Offering Free Ebooks or Samples - Marketing Tips from Prompt Proofing

    VANCOUVER, BC, June 14, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- People love to think they are getting something for nothing - it's human nature after all - so free ebooks and/or samples of products can be hugely successful marketing tools.

For companies that are essentially service providers (think business coaching, property management, financial advisors, etc.) ebooks may be the way to go, while those actually selling tangible products could offer free product samples.

Ebooks:

Some businesses decide to offer a free ebook in return for subscribing to their newsletter and this has proven to be a highly popular business model in the online world. What is the advantage to the company in doing this? It takes a lot of time and energy to write and publish an ebook, so why just give it away?

Typically people offering such freebies have relatively higher cost programs/services that the ebook promotes to potential customers. The aim is to give people a quick taste of what your company offers - if they take it and share it, then it reaches even more people - a win-win situation. Additionally, all the people who take advantage of your free ebook have now subscribed to your newsletter - more exposure! Of course, businesses hope that the glimpse or overview of their services will leave customers wanting more and signing up for their programs.

Studies have shown that websites that simply have an effective marketing video with a subscribe box underneath to a newsletter (and a pop-up saying that when they subscribe they get a free ebook) are the most effective. People love multimedia and they love simplicity:

- They go to the site and a video pops up on their screen
- They click play
- They watch a quick, interactive and visually appealing video promoting a program or service
- At the end of the video, they learn that if they sign up for the newsletter they get a freebie - a professional-looking and informative ebook.

Free samples:

If your company actually sells a tangible product rather than a service, then consider free samples. The same justification applies as above, it's something for nothing and it's a small taste of what you offer.

This clearly works better for some businesses than others - it's easy to offer a miniature bar of chocolate or travel-size moisturizer but a tad difficult to provide a free sample of a luxury car, for example. However, a car sales company could offer a classy key ring - featuring its logo, of course - while a company selling handmade designer purses might offer a small coin purse or lipstick pouch; the possibilities are endless.

The end result? You have subscribers to your newsletter or email list and many people who got just a taste of your product will now think seriously about buying more.

In short, freebies are great for promotion, creating goodwill and getting samples of your products or services out there.

About Prompt Proofing

Prompt Proofing is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and was officially launched in 2010 by a team of editing and writing professionals who have over 40 years of experience in the education, news media, public relations and recruitment fields. Prompt Proofing prides itself on affordable services delivered with fast turnaround times, without sacrificing quality or accuracy.

Offering content writing, editing and proofreading services, Prompt Proofing takes care of your individual or business content needs. We have customers throughout North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia and Australia.

Visit our website for more information at http://www.PromptProofing.com.

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