There are several strategies to make the number of customers in your business grow exponentially. Marketing, advertising on social networks, and opening or launch parties are some of the thousands of options that brands bet on.
A very popular and beneficial alternative is to offer something for free to generate leads. If you have something good to give, it is likely that through a free sample many customers will look for more. As long as it's used wisely, this sales strategy is a great way for a start-up business to gain customers.
What to Consider Before Give Something for Free
The marketing strategy of giving something for free involves time and money. Make it money and time invested and not wasted by keeping these 3 points in mind:
1. Create a Sales Methodology
Giving free gifts to your customers should bring you long-term profits. That is why you must plan how to sell from the delivery of gifts. For this planning, you must consider 2 fundamental points:
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Set an objective: it is important to know the problem in your company that you want to solve through promotion. For example, you may have a large number of customers but they only know one product and ignore the rest, or you may simply need more people to know about your business.
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Have measurable goals: the strategy may vary according to your objective and type of business, but it is important that what is proposed is measurable to know the plan's effectiveness. One way to do this is to compare the investment made with the increase in product sales.
Teamwork is fundamental at this point. For example, sales, Social Media and Marketing or Production Managers can contribute to creating a measurable and sustainable promotion strategy.
2. Customize Your Proposal
Look for people who are interested in the industry you are part of. People who will find your gift useful. Otherwise, you will only get people who take advantage of or experience your service for being free and then reject it for lack of need.
One of the ways to personalize your proposals is through seasonal marketing. This technique consists of carrying out campaigns around a date. For example, if a company's latest launch is a kit of anti-wrinkle creams, look to advertise it to women in their 40s and 50s around Mother's Day. This will be an excellent personalized proposal.
3. Use Creativity to Get Your Gift or Offer Out There
Every year the percentage of people using social networks grows enormously. This is why it is one of the main channels used by marketing for advertising. However, the high amount of advertising "bombardment" that people receive daily means more competition when devising an advertisement about an offer. Therefore, you must invest time in thinking about what will reach people to capture their interest, both for the advertising and what you offer as a gift.
What Types of Gifts Can You Offer Your Customers?
There are several ways to give something to your customers. To do this, you must consider which one best suits the product you offer and your customers. Regardless of your business situation, the following options will achieve the same goal: lead generation.
Free Sample
This technique is widely used by digital companies that offer various services. The purpose of the free sample is to offer tools that serve the customer for free for a certain period. However, once they get to know the tool, become familiar with it and make their work easier, it is likely that the customer will want to pay for it.
One way to retain them after the trial period is to offer them an exclusive discount if they subscribe. Also, you can ask them to upload their credit card information before the trial period begins. This way, after the trial period, they will be automatically subscribed.
Although this last strategy is widely used, it has its pros and cons. The good thing is that if the customer forgets to unsubscribe before the end of the trial period, they will automatically subscribe to your service. Unfortunately, the commitment generated by this action usually prevents them from unsubscribing. The downside is that it will be a barrier for many who want to try the product but don't like to give their financial details.
Give the Gift of Training
More and more people are taking up online work. There are thousands of modalities and jobs on the web and many training and tools. Giving training can be a "win-win" formula for you and your clients. That is, your clients receive training, and in turn, you advertise the tools that will facilitate their work experience. This way you will get more than just one fan of your product.
Many companies are adopting this methodology on specific dates and throughout the year. An example is the Ahrefs YouTube channel, one of the most popular tools in marketing. Through their channel, they offer tutorials and short classes that provide SEO tips. Then, parallel to training, they show the benefits of the tool.
Sweepstakes and Prizes
You've probably seen this digital marketing strategy on Instagram and other social networks. There are several alternatives to reward participants:
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Prizes: you can reward the first ten people who follow the page, comment on a post or sign up. People will do it for their reward and may be interested in the product or let a potential future customer know about it.
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Sweepstakes: it is a very common technique and, among other things, it's very useful to get more customers and followers. The conditions can be diverse. Share your product or your page in networks to buy a low-cost product to win a much better one or to register their e-mail. There are applications like AppSorteos that will help you to create them efficiently and fairly.
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Rewards for answers: in this case, those who correctly answer questions about a product will be able to participate for a reward. To do so, they must know the product, and the word will quickly spread if what you propose is valuable to the public.
Sweepstakes are a good way to generate publicity with little investment. This is because you are in charge of choosing the prizes, and the users are advertising them.
Discount Coupons
Discount coupons work with codes or vouchers, depending on whether it is a digital or physical store. With these vouchers, customers will feel the motivation to make their purchases. In addition, in the case of online coupons, data can be collected for campaigns such as e-mail marketing.
Neuromarketing, which studies the psychology of consumers, explains that a discount is an emotional rather than an economic factor. Therefore, people use a coupon because it generates satisfaction.
Other Advantages of Giving Something Away for Free
If you take any of the above strategies, you will make a difference against the competition. If there are two similar products, people will go for the one that favors them with gifts and that they have heard the most about. Giving something away for free to generate leads can also bring other advantages to your company:
Positive Reviews
When talking about digital marketing, reviews must be taken into account. Customers will define your business through reviews. For example, 89% of buyers consider and trust reviews of a product before buying it. In addition, promotions and giveaways will make your company's rating evaluated by many grateful customers.
You can even use reviews to show interest in your customers' opinions to improve the product and as a requirement to participate in sweepstakes, promotions, or discount coupons. Faced with the need for a company to consider reviews, tools like Zidy track, analyze and organize customer reviews. In this way, those in need of improvement are filtered out.
Most Loyal and Potential Clients
People already part of your clientele are likely flattered by your promotions, discounts, and gifts and will want to continue choosing your products. You can even reward their trust in the brand by allowing them to try new products and accept their opinions.
They may consciously (by telling others) or unconsciously (by using your products and logos) attract new customers. A satisfied customer will always generate new contacts.
Conclusion
All businesses should aim for customer satisfaction; this is the only thing that will guarantee short and long-term success. Offering something for free to generate leads is an excellent option to achieve this. And it is likely to bring other advantages as a result. All of this will be possible if you consider the above points.
Originally published by Zidy. View original article.