Free Promotions

If it's free, it's for me.

Free is the most powerful offer of all time and will never expire.

Why? At its base, it's something for nothing, or value in advance.

In fact, researcher Dr. Dan Ariely demonstrated something that he called the penny gap.

Basically, he showed that nine times more people would take a free Hershey Kiss than one sold

for a penny. Imagine getting nine times more people by lowering your discounts from one cent

to free. That's a big difference, and we're going to harness it. Most marketers have experienced

this firsthand. Getting a page to convert on a $1 offer versus a free offer can be a landslide of a

difference. That said, making a free offer is just the fastest way to see if anyone wants your thing. Because if your free offer doesn't work, it just shows you that prospects either, number one, don't want your thing, which means you should change what you're giving away for free, or how you describe it. Two, don't believe you. Three, aren't actually seeing it because you are fishing in the wrong pond.

This can be a targeting issue. Example, running a single lady's promotion to an audience of married moms. A famous marketer actually tested number two to prove the point. Once every few years, he would run an offer in the newspaper that said, for every $100 you give me, I will give you $1,000 back. Call four-for-four-four-four-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for-for4-4-4. No one ever responded. He did it to illustrate the point of believability. It's an amazing offer, but it was so good, it was unbelievable. That's why whenever you create a crazy free offer, you will always have to answer the next question. Why? Give a good enough reason, and people will believe you. Going out of business, all products must go in 30

days is a very good reason to have 90% off all products. If you just said 90% off all products,

you likely wouldn't get the same response. So as long as it's true, give them a good reason.

I go into more depth on this in $100 million leads, engage your leads chapter. C fraternity

party planner, my favorite. Make up a reason.

Now, let's break down some of the pros and cons of free offers. We're going to flip the script

to keep it interesting. Let's pretend we're starting a lemonade stand together, and you are my

mentor, and you'll be teaching me the ever-hungry student all about free promotions.

Pros of free offers. Number one. Highest lead volume. Me.

So if we want the most leads, we should lead with a free offer.

You. Exactly. If we need volume, nothing works better than free.

It gets the most leads per eyeball, and that's always useful, especially in a small marketplace, like a local market.

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