to other parts of the mall.
But when you go in through that entrance, you have to walk through the food court where there are all kinds of places to tempt you to go off your diet. It is there that I witness on of the most simple and time-tested marketing strategies known to man.
The free sample.
You literally have to walk past a gauntlet of employees offering small samples of the food each vendor sells. Little tasty morsels that are just enough to excite your taste buds and leave you wanting more.
A lot of businesses have mastered the art of the free sample. People naturally like to try new things before they spend money, so there is a great psychological edge to offering something free.
One of the most influential business books in my experience was Permission Marketing by Seth Godin. The subtitle explains what this book is about, “Turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers.”
The basic idea is to spend most of your time and resources marketing to a group of people who have “raised their hands” or given you permission to market to them.
You want to devote your attentions to people who have self-identified themselves as at least mildly interested in what you sell. Yes you may have to spend some advertising money to give them the chance to raise their hands, but from that point on, your efforts are directed at solving this group’s needs, solving their problems, giving them the information they want, etc.
In other words, you may have to spend a little time offering small free samples to the people who walk by your food court, but once they accept, they are agreeable to you telling them more about what you sell.
Internet Marketers use free samples to get people to “opt in” to their email lists. You’ve surely seen those pages that offer you an ebook, or some other digitally-delivered information. All you have to do is fill out a form giving them your email address in order to receive this information.
There are two problems with this approach. 1) People have grown reluctant to give out their email addresses unless the free information is truly valuable, and 2) People are more likely to “opt out” of an email list if it does not continue to offer great value.
The old “I’ve-seen-that-before” ebook no longer provides the incentive to attract a lot of people to email lists anymore. Unless your free ebook is really strong and promises a lot of value, the results may be disappointing.
On the other hand, offering something unique will still get their attention. One freebie that gets a lot of responses is to offer simple software programs. Simple software carries an extremely high value in the minds of many people.
Also, software generally solves a problem or makes achieving a goal easier.
One way I have used simple software is my Weight Loss Domination PLR Software Pack. I give these simple software programs away to people who are seeking information on how to lose weight.
The beauty is that they can download these programs for free without having to opt in on a sign up form. However, after they have committed to waning the software, they are asked for a registration key.
But how do they get that registration key?
Simple, just request that it be emailed to you.
But getting people to opt into your list is only half the battle. If you don’t keep raising the value ante with each email, they will opt out.
Every email you send should offer something of great value to your subscribers. You want to keep those hands in the air. Provide tips, give more free samples, offer solutions, or just educate them.
If your emails are all sales pitches, you will find your list dwindling down to nothing before you know it.
The free sample is a valuable tool in your marketing arsenal, but don’t just use it to get the first date. Use it to make them fall in love with you and start a relationship with you.
But when you go in through that entrance, you have to walk through the food court where there are all kinds of places to tempt you to go off your diet. It is there that I witness on of the most simple and time-tested marketing strategies known to man.
The free sample.
You literally have to walk past a gauntlet of employees offering small samples of the food each vendor sells. Little tasty morsels that are just enough to excite your taste buds and leave you wanting more.
A lot of businesses have mastered the art of the free sample. People naturally like to try new things before they spend money, so there is a great psychological edge to offering something free.
One of the most influential business books in my experience was Permission Marketing by Seth Godin. The subtitle explains what this book is about, “Turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers.”
The basic idea is to spend most of your time and resources marketing to a group of people who have “raised their hands” or given you permission to market to them.
You want to devote your attentions to people who have self-identified themselves as at least mildly interested in what you sell. Yes you may have to spend some advertising money to give them the chance to raise their hands, but from that point on, your efforts are directed at solving this group’s needs, solving their problems, giving them the information they want, etc.
In other words, you may have to spend a little time offering small free samples to the people who walk by your food court, but once they accept, they are agreeable to you telling them more about what you sell.
Internet Marketers use free samples to get people to “opt in” to their email lists. You’ve surely seen those pages that offer you an ebook, or some other digitally-delivered information. All you have to do is fill out a form giving them your email address in order to receive this information.
There are two problems with this approach. 1) People have grown reluctant to give out their email addresses unless the free information is truly valuable, and 2) People are more likely to “opt out” of an email list if it does not continue to offer great value.
The old “I’ve-seen-that-before” ebook no longer provides the incentive to attract a lot of people to email lists anymore. Unless your free ebook is really strong and promises a lot of value, the results may be disappointing.
On the other hand, offering something unique will still get their attention. One freebie that gets a lot of responses is to offer simple software programs. Simple software carries an extremely high value in the minds of many people.
Also, software generally solves a problem or makes achieving a goal easier.
One way I have used simple software is my Weight Loss Domination PLR Software Pack. I give these simple software programs away to people who are seeking information on how to lose weight.
The beauty is that they can download these programs for free without having to opt in on a sign up form. However, after they have committed to waning the software, they are asked for a registration key.
But how do they get that registration key?
Simple, just request that it be emailed to you.
But getting people to opt into your list is only half the battle. If you don’t keep raising the value ante with each email, they will opt out.
Every email you send should offer something of great value to your subscribers. You want to keep those hands in the air. Provide tips, give more free samples, offer solutions, or just educate them.
If your emails are all sales pitches, you will find your list dwindling down to nothing before you know it.
The free sample is a valuable tool in your marketing arsenal, but don’t just use it to get the first date. Use it to make them fall in love with you and start a relationship with you.
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