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Giving Away Free Samples To Boost Brand Recognition

Guest post by: John Clark

Article Overview: In marketing, some people will use fishing analogies to get a point across, so there is, say, a lure that is used in most campaigns in order to hook customers and reel them in. So the idea of giving stuff away for free might seem counter-intuitive to many. With freebies, it's sort of like just tossing the bait out in the ocean and hoping that the fish just hop right into the boat.

Giving Away Free Samples To Boost Brand Recognition

In marketing, some people will use fishing analogies to get a point across, so there is, say, a lure that is used in most campaigns in order to hook customers and reel them in. So the idea of giving stuff away for free might seem counter-intuitive to many. With freebies, it's sort of like just tossing the bait out in the ocean and hoping that the fish just hop right into the boat. Incidentally, that's exactly how it works.

Just giving stuff away isn't really the best strategy though. It's what is given away that counts. One of the most common types of free sampling is known as razor-and-blade marketing. This has been used to great effect in the past, with the namesake example being the selling-at-cost or giving away of razors. This seems great, but then the user eventually runs out of fresh blades and needs to go and buy new blades. The user has seen how useful the razor is, and now wants to keep it well stocked.

This method destroys the barrier between a customer and a non-customer.

Another example would be when a video game company releases a new system. It's in their best interest to make sure that everyone in the country has one of these gameboxes in their living room because they make a lot more money on the sales of the games themselves than on the systems. People only buy the system once, but the average gamer might buy three fifty dollar games a month.

Free stuff is all about getting an "in." It brings in the customers, it gives the marketer an "in" to reach them and it breaks down the barriers that keep sales from happening. Think back to the mid-nineties and all those free AOL discs. They were more common than blank discs. That made for some cute jokes, but at the end of the day, AOL guaranteed that everyone in the country had those discs in hand, and even today they remain a dominant force on the service provider scene.

Brand name recognition comes from a brand finding its way into the hearts, minds and homes of the public, and that's where freebie marketing can help.

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Article Tags: analogies, brand recognition, campaigns, fish, fishing, free samples
Referred by: http://www.saveonquotes.com



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Re: Kevin's Case Study #7 - How do you promote your new book? - [quote="orxan":35cl8y0c]Hi Keven, For me the best strategy for promoting books would be Google Adwords. It has the highest conversion rate probably. And if you have a list then sending it to your list or to others list can make great profit. There are marketers who are making million dollars in 24 hours after releasing an ebook or program. What they do is send the book or program to their and other marketers friends list. Giving Free chapter is not promotion method, but it is a good marketing sales technique which makes promotion to be more effective. Orxan[/quote:35cl8y0c] Hi Orxan, When you say "highest conversion rate", what kind of numbers are we talking about?
Re: Kevin's Case Study #7 - How do you promote your new book? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":26hcvszh]How do you promote your new self-help or business book? What kind of marketing budget should you set? And which online strategy has the highest conversion rate? Thanks[/quote:26hcvszh] Hi Keven, For me the best strategy for promoting books would be Google Adwords. It has the highest conversion rate probably. And if you have a list then sending it to your list or to others list can make great profit. There are marketers who are making million dollars in 24 hours after releasing an ebook or program. What they do is send the book or program to their and other marketers friends list. Giving Free chapter is not promotion method, but it is a good marketing sales technique which makes promotion to be more effective. Orxan
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - When I came back to Japan in 1999 I sometimes used to ask my students if they would buy anything on the Internet and at that time most thought it was too risky. I'd encourage them to try by using well known sites such as Amazon.co.jp and also pointed out that using a credit card on a reputable site was safer than using it at a restaurant. I can't remember the last time I had that discussion or when the "tipping point" occurred in Japan. To answer your other question, I use Paypal for several reasons: 1. Brand familiarity 2. Easy to use 3. Free to withdraw 50,000yen+ to my Japanese bank account - a huge benefit (but maybe other systems also offer that...?) 4. Easy to cancel subscriptions On the down side, their transaction fees are quite costly, they are difficult to contact and when disputes arise you can sometimes lose even when you can prove via your tracking service that the disputed item was "delivered" to the customer's address!
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