Giving your business goods away for free doesn’t exactly sound like the best plan in the world, does it?
Well, we mean – if you spend so much time making a product and marketing it – doesn’t giving it away for the costly sum of nothing sound a bit odd?
Let’s take a look at YouTube – a little mid-noughties startup that was built to host videos. Do you remember using it in its early days? It was free, right?
If you go to Youtube right now, you’ll still notice that it is free to use. The difference between now and then is that YouTube was purchased for $1.65 billion between then and now. YouTube served as an online host for videos, but it became so much more and was worth a lot to the people who started it up upon its eventual sale. Bare in mind, that to the main customer base – YouTube was completely free to use. The costs came in only when power marketing or advertising was used. This goes for Google, and Facebook as well. Two more huge products which are used by the main user base for no charge at all.
An incredible idea is usually the one that can succeed. One that exploits a huge gap in the market. What the above shows, though – is that a business can work if the product is sold for nothing.
As stated, it takes a once-in-a-lifetime idea to succeed on a free basis. But there’s still plenty to learn and use regarding the concept of the ‘freebie’
Giving away a product for free might not work for you, but you can take the power of the free product and harness it in multiple different ways.
For example, if you have two products in development, but can only afford to release one – why not launch both softly as a product sampling move? People can try it out and voice to you exactly which one they prefer. Give it out for free and get data in return! A good deal, no? This data can save you from launching a product that your consumer base doesn’t enjoy.
Of course, you can also use free items to market your brand – shirts, caps, lanyards can be given away plastered with your business name at conferences and the like to ensure your brand isn’t forgotten. These items are cheap and simple to obtain and likely more cost effective than releasing an entire product for free.
Free products are an extremely powerful form of marketing your brand and business, if not the product itself. Try before you purchase type offers also grab attention. For whatever reason, customers do enjoy talking about freebies, and this should be considered. It will be well worth your time. If you are doing a giveaway, why not work with new media in the form of popular websites and blogs? It can give you access to new audiences!
Your product might not be the best thing to give away for no money, but there certainly exists things you can giveaway that can bring customers back to your business!
