For a lot of people giving away something for free to make money is a very strange concept, after all, we’re all in business to MAKE money, not give stuff away free! Think about it — right now McDonalds has their monopoly game going, so how many times have you slipped into McDonalds to get a drink, sandwich or fries specifically that have the playing pieces attached to the container? And you didn’t even get anything free – just the opportunity to play the game and PERHAPS win something free.
Online websites do the same thing – give away free items in order to get additional business. Check out the Patterns That Fit You website — there we have tons of pattern making and craft classes for free. Of course there are also all the full blown pattern making and pattern changing classes that are also available for a nominal fee. The whole point is that once readers try the short intro class that’s free, they can instantly see how easy it would be to jump into the full blown class, so the purchase of the main class is usually the next item they want.
What do YOU have that you can offer for free to your readers in order to get them excited about buying your additional items? Do you have a book of recipes your grandmother used to make that everybody in the world just loved? How about working up a “try a recipe and see how great it is” campaign, giving one of those world famous recipes away along with information about how the readers can purchase the entire book.
If you’re into making children’s toys, and have several to offer, you could either give one pattern away free just so readers can see how easy your instructions are, and that they would easily be able to make additional toys, or give a holiday discount that would last for a couple weeks.
I don’t know too many people that would turn down something that’s free – and most especially if that free item is actually useful to them. Think about what you have that you can use as a freebie to either get additional people to sign up on your mailing list, or for individuals to purchase more products from you. Giving away something free is actually a win/win situation — something free for your potential customer and the possibility of additional sales for you.
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