Giving Away Free Stuff As A Marketing Strategy

Perhaps one of the most difficult parts of running a home-based business is getting the word of your services out there and creating a solid marketing base. Income restraints usually limit your marketing potential just when you need marketing the most, right at the outset of your venture. Fortunately, there are many ways to get attention and customers to your business without spending advertising dollars. One way is to use the most powerful word in advertising language; free. An offer that contains the word “free” is always an attractive one, even if a particular person does not yet see the need for the product. Almost every person who works from home has the opportunity to incorporate some sort of giveaway in order to attract customers. Here are some ideas about areas to throw stuff at your clients to keep them interested and coming back.

Free Sample

Most of us think food when we hear the term free sample, but even if your home business does not center around food, there are still a lot of opportunities to give free samples of your product out to the public. Whether you clean carpets, repair pools, write copy, or sell homemade soaps, you have a product that you put out there. Consider offering a part of that product for free, or offering clients a free trial.

Education Services

A great way to get people to purchase the service or product you offer is to make sure they know why they need it. In order to get the word out there, a lot of people are setting up free sessions in which they offer advice to the people who attend in regards to the specific area they are working in. These seminars will always result in extra business coming your way, as inevitably people will need your help even if it is only in the short term for putting their own ideas together. If you already operate a successful home business, you could even branch out beyond your particular service or product and offer seminars on how to conduct a successful home business, including time management skills and how to keep on task.

Buddy Up

Offering clients a free gift when they use your services is another great way to get the word and and get you remembered for your free gift. Remember, people appreciate anything that is free, so the gift does not necessarily have to have anything to do with your product. Pens, gift certificates, and coffee mugs are all standard gifts, and if you are feeling flush you could always put your business name on the gift.

Coupons

Keep your customers coming back by offering free deals like two-for-ones. This does not mean that you have to lose any money at all; most business soak up the cost of the second “free” item in their pricing. The idea here, too, is to make sure that the customer keeps coming back for more; usually, if they use your services three times, you will become a habit and will have a regular client.

Services

Volunteering for events in your community is another way to give something away for free while at the same time making sure that you get some good word of mouth about your business. Communities are always starved for volunteers for the many events they put on, and you are sure to be able to find an event that needs someone with your expertise. Don’t be shy about telling everyone you know at the event that this is also what you do for a living; volunteering is like free advertising, so it works both ways!

Remember, offering something for free does not always mean that you are losing any money at all. Even if part of your free promotional idea involves giving away gift certificates from other businesses, contact them and see if they in turn could use the service or product you offer in exchange for the gift certificates. When it comes to free, we in the western world are really only practicing the market system of barter found in most other places today.