We love free stuff. Marketers world-wide know this. In the olden days, we could anticipate the occasional free sample coming in the mailbox, but today postage costs prohibit the mass send-off of free stuff. Instead, parties interested in acquiring something free can find any number of things online.
Marketing online is no different in essence than traditional marketing. The best way to get a potential customer to use the product is to put that product in his hands. Once someone has used and enjoyed a product, it is much more likely that he will begin to purchase the product on an ongoing basis. To get a person to buy it, you must get a person to try it.
Postage prices keep increasing, which makes it too difficult to send small packages of products through the mail. Other products are hard to give away inside grocery stores or shopping malls. Services can be offered free, but you must make customers aware of them. The internet has become the one true medium of free stuff.
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Anything and everything can be offered free online. Products from soap to motor oil to baby formula are routinely offered to willing customers online. Companies specializing in services such as design or accounting may offer a free consultation to any willing body. Sometimes large items are offered for free as a means to gain something from a customer – opinions, time, a willing ear.
The hope of all of these marketers is that they will gain in the end. They want your business and giving something away is a solid technique to gain some. Of course, this doesn’t hurt you in any way. There is no commitment when you try a free product or service, so if you’re interested in something, give it a shot. You have nothing to lose and most definitely something free to gain.