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How To Give Your Product Away For Free...
...And Still Make A Fortune!
by Lesley Anne Lowe
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What is the secret of business success? You may think it
is to sell your product at the highest price to the most
people. Think again - you can actually make more money
by giving your product away!


This is a technique that reveals the secret of practically
every business. It relies on repeat sales, built up from the
initial purchase of the product. The problem of generating
the initial purchase is overcome if the product is free, so
eventually you should be left with legions of loyal
customers and you can hardly fail to make a fortune.


Before we explain this in more detail, take the example of
Coca-Cola - a company whose business has been based
on the success of basically one drink. How far would the
company have grown if they had sold a can to everyone in
the world...but nobody had ever bought another one?


The success of the business depends on gaining a
customer, providing them with a product they are satisfied
with, and then reaping the benefits of repeat sales.


So what does this mean to you? Whatever business you
are in it is likely that it actually costs you money to gain a
customer. There may well be no profit in the initial sale,
which will be swallowed up in marketing costs, whether
advertising, direct mail, telesales, personal representation,
or whatever.


The fact is that this initial sale is crucial, in order to make
subsequent sales which make a profit. Or is it?


Giving your product away, in the context of the above,
seems to make sense.


Here is an example. Assume that you produce and market
a food supplement which sells by mail for $10. Your
product cost is $1.50, and postage and packing another
$0.50. The gross profit margin is quite high, although this
will be eroded by advertising costs when trying to attract
the new customers. It would cost between $10 and $20 to
attract the new customer, which you would hope to make
back when people re-order the product.


Here's an alternative - offer the product free of charge. The
cost to you including postage and packing is $2.00....much
less than it would cost to make a 'sale'. Also, the take up
rate will be far higher. You will have a massive database of
people who have now sampled your product, and hopefully
benefited from it.


You may have spotted a flaw in this argument. What about
advertising costs? You still have to inform potential
customers that they can have a sample for free. Well, yes
you do, but you don't necessarily have to pay for it. Get
others to do it for free.


Here is just one way of doing it. A recent copy of a national
Sunday newspaper carried an article about a young man
who had built his video tape business to a turnover in
excess of $3 million using this method. One of the main
methods he had used to achieve this was giving away his
product free.


For example, a series of his products was aimed at anglers.
He contacted one of the major angling magazines and told
them that he had several thousand videos to give away to
its readers. They were naturally delighted, because being
able to make such an offer helps to sell magazines. The
magazine featured the offer heavily and it was a
tremendous success.


Although the initial result was a cost incurred, the
entrepreneur was able to enclose literature promoting
associated videos with the free one. This resulted in many
thousands of pounds worth of sales.


You will probably be able to think of many potential uses
and spin-offs from this technique. It can be adapted to
many different products and markets. Perhaps you have
something to sell, which could benefit from this approach.


But don't forget: the next time you are pondering over how
to sell more of your product, consider giving it away instead.
It's a lot easier and it could definitely be more profitable in
the long run.


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Lesley Anne Lowe is publisher of Advance News, a free
email newsletter geared towards online business promotion,
developing powerful marketing strategies and maximising
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