(801) 810-9426
Free Samples Can Be the Best & Cheapest Advertising
While at the mall yesterday I headed to the food court.
After scanning my choices, I made a beeline for Subway. Familiar, healthy, tasty. Nothing else was even on my radar.
15 feet away from Subway a guy with a tray in hand asked me if I wanted a free sample. What the heck. I grabbed one — a small portion of a philly sandwich from Phil’s Philly Grill. (Yes, they need a serious website overhaul. I know a couple guys that could help them with that…)
WHAM! — the taste exploded in my mouth. I drooled. I swooned. My eyes rolled back into my head.
And I stopped in my tracks, did an about-face, and walked straight to the Phil’s Philly Grill counter and ordered their classic Philly.
And now I’m a fan for life. What did that sample cost them? A few cents?
As I ate my mouth-watering sandwich, I watched how the samples were going. Out of about eight places to eat, Phil’s was the only place with a line. Almost everyone who took a sample ordered from them.
If you’re struggling with your advertising efforts, it may be time to offer free samples. This strategy works particularly well in the following scenarios:
- You’re a lesser-known competitor in a crowded space of big names. You know you’ve got a better product but you’re fighting an uphill battle.
- Your product offers immediate gratification (food/drinks/desserts, massages, hair cuts, etc.)
- You need to kick-start a product launch and want to draw a crowd quickly.
- You have a poor location and need to draw attention to yourself.
- An event is happening near your location and you can take advantage of free walk-in traffic.
A few more things to keep in mind with this strategy:
First, for this to work it’s essential that you have a great product. This can’t be something ordinary; it’s got to surprise and delight and leave an impression.
Second, offering a mere discount doesn’t cut it. All that does is train people to only buy from you when you put your product on sale.
Free is generous. Free catches attention. Free puts people on your radar who otherwise would never be.
For educational sales, free samples are free web content. For example, in addition to our Hub Mentality e-book, we also give away The Beginning Blogger’s Bible.
Schools like Williamsburg Academy could show free videos of online classes. Graphic designers can provide free graphics, like these goodies offered by Charlie of Charfish Design.
Before you start lamenting a low advertising budget, consider a free sample strategy. It could be your silver bullet.
*****************************
Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.
He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.
Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.
Connect With Stephen:
Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com
« Hub Mentality Isn’t Just For Businesses | Home | Front Stage Versus Back Stage »
Easy RSS Subscriptions
Get Our RSS Feed (What is RSS?)Free Downloads
Download our 100-page book, Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interaction, to learn the right way to market in the Information Age.
Complete the form below. Your personal information is never shared.
*Downloading the e-book subscribes you to our mailing list. You'll receive about two emails per month, including our monthly newsletter. It's easy to unsubscribe.
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- johnmartin: Twitter Advertising has been a big plus to everyones business in todays...
- Brady: I had the pleasure to listen to Robert Richardson of Zappos Insights today....
- Michele Miller: Stephen: Thank you so much for the fantastic review! Boy, I can tell...
- Craig Roumey: Thanks very much for the links. As a Wizard Grad myself, I go to the...
- Sean Elcock: That was awesome. I loved how the brand was the vehicle through which...
Topics to Explore
Leave a Comment