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If you own your own business, then you know that you have got to have a marketing plan especially in these economically trying times. Everyone is looking for a bargain and they do not want to have to drive miles away to find it because the price of gas has hit all time highs in recent weeks.
How do you ensure that you can attract business to your store?
Whether you operate your business strictly as a website or whether you own a brick and mortar store, a sure fire way to drive traffic is to offer free samples and giveaways.
People like getting stuff for free, and if it turns out to be a product that they enjoy, then they are likely to buy it in the future-from you!
I know what you are thinking. I can not afford to giveaway free stuff. I disagree. You can not afford NOT to giveaway free samples.
Even if that customer came to your store just to get the freebie, you can be assured that she will tell a minimum of three other people that they went to your store and came home with something free. That, my friend, is called advertising.
The giveaway brought you word of mouth advertising, that is worth a lot more than whatever the freebie cost you in the first place.
With the price of gasoline these days, the odds of someone coming to your store just to get the free item is unlikely. The free sample may be what gets the customer to your store, but the rest of your products are what will keep them there to make a purchase.
Great products, free samples and good customer service are essentials if you want to make it as a retailer.
Think about all of the times you go shopping. If the supermarket is offering a sample of a new food product, you will taste it.
While you may not have come to the supermarket to buy that particular item, if you liked the sample, you are now going to add it on as a purchase. Even better is if you can offer the customer a coupon for the product sample because that will increase the likelihood that they will purchase the item.
Lots of food chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's will frequently have samples of food for people to try. Even if customers do not buy the product, they leave the store with a good feeling about the store because of all the free samples they were able to try.
If you are an online retailer, you can still offer free samples. Limit the free samples to items that are inexpensive to ship.
Make sure you ask for an email address in addition to the shipping address so that you can contact your potential new customer in the future for marketing purposes. Follow up two weeks after shipping the item with a coupon to be used on their future purchase.
Another good way to give away something for free is to require some sort of other purchase.
Every order will receive a free product sample. This works with brick and mortar shops as well. You only give away the free item if some other purchase is made.
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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Free-Samples-and-Giveaways-Attract-New-Business&id=1466797
