Grow Your Customer Base & Increase Sales With Giveaway Marketing

Giveaway marketing is an old technique that's never gone out of style. It's powerful because it gives customers a tangible product before they buy anything. The Internet has strengthened giveaway marketing's effectiveness with the added amount of available information. Customers can receive free content, products, services and even contribute to charities all through the power of Internet marketing.

Information Is a Powerful Giveaway

Information is a powerful giveaway. There are many different types of free content including blog posts, how-to's, white papers and newsletters, all which fulfill different needs for customers.

Blog posts and how-to's are perfect for the DIY crowd. Many corporations fill their blogs with tips of how to build, create, fix or find anything the customer needs. These are perfect places to suggest the products or services your company provides if the task proves too difficult for the reader. Flex your expert muscles, and customers will come back to you as an authority.

Pragmatic Marketing, which provides marketing training and certification courses, says almost 80 percent of readers will give out their contact information in exchange for a white paper, and two-thirds of professional service companies regard white papers as excellent lead sources. White papers also help companies and individuals establish an expert reputation. Although most white papers are used in B2B marketing, they also work for B2C enterprises. The business benefits by capturing the customer's information for later promotions, and the customer receives the free content. For example, consider a wedding planner who offers a free downloadable guide for brides-to-be that includes a planning calendar, budget, seating charts and other tools.

In spite of what you may have read, free newsletters remain a terrific customer giveaway. Like white papers, they deliver useful information and include coupons, deals for loyal customers and tips on using products and services. A recent Crowd Science study found that print and email newsletters beat Facebook and Twitter in attracting online shoppers. Furthermore, the Content Marketing Institute reports that newsletters remain the third-most used B2B marketing tool.

Corporate Social Responsibility Is Growing

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is no longer an option, according to the survey firm Cone Communications. In its 2013 study, Cone found Americans are twice as likely as people in other countries to expect companies to support charities.

Tell customers about products for which you give away a percentage of sales to support a specific charity. Put a call to action on your homepage, and hang banners and signs in your store announcing that shopping with you supports a good cause. "Slactivism," as the analytics firm Spinnakr calls it, doesn't actually cost shoppers anything (they plan to buy something anyway), and it can be a way to remind them that your business is one of the good guys.

Provide Samples, Deals and Coupons

The most common type of giveaway marketing includes, well, giving away products. Any woman who has bought $75 worth of beauty products has received the traditional tote bag. Guests at trade shows get T-shirts, water bottles, pens and other types of company swag. But there are many other types of freebies that companies use for marketing.

Samples are a big part of giveaway marketing. Restaurants in mall food courts or booths at farmers markets give out free samples to lure in potential customers. People will try anything if it's free, and if it's good, they are sure to come back to buy more.

Publishing houses and distributors such as Amazon have perfected giveaway marketing by offering free books or downloads. Consumers get the chance to try out a new publisher, author or genre without any risk. Publishers and authors benefit too, because customers will return to purchase the author's other works or more books from that genre.

Finally, reward loyal customers with freebies to get an edge over the competition. Offer them a free dinner on their birthday, a tenth scoop of ice cream for free or send them flowers after they spend a certain amount of money with you. Doing something like this will help you build and maintain good relationships with them, and it encourages them to come back for more.