Using Giveaways Properly

As far as marketing materials go, there are few things more effective than the free giveaway as a short-term, attention getting gimmick for a product release or a seasonal bump. However, there are ways to use free products to create a more long-term positive effect for your company.

Below are a few of the ways in which you can use a free giveaway as marketing materials that will bring customers back as loyalists.

One – Make sure that you segment your giveaways.

The reason that free giveaways are seen as such a short-term strategy is because most people simply give the free product out to everyone. This naturally creates a low response rate that signals a business owner to only use this strategy in certain situations. However, it is the unfettered way in which the free product is given away that creates the slow response rate.

If you keep up with the demographic analysis of customers who return after they are given a free product, you can begin to segment your giveaways so that the people that you give your products away to are actually the people that come back and patronize your business.

Two – Make your free giveaway a conversation piece.

Having a free giveaway is just as much an art form as it is a formality. If you can pick out a free product that people actually use and display in public, you can create a viral effect that will bring you new customers.

Most of these types of free giveaway products will be more expensive, but if you segment your giveaway as it says in tip one, you should get the same response rate and the additional leverage of the viral attention that your free giveaway will receive.

Three – Make sure that your free giveaway product matches the brand of your company.

If you are a cat food company and you think that giving away free flash drives will create more enthusiasm for your company just because that is a more expensive gift, you are sure to be sadly mistaken. However, if you are a tech or software company giving away free flash drives, you will probably experience a much more positive response from your constituents.

Make sure that anything you give away reminds your customers of your product whenever it is used. This is yet another reason to stay away from generic products like pencils and notepads that do not remind anyone of anything.