I’ll always remember the primary freebie advertising and marketing piece I created and put on the web: a free information that can assist you develop your Instagram following.
I wrote all of the copy in a Phrase doc and tossed it out to my viewers. Inside a number of hours, I had a number of hundred new subscribers on my e mail record. Seeing folks leap onto my record in trade for the worth I used to be providing was an exhilarating feeling. After that, I used to be hooked.
Over time I’ve made dozens of freebies to assist me develop my e mail record and within the course of, I’ve realized what makes a freebie generate leads efficiently.
Desk of Contents
What’s freebie advertising and marketing?
Freebie advertising and marketing is a technique the place companies supply a services or products without charge in trade for a buyer motion. Freebies could be digital or bodily and the commonest buyer actions embody signing up for an e mail or textual content record, participating on social media, or downloading an app. Freebie advertising and marketing has the facility to extend a model’s perceived worth, buyer loyalty, and leads.
Does a freebie advertising and marketing technique work?
In most buying choices, prospects carry out a psychological cost-benefit evaluation to find out whether or not a purchase order is value the associated fee and danger.
With freebies, nonetheless, an fascinating phenomenon takes place. Psychologists have discovered that labeling an merchandise as “free” skews the standard cost-benefit evaluation. It boosts a product’s perceived worth, typically even above a higher-quality paid merchandise. This phenomenon, generally known as the “zero worth impact,” prompts an emotional response in our brains. To me, it seems like a dopamine hit. A freebie can:
Improve worth perceptions.
Foster buyer loyalty.
Decrease inhibitions and guilt.
Improve portions and order quantities due to the notion you’re getting extra for much less.
Now, will freebie advertising and marketing work at changing your new leads into paid gross sales? That relies on how nicely you’ve aligned your freebie along with your viewers — and what you do after the supply.
The right way to Select the Proper Freebies to Give Away
There are a whole lot of kinds of freebies. The fallacious one might appear off-brand or appeal to the fallacious viewers. The best one, nonetheless, can enhance your visibility and provides long-time lurkers the nudge they should take motion.
First, check out the wide selection of freebies companies use to draw prospects — a few of these are higher for B2B, whereas others for B2C.
Freebie Advertising Concepts
Free product samples
Free trial intervals
Downloadable templates like mission administration trackers, social media calendars, or budgeting instruments
E-book or white paper
Quiz outcomes
Free session
Low cost codes or coupons
On-line course or webinar
Cheat sheet or guidelines
Content material bundles equivalent to templates, guides, or movies
Referral program, equivalent to providing present playing cards or reductions for referring new prospects
Branded swag
BOGO (purchase one, get one)
Free delivery
With all these selections, right here’s methods to know which is able to work finest for your enterprise.
1. Know your viewers.
First, I all the time ask, what’s the number-one factor my viewers is combating proper now?
Freebies ought to really feel like a shortcut to fixing that. For example, lots of small ecommerce companies battle with selecting the best tech stack and overcoming platform limitations. So, I’d need to think about creating an “Ecommerce Tech Stack Cheat Sheet” with an inventory of free and inexpensive instruments and the perfect third-party apps for every of the foremost ecommerce platforms.
2. Leverage what you already know.
Second, the perfect freebie concepts are those you don’t have to succeed in for.
Take into consideration checklists, swipe recordsdata, or instruments you’ve got already created for purchasers or inside use. What are the subjects you possibly can get on a soapbox and speak about for half-hour with out warning? One in all my best-performing lead magnets got here from a slide deck I virtually deleted.
In case you’re a service-based enterprise, you don’t need to give your total proprietary framework away, however you may supply a pared-down preview of what you do for purchasers. Consultants and repair companies usually don’t share sufficient of their course of with prospects, however this provides simply sufficient of a sneak peek for potential prospects to really feel snug hiring you.
3. Decide the fitting format.
Subsequent, think about the format to your freebie. In case you’re providing a shopper product for a giveaway or BOGO supply, select one thing low-cost and high-inventory that may work throughout sizes and genders.
On the B2B facet, think about what format your viewers is probably to answer. Ought to or not it’s long-form or quick? Interactive or static? Textual content or multimedia? Listed below are a number of codecs which have labored nicely for me:
PDF guidelines: Fast wins in a tidy format
Electronic mail mini-course: A multi-day drip that builds anticipation
Interactive quiz: Excessive engagement, particularly on social
Notion or Google Sheets templates: Sensible and immediately helpful
4. Check and iterate.
To check for those who’ve discovered the fitting freebie, begin small. Launch a free supply or A/B take a look at a number of presents, observe your conversion charges, and tweak the supply or format based mostly on how folks reply.
Freebie Advertising Examples
Listed below are six examples of how manufacturers have used freebie advertising and marketing to succeed in their objectives.
1. HubSpot Advertising Plan Templates
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At HubSpot, we love a great freebie. And we’ve realized that you simply find it irresistible too. Most advertising and marketing, gross sales, and repair execs didn’t main within the discipline we find yourself working in — our work modifications quick and we determine the whole lot out as we go. For that motive, free information templates are value their weight in gold.
We’ve constructed a library of 116 (and counting!) free enterprise templates powered by HubSpot instruments to assist information employees win at work daily. One fashionable one is our free advertising and marketing plan template, a Google Doc that entrepreneurs can merely copy and full.
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The template comes with fill-in-the-blank instance copy to make planning fast and simple, with suggestions for finishing every part. Different templates embody a social media content material calendar, a gross sales plan template, and a coding template.
2. Develop with Google AI Coaching
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Most resource-strapped small enterprise house owners know that AI can save them time, however they don’t have the abilities to get began.
Enter Google: In partnership with America’s Small Enterprise Growth Heart (SBDC), they began providing free AI coaching to small enterprise house owners. They provide a one-hour workshop, two 10-hour programs, and an AI course for educators.
This can be a good transfer for Google since small enterprise house owners make up a big proportion of their Workspace and Advertisements buyer base. The extra expert they’re, the much less buyer help they’ll want and the extra they’ll use Google’s merchandise.
And, in fact, it’s useful to assist enterprise house owners be taught and develop.
3. Dairy Queen’s Free Cone Day
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Once I picked my daughter and her buddy up from faculty the opposite day, they begged me to drive them over to Dairy Queen without cost cone day. So, eyeing the chance to be the hero, I drove them to the closest DQ. Whereas we solely saved about $6, everybody was comfortable and the win felt a lot greater.
One yr in a tongue-in-cheek “research,” DQ discovered {that a} free cone made 92% of individuals comfortable, elevated in-store site visitors by 10%, and drove in-store gross sales by 12%.
Wendy’s has one other twist on this promotion — as an alternative of providing Frosties simply sooner or later a yr, they promote a $3, limited-release keyring permitting prospects to assert a free cone all yr.
4. Pixory Product Giveaway
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Journey model Pixory is aware of methods to do a giveaway proper. This traditional social media giveaway provided the prospect to win 11 completely different merchandise together with airplane tickets to NYC, a 5-star lodge keep, Sax present playing cards, new baggage, and different luxurious objects for the winner and a buddy.
To enter, individuals merely wanted to comply with their account, then like, tag, and share the publish. The Instagram giveaway boosted engagement and visibility for the model, incomes 32,612 likes.
5. Panera’s Limitless Sip Membership Free Trial
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The one factor higher than a freebie? Repeated freebies. A number of years in the past, I used to be delighted when my MyPanera rewards account provided me a free espresso daily for a month. You’ll be able to wager that I used to be there earlier than work most days that month and purchased fairly a number of pastries too.
At this time, that provide nonetheless exists within the type of Panera’s Limitless Sip Membership membership. Whereas the membership prices a month-to-month price, you will get began with a beneficiant two months free earlier than paying something. That signifies that for 2 months after signing up, you may declare a free scorching or chilly beverage each two hours with limitless refills.
Panera, like many different manufacturers, has realized {that a} freebie can deliver folks within the door for bigger purchases and construct habits that will likely be onerous to interrupt as soon as the trial interval ends.
6. Jenna Kutcher’s Listing to Launch Course
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Need to construct your e mail record? Once I need to sort out one thing new, there’s nothing extra precious than insider information from somebody who’s been there, finished that. Within the case of e mail advertising and marketing, that’s HubSpot Creator Jenna Kutcher.
Kutcher’s Listing to Launch Lab is a step-by-step blueprint for rising an e mail record, filled with core methods, e mail copy templates, and plug-and-play guides for creating lead magnets.
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Her genius supply faucets into free academic content material as a lead magnet, creating worth upfront to construct belief and enhance the probability of future purchases.
By providing precious content material like step-by-step steerage for e mail advertising and marketing without cost, it attracts and nurtures a particular audience who’re making an attempt to do the identical factor and might later convert into paying prospects.
Freebie Advertising Technique: The right way to Run a Profitable Freebie Marketing campaign
There’s rather more that goes right into a profitable freebie advertising and marketing marketing campaign than the freebie itself. If I have been ranging from scratch once more, right here’s the technique I’d comply with:
1. Outline your objective.
First, decide what objective you’re making an attempt to perform. Is it e mail signups? App downloads? New social followers, or demo requests? Ensure your freebie maps on to that final result.
2. Create a high-value freebie and supply.
Keep in mind that perceived worth issues. Make it really feel premium — even when it solely took you an hour to make. Attempt to supply a case research, knowledge, or some juicy insider information that isn’t already accessible on the web.
Then, write a proposal that speaks to your viewers’s ache factors (Keep in mind: clear up their issues and make their lives easy!) and displays your distinctive voice. A spotlight for my model is that every one my presents really really feel like they’re coming from me, as a result of they’re!
3. Construct a devoted touchdown web page.
Subsequent, create a mobile-friendly, Web optimization-optimized touchdown web page with a transparent CTA.
Right here’s the very particular, very actionable CTA that Kutching makes use of for her course. You’ll discover “Enroll Now” and “Get began for simply $79” on the touchdown web page as nicely, however this one is essentially the most compelling.
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Professional tip: Use HubSpot’s free touchdown web page builder to create a mobile-friendly, Web optimization-optimized web page to your freebie marketing campaign with a transparent CTA. You’ll be able to even generate a primary draft with Content material Agent.
4. Promote and distribute it with automation.
Right here’s a very powerful key to success with freebie advertising and marketing: it’s worthwhile to arrange a workflow for what occurs after somebody claims your freebie.
For instance, join your freebie to a follow-up e mail sequence welcoming the prospect and sending them related content material or one other supply to deliver them in-store or join with you for a session. You’ll be able to add them to retargeting advert campaigns to remind them to make use of the freebie or improve to paid services or products.
This doesn’t must take guide work. As a substitute, use a CRM with automation to create a number of touchpoints with the prospect. Attain them with web site pop-ups or follow-up emails to nudge them to the subsequent step within the journey.
Professional tip: That is the place HubSpot Advertising Hub actually shines — you may arrange buyer journeys and phase based mostly on what they downloaded and what they click on on subsequent.
5. Refresh and relaunch.
A standard mistake folks make is making a free supply, then setting it and forgetting it.
For me, transforming and refreshing my top-performing freebies is a constant follow. I must schedule common check-ins to see which items are performing nicely and the way I can maintain them recent and efficient. In case you created a well timed useful resource, you would possibly must both scrap it or rework it to make it timeless.
Listed below are some questions you may ask your self when evaluating an present freebie:
Does the freebie nonetheless align with my model and messaging fashion?
Does the freebie’s content material nonetheless ship high-quality and precious steerage?
Does the freebie have any time-sensitive language or outdated pop-culture references?
Are there new insights or examples I can add?
When you make updates (even minor ones), it’s time to relaunch it. You don’t have to cover the replace and let the identical ol’ system roll on as standard. A concentrated burst or promotion might kickstart a brand new wave of leads. You possible have tons of individuals in your viewers who’ve by no means downloaded this specific freebie (or who aren’t even paying prospects but!).
A very good reminder right here is that we’re all the time speaking method much less about our presents than we expect we’re. I like to recommend relaunching your freebie with pleasure and intentionality. Give your refreshed freebie a mini-spotlight wherever it feels proper for your enterprise.
Begin attracting leads and prospects with freebies.
A number of years and numerous downloads later, I nonetheless get excited each time somebody opts in for one among my freebies. Why? As a result of I do know it means the content material resonated — and that I’m serving to clear up an actual downside for somebody.
I’ve seen firsthand how a well-crafted freebie can spark significant engagement, develop a high-quality e mail record, and open the door to long-term buyer relationships. However I’ve additionally realized that not each freebie works. Probably the most profitable ones are rooted in deep viewers understanding, precious experience, and alignment with your enterprise objectives.
In case you’re simply getting began with freebie advertising and marketing, my recommendation is straightforward: Begin small, take a look at relentlessly, and don’t be afraid to place your concepts on the market. You don’t want an ideal PDF or fancy funnel. You simply want to unravel an issue your viewers cares about. In case you lead with worth, your viewers will comply with.
Editor’s observe: This publish was initially printed in August 2024 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
