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Standard Oil In China - Freebie Marketing Case Study

Guest post by: John Clark

Article Overview: As you develop a business today, it still pays to look to the past. Perhaps one of the best freebie marketing case studies of all time, Standard Oil in China shows how freebie marketing can create a huge demand for a product. Freebie marketing is not based on giving away just a sample; it is actually a method of reeling in a market that keeps buying for years.

Standard Oil In China - Freebie Marketing Case Study

As you develop a business today, it still pays to look to the past. Perhaps one of the best freebie marketing case studies of all time, Standard Oil in China shows how freebie marketing can create a huge demand for a product. Freebie marketing is not based on giving away just a sample; it is actually a method of reeling in a market that keeps buying for years. In the 1890s, American tycoon John D. Rockefellar saw that to get the Chinese peasants to buy kerosene, they would have to be persuaded away from using vegetable oil. What they lacked was the lamp itself. So Rockerfellar and Standard Oil blanketed the country with free or very cheap tin lamps. Once the peasants got the free lamps, they began buying kerosene. This was such a success that it was the cornerstone of Standard Oil's business in Asia and the largest single US investment overseas until World War II.

Freebie marketing has been successfully used in other ways. The idea of buying separate blade cartridges for a razor actually hooks the buyer into a system where they become repeat buyers just as the Chinese peasants became repeat buyers for the kerosene. Computer printer manufacturers saw a similar opportunity. They lowered their prices and engineered them so they could not use any brand of ink other than their own. Another example is the 'free DVR' that comes with some cable company services. Once the enrollee has paid fees and monthly service rental costs, the cable company gets back the cost of the DVR and then continues to earn revenue, potentially for years.

Bloggers who are trying to sell a product and websites that are trying to reach customers can learn a lot from this approach. If you want to succeed, you must utilize every method of marketing available. Use search engine optimization to get them to your site. Use good advertising techniques to keep them on your site. Then find a way to give them something that actually increases the need for your highest profit margin product. It could pay big dividends.

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Article Tags: business today, case study, china, freebie, marketing case studies, standard oil
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