Naturally, there isn’t a single business out there that wants to risk giving away its goods and services without the guarantee of a return, but studies show that giving a little bit of value can result in big returns. Here, we’re looking at why freebies should power their campaigns and the best way to spread the word.
The power of freebies
It’s been made very clear that if you want to make use of the wide reach of the internet and popular platforms, you need to offer a product for free. This is most starkly demonstrated in the world of mobile apps. Once, most apps had a price: a very low price, but still a price. Now, the market knows that you need to be free to get downloads and seal customers, which is why Business of Apps sees over 93 percent of apps on both platforms being free. This principle has moved across to the online world of business, and those who have set up shop on the internet now often need to offer something for free. This achieves that widespread appeal, low cost of entry to try and can then earn customer trust if the free product is of high quality and value in the field of the business in question. You can see this in the high-costs world of property and mortgages. To ease the process of getting a house and to demonstrate the speed and quality of the platform, for example, brands like Trussle offer an accurate mortgage in principle checked against 18 lenders. Not only does it tell the prospective customer exactly how much they can borrow, but it’s a free service, earning trust in the broker platform should the customer want to go further. In marketing, having the words “free” as the centerpiece of your campaign can be a game-changer. Ads that offer freebies when people click through will get more clicks and have a higher conversion rate, provided that the free product, service, or trial is of value. Doing this makes your ad more eye-catching, shows your trust in your product, and it’ll spread the word of your brand by the organic referrals of those who have claimed your offer.
Make your free offer bold and engaging
Playing into the rules of reciprocity with free samples is all well and good, but you’ll want to maximize your marketing effort to make sure that you’re not just giving away valuable goods and services for nothing. Like with free apps, it’s about getting the widest possible audience in the hope that enough will feel engaged and happy with your offer to convert into customers. For this, it has to be a social media campaign, where video and live video consistently prove to be the drivers of the most organic interactions. Live video is the big one, getting nearly three times as many interactions as static images. A unique way to leverage this would be to host a live video or post use a standard video advertisement to do a tutorial video on your free offer, particularly on a platform like Instagram. Freebies are powerful marketing tools made viable by the draw of the word “free” and the drive of people to reciprocate. So, if you’re setting off on a social media marketing campaign, consider putting a free offer front and center.
