Years ago, a popular ad campaign on the West Coast announced that free “is a very good price.” VistaPrint thinks so. It has a standing offer of 250 free business cards for every order placed. “It drives customers to our Web site to not only get their free business cards, but also see other products, discounts, and offers,” says Jason Keith, public relations manager for the Lexington, Mass.–based company. While there’s little doubt that freebies are an effective way to lure new customers to revenue-generating products and services, it pays to know how best to employ them in a business development plan. Here are six ways to get the most value from your free promotions:

1. Make it relevant. Even if the freebie doesn’t relate directly to the product you want consumers to buy, it must be appropriate to the target audience. “If the consumer target for, say, fertilizer is mostly male, we wouldn’t offer a free spa certificate,” says Tiffanie Hiibner, director of promotions for Interger Midwest, a sales promotion firm in Des Moines, Iowa. “However, if they’re purchasing fertilizer, we know they have a home and a lawn and would likely be interested in another product for their lawn or perhaps a free tool.” The movie 300 earned some $210 million thanks in part to a giveaway of photo capacity storage space on MySpace.com that attracted hordes of young viewers.
2. Fix an appropriate value. The last thing you want to do is alienate prospective customers by offering a chintzy freebie. Then again, something of real value can have serious cost implications. Evaluate both the cost of the giveaway and the expected payback carefully to find a suitable midpoint. This is particularly important for start-up companies and those with a tight integrated marketing budget. “If you start with a clear objective, free offers can drive incredible growth and profit for companies,” says Trynka Shineman, senior vice president of North American marketing for VistaPrint. “Most times a free offer isn’t quantified in up-sells and cross-marketing, but in customer lifetime value, which can be long if the offer is a good one.”
3. Limit the timeline. Fail to do this and a freebie can morph into a subsidy. Bart Cleveland, creative director and partner at McKee Wallwork Cleveland in Albuquerque, N.M., points to a fast-food outlet that offered customers discount coupons every week. “It got to the point where people wouldn’t buy the product without a coupon,” he notes. Cleveland says the optimal timeline for a free offer will vary from one business to another but, as a general rule, try to make it available only for a limited time. Otherwise, the offer effectively becomes an expected benefit.
4. Create a sense of urgency. Establishing a specific timeline triggers a consumer’s call to action, so be sure to pay particular attention to the language you use in promotional materials (e.g., “Act Soon!”). Todd Niedorf, CEO of Atlanta-based Ross Media, says well-conceived free promotions can help fill everything from retail showrooms to restaurants. “When the showroom is full, a would-be buyer feels more comfortable about making a purchase right then and there,” he explains. “There’s a sense of ‘If everyone’s here, then it must be a good deal.”
5. Approach the Internet warily. Internet-based free offers can be a tough nut, if for no other reason than the Web is already inundated with them. “The Internet is really overdone,” says Dan Kelman, director of strategic integration at Denver-based McClain Finlon Advertising. “Free offers are everywhere and they’re occasionally fraudulent. It needs to be something really interesting and special to stand out.” He points to an online promotion for Ozzfest, Ozzy Osbourne’s 25-city summer concert tour. Tickets to the shows are free, but prospective concertgoers “have to run through a gauntlet of online marketing to get to the tickets,” Kelman says. “And it’s built around promoting internal concessions at the shows themselves. I think it’s one of the most fascinating free offers ever.”
6. Be sure to follow up. Provided the goals and execution are clearly thought out and executed, free offers can open the door for getting new customers. But make sure you give them every reason to stick around, be it quality customer service, special promotions, a rewards program, or some other means. “It’s important to pay attention to your customers and not just the offer of the day,” says Richard Laermer, author of Punk Marketing. “Turning a visitor into a committed customer can be the hardest conversion in the world.”

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