In tough times like these, customers are understandably careful about when, why and how they spend their money. As a small business owner, it pays to offer customers an added bang for their buck.
Free is a very attractive word. It commands attention. By offering a free service or item, along with a purchase, you might be a able to persuade a customer to buy from you rather than your competitor.
For retail stores, one technique that works is to have a drawing for a prize of some sort. Not only can you bring people into your store this way, but you can, if done correctly, attain contact information so you can send out email or mailed newsletters to the entrants. Note: if you are gathering contact information and intend to send either email or mailings, you must state that on the entry form and ask the person to check off a box to give you permission to use the information that way. It is also advisable that you let them know that you will not be selling this information to any third party.
Before offering something for free think hard about what you will be giving away. Money is tight for small business owners, too, so you don't want to spend so much on your freebie that it negates the sales you bring in. For example, with TTR Design, my web design business, I will at various times offer one free additional web page with a package purchase, a free slideshow with package, free contact form or a percentage off the final invoice. If I can get someone to buy a web design package, adding an additional page is not too costly and it helped me get the job in the first place.
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