Marcus Richards
It turns out that there’s actually not a lot of truth in that old saying ‘you can’t get something for nothing’. Marketers all over the world love giving something to potential or existing customers for nothing, as it can be a great way of fostering customer loyalty or finding new customers altogether. If you haven’t tried something for nothing marketing with your brand yet, then this is your sign to think about how it might fit into your marketing plan. This kind of marketing takes a little more planning, especially when it comes to balancing the books, but it can yield seriously big results.
Taster Sessions
Taster sessions are the perfect way to show customers what your business has to offer. If you’re really confident in your product, but aren’t sure how to get people to sign up for it or purchase then a free taster session is a great tool. Masters of the free taster are the online casino sector. There’s an enormous amount of competition within this sector, so in order to get customers to try out your game over anybody else’s, you need to let them try it first. Some companies, like VegasSlotsOnline, dedicate whole sections of their online casino to free to play games. In the case of this company, they have more than 10,000 slot games that customers are welcome to play for free, with no time limits and no pressure to wager real money. Allowing customers to try out a product in this way might seem as though the business is giving away too much, but in fact, it is letting customers get used to the interface and decide if this site is the one that they want to stay and play on. If it is, then they’ve gained a new and valuable customer, who will surely go on to pay for the service in future.
Loyalty Cards
Almost everyone has a loyalty card in their wallet, whether it’s for a coffee shop, a pizza place, or the totally niche business that you buy your organic loose-leaf teas from. Loyalty cards are everywhere for a reason; they work. Not only do they encourage us to buy more from that company to earn more points, get that free coffee, or make it to a gold member status, they also constantly remind us of the brand. After all, they’re present in our purse all of the time. This increased brand awareness subconsciously fosters brand loyalty and in a roundabout sort of way, wipes out the competition. For example, if you’ve got a Starbucks card in your wallet and you fancy a coffee in the morning then the chances are you’ll head to a Starbucks for the saving of about $0.50 you’ll make when you eventually buy enough coffees to get a free one. If you were passing a Costa and they had a promotion where you could have $0.50 on a coffee, you genuinely might think twice about going in. You’d perceive the saving on that whole Starbucks coffee as being worth more than the $0.50 you’d save. You also might think that Starbucks prepares superior coffee, that it’s simply part of your routine, or that you identify more with that brand than your own. Perhaps you bought a Starbucks coffee flask to save the planet, it would feel weird putting Costa coffee in a Starbucks flask. All of this is to say that loyalty cards work, they really do foster loyalty. Work out how a card could work for your brand and if there’s one technique that you implement, make it this one.
Giveaway Competitions
Brands that have a large social media following and those looking to really push theirs to new heights should consider a giveaway. We love a giveaway at BestStartup because they can really work wonders for fledgling businesses. These competitions work best on social media, as that’s generally where you can reach the largest audience. They can take all kinds of different forms, from caption competitions, to customer submitted photos, story time comments, to simple like and shares. Each has its own benefits, but generally, getting customers to actually interact with your photos beyond liking and sharing them will work best. Particularly on Instagram, algorithms are constantly shifting in an effort to get meaningful interactions to be the most, well, meaningful. That means that if you can get people to post a funny or interesting comment below your image then you should strive to do that, rather than just a list of random tags. Make sure that you make a big deal about the winner of the competition too!
