There's one word that can carry quite a bit of power when used as part of your marketing message:
"Free".
Admittedly, "free" doesn't carry the weight it used to. With everyone reaching the point of becoming over-saturated with marketing messages, something that has the word "free" attached to it has almost become a turn-off...
especially online.
But it can still be a very effective tool, when used correctly; for example, as an inducement to opt-in to your newsletter or email list.
In many people's minds, a successful marketing message has lots of exclamation points, underlines and flashing messages. These things were all adopted to make the message stand out; the tables have now turned, however. The messages that stand out are the ones that
don't scream at the reader, but instead offer value in return for their time or business.
Giving someone a free gift for signing up for your newsletter can still be an effective tool, as long as the free gift is relevant to the reason they wound up at your business site to begin with. If your business is financial advice, don't offer a free report on advertising tips to your visitors. That's not why they came to your site, and it won't entice them to sign up.
However, if they came to your site to find information on financial advice, an offer of a free report on basic investment tips would be useful to them, and a much more effective enticement.
"But Dave," I can hear you say, "I'm trying to
sell them financial advice...why would I
give it to them?"
For the same reason anyone offers free samples...to earn the customers' trust in your product or service. If they like the free information and find it useful, they are becoming sold on
you.
Of course, it doesn't have to be a free report. You can offer a free trial of your software, a free ebook...
anything that will help build your image as a business your customers can trust to help them with their needs.
