Give-Away Gifts Help Boost Sales
How Free Give-aways Can Boost Your Small Business Revenues |
Give-Away Gifts Help Boost Sales. Offering a free give away can be a powerful and effective marketing strategy. Offering free give-aways to prospects and customer is a powerful business building strategy that can result in a flood of new and repeat customers. It may seem counter-intuitive to give away your products and services to build your business; however, people can’t resist the lure of receiving something for free. The word free, as worn out as it may seem, is still the most powerful word in marketing and has a hypnotic effect on people. Promotional gifts have an important say in the modern day corporate world. Big and small entrepreneurs who wish to lure their customers and add credence to their business, prefer to use attractive gifts as give-aways. Should you also want to utilize them for utmost benefit in your trade, knowing few tips about them would be worthwhile.
Why Free Give-aways Work
The reason free give-aways work so well is two-fold. First, prospects who test your product or service risk-free might recognize its value and continue purchasing what you offer. Or even better, your prospect will get “hooked” on your product or service and won’t be able to live without it.
Second, because your product or service was given to your prospects as a free gift, they will feel psychological pressure to return the favor by continuing to purchase from you. This principle is called the “Law of Reciprocity,” which simply states that people naturally feel an obligation to return favors as a way of expressing their thanks.
When it comes to distribute promotional products, you don’t have to wait for any special occasion. However, presenting them as free gift item along with any newly launched product or services is the most common and popular way of business promotion. Apart from this, distributing them in conferences, seminars, exhibitions, trade shows, road shows, etc. to all the attendees is also the best way of welcome them and express your wishes with something especial.
Know Your Total Customer Value Before Giving Freebies
The key to safely offering free give-aways is to know your “total customer value” (also called “lifetime customer value”): the profit you will receive from your customer over the total length of your relationship. This figure includes not only direct business, but also the value of any referrals.
For instance, suppose you own a dry cleaning business with an average “total customer value” of $1,250. How much money would you be willing to invest in free give-aways to acquire a new customer? $50? $100? $200?
If the answer is * yes *; this value makes sense, then why wouldn’t you invest $100 to gain $1,250 in profits? Coincidentally, this is why most small business owners are nervous about offering free give-aways. They don’t understand the principle of “total customer value.”
Information – The Ultimate Free Give-away
Ideally, it’s best to offer free give-aways that are low cost but have a high perceived value to the recipient. Information is a great example. This is why it’s smart for small businesses to use special reports containing “insider” information as a free give-away for new customer lead generation.
Free Give-away Case Studies
There are a myriad of ways to offer a free give-away and many effective types of give-aways (other than information) that small businesses can use to attract new and inactive customers. Here, several small businesses demonstrate how they use free give-aways to build their businesses:
Case Study # 1 – Product Number: Jumbo Cooler
Description: Jumbo Cooler Bag
Industry: Sports Event
What it was purchased for:
These bags were given out to participants in a company golf tournament.
How was it distributed:
All participants received a bag as a prize along with a nice bottle of wine and wine opener.
Result or ROI:
This promotion was used as an incentive to get people to sign up and donate money. As a result more than 200 golfers signed up for the event.
Case Study #2 Product: Custom Cap
Description: Cap that combined a custom visor, 3D embroidery with the manufacturer’s brand, and the manufacturer’s private label.
Industry: Firework Manufacturer
Use: Sales promotion give-away
How was it distributed:
A distributor was working with a fireworks manufacturer in the Midwest. Obviously this manufacturer’s business is very seasonal. The summer months of their selling season are their busiest of the sales year. During this high-volume time of their sales year the Fireworks manufacturer decided they wanted to get their brand on a gift with purchase that would keep their name visible throughout the entire year. They asked their distributor to bring them ideas for a gift with purchase that would be the right fit for their clientèle, and would be a gift that would have continuous use and keep their brand visible all year round.
The distributor came to Fairway Manufacturing for ideas. They came up with the idea of doing a completely custom cap that would be unique to the manufacturer’s brand, and have a high-perceived value. A cap that would be highly coveted, but could only be acquired by purchasing $100 worth of fireworks. Working with the buyer, the distributor was able to design a cap that combined a custom visor, 3-D embroidery with the manufacturer’s brand, and the manufacturer’s private label in each cap. Fairway Manufacturing Company was able to build this concept into a remarkable cap.
Result or ROI:
Fairway Manufacturing Company was able to manufacture over 12,000 of these caps for all the various Fireworks outlets and each and every outlet used all of the caps that were ordered for them. A cap was given with every $100 worth of fireworks. A cap that keeps the brand visible all year round!
Case Study # 3 Product Number: Phone Stand
Description: Phone Stand
Industry: Tradeshow
Use: A tech supplier was in need of give-aways for an industry trade show. They needed something inexpensive yet useful to their audience.
How was it distributed:
The phone holders were handed out at the booth, and folks from around the exhibit hall came around just to find out what these things were.
Result or ROI:
They were very impressed! Best of all they drew in the right people to the booth and gave a chance to give them the “pitch”. Great idea!
Case Study # 4 – Product: Stuffed Bear in a T-Shirt
Description: Plush Big Paw Bear with Shirt
Industry: Insurance
Use: Insurance is a product/Service that most end users or targets do not like to talk about. It is a necessary evil for most people. To most people this means that they need to spend money for insurance on what they may never get a return on their investment.
In general, Plush is an instant gratification category. Give someone a teddy bear and you will see that it puts a smile on anyone’s face immediately. OR, long enough to break the ice to chat about the service, in this case insurance, that a company is trying to sell to customers.
How was it distributed: The referral process is huge in the insurance agency. So this top 5 Insurance Company gives away a set of teddy bears on the day of signing the documents for whatever insurance plan that a family signs up for.
Walk into any branch location, sign up for the New Homeowner’s policy and receive a free teddy bear, hence softening the perception of insurance and most importantly putting a smile on the face of the new policy holder.
Result or ROI: The Franchisee offices continue to reorder the teddy bear because insurance is a very tough sell in today’s world, and new customers are walking out with a smile on their face. The gifts have enabled the agents to build a rapport and work on future referrals. Now they are not just the insurance agent, but leave customers with a positive image and a feeling of friendship.
Case Study # 5 – Product Number: Sunglasses
Description: CUSTOM Malibu Sunglasses
Industry: Liquor/Food and Beverage
Use:
The End User wanted to give something away at this year’s Spring Break in Jamaica for an MTV event that would capture the attention of not only the Spring Breakers but get air time on MTV as well. One of the hottest items in our line right now is the 6223 Malibu Sunglasses….not only are they stylish, but they are UV protected and are a necessary item to use at the beach.
How was it distributed:
As Spring Breakers made their way on to one of MTV’s beach stages, they were asked to try a very small glass of this mixed drink. Once they tried the drink they were given the sunglasses.
Result or ROI:
The sunglasses were a huge hit with the recipients, creating awareness for the liquor brand. They were in such high demand that they ran out of 3,000 units in less then 30 minutes and were spotted around town the entire week. Everyone in the MTV crowd was wearing the glasses, hence giving the liquor brand publicity all over the world.
Justify Any Deal That’s “Too Good To Be True”
If your offer that includes free give-aways appears “too good to be true,” it could decrease its believability and your credibility. To avoid this always explain how you can offer such a great deal.
It might be that you goofed and are now overstocked, you got a great deal from your supplier, or you just want to say thank you in a meaningful way. Whatever the case may be, give a reason. It doesn’t even have to be a good reason; it just needs to be believable.
Remember, your prospect is very skeptical and has good reason to be. We’ve all been duped at one point in time by a “too good to be true” scam. Furnishing your prospects with the reason why you can offer them such a good deal helps them to logically reconcile your offer in their minds. In turn, this will give your prospect the comfort level needed to act on your offer.
Conclusion
Using free give-aways is an effective marketing strategy if used correctly. Think about what you can offer free-of-charge that your prospects would consider valuable and that you can obtain cheaply. Don’t forget to compute your total customer value so you know how much you are able to invest in attracting a new customer. Lastly, make sure you justify any offers that are just too good to be true.