Marketing Strategies - How to Market Your Store With Free Samples
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Distributing free samples can be a very effective way to introduce customers to your products. Sometimes people just need to try something out before making the decision that the item is worth their money. Give free samples away at your store or another location frequented by your target market to ensure you’re getting the product in front of the right audience.
Find Your Target Market
To make giving away free product samples an effective tactic, you need to get in front of your target market. Partner with a local business frequented by your ideal customers, or participate in an event you know your customer base will attend. In one creative example, the New York City coffee shop Dr. Drip went to the New York University campus during finals week with 2,000 cups of free coffee to hand out to tired students in need of a caffeine boost. Distributing free samples can be a very effective practice, but only if you’re giving them to the right crowd.
Include Contact Information
The purpose of distributing free samples is to entice the customer to come back and purchase the item, so don’t let them walk away without giving them your contact information. If the product is a durable item that the customer will use for awhile before throwing away, put your store name and website, email address or phone number directly on the package. Include a business card with non-durable items to give people an easy way to find your business.
Offer Coupons
Tempt samplers who like your product to make the initial purchase by offering a coupon or limited time discount. If you’re able to get them to purchase the product once, there’s a good chance you can turn them into repeat customers. Hopefully a customer will enjoy his first purchase so much that he won’t mind paying full price the second time.
Choose Products Wisely
Don’t simply give products away for free because you’ve had a surplus sitting in your supply room for years. This will not attract any customers besides those simply after anything free. Instead, select new products, to introduce them to your customers . Or you could also give away small samples of your best selling items. Either way, the items you choose should be products you’re proud to distribute, not something you’re simply trying to get rid of.
Tags:
Marketing, Marketing Strategies
Find Your Target Market
To make giving away free product samples an effective tactic, you need to get in front of your target market. Partner with a local business frequented by your ideal customers, or participate in an event you know your customer base will attend. In one creative example, the New York City coffee shop Dr. Drip went to the New York University campus during finals week with 2,000 cups of free coffee to hand out to tired students in need of a caffeine boost. Distributing free samples can be a very effective practice, but only if you’re giving them to the right crowd.
Include Contact Information
The purpose of distributing free samples is to entice the customer to come back and purchase the item, so don’t let them walk away without giving them your contact information. If the product is a durable item that the customer will use for awhile before throwing away, put your store name and website, email address or phone number directly on the package. Include a business card with non-durable items to give people an easy way to find your business.
Offer Coupons
Tempt samplers who like your product to make the initial purchase by offering a coupon or limited time discount. If you’re able to get them to purchase the product once, there’s a good chance you can turn them into repeat customers. Hopefully a customer will enjoy his first purchase so much that he won’t mind paying full price the second time.
Choose Products Wisely
Don’t simply give products away for free because you’ve had a surplus sitting in your supply room for years. This will not attract any customers besides those simply after anything free. Instead, select new products, to introduce them to your customers . Or you could also give away small samples of your best selling items. Either way, the items you choose should be products you’re proud to distribute, not something you’re simply trying to get rid of.
