PART 5: Freebies as Business Promotion

My precious my shiny precious

Lets face it, everyone loves to get stuff for free.

I have a campaign going this year where I hand out small carabiners with my website stamped on it. What makes it interesting is I also have a hiking website stamped on it too. I am an avid hiker and so I give them out when I meet people on trails and direct them to the hiking website so they can download maps and info on hikes available in the Vancouver area.

I also give them out when I meet people in networking parties. This is a great conversation starter and these days, if you are networking, you are trying to get to know people and not sell them. Think of an inexpensive gift you can hand out that will help steer the conversation down a different path and introduce them to something you are passionate about (like cooking, sailing, hiking or watching movies).

I like to give away 30 minutes on consulting to clients, It's what I have on the back of my cards. The reason for this is that it is very hard for me to explain the value of what I do. Getting the chance to give a person solutions to a variety of their marketing problems is a great way to show the value of hiring me as a "marketing solutions consultant".

I also do free seminars for my local networking groups and my chamber of commerce. Giving is always a good idea and will make you stand out in a crowd or networkers. So start thinking of the type of offers and gifts you can use to get more business connections at your next chance encounter or networking meeting.

Remember that "Givers Gain".

PART 4: Promote Your Business Inexpensivly

Will you be my marketing buddy?

Use strategic partnership marketing

Cross brand strategic marketing is a way to share the cost of printing or the actual mailing of the campaign.

I have done this a lot of times when the budget would not enable me to have a key element. I have negotiated a cross brand concept where both parties came out on top. See this blog post for details.

Another idea would be to send out marketing material (brochures, leaflet and/or business card) of another business in your mail out package. They would do the same for you when they send out to there mailing list which will gives you the chance to reach a whole new pool of potential customers.

Carry out business promotions with complementary businesses. Her is an example: A pet store and a pet grooming business, for example, might use shared advertising, or run a contest together. This can considerably cut down the cost of business promotion, and allow each business to use promotion techniques that would be too expensive to implement alone.

Take some time to pair up complimentary businesses that you know of and pitch the idea. You might be surprised with the positive reaction you get.