How to Benefit the Most From Your Freebies

This morning I read an interesting article on LinkedIn, written by Bryan Linderberger, titled ‘Your Freebies Matter’. He made a great point about how spending a bit more money on freebies can make all the difference. However, I do believe there is more to it than just high quality versus low quality.

I have worked as a promogirl at countless exhibitions and other events and it always surprised me how little thought was put into the freebies. Often it was just some -excuse my language- crap that would either be on the floor 10 meters further, or given straight to the kids once the visitor got home.

Since I realized that, I started to ask my clients ‘why are we giving these out? What’s the thought behind it?’ 9 out of 10 times, I couldn’t be given an answer. Therefore, here are 3 points to consider when it comes to freebies.

1. Talk to the receiver

I have seen it way too often: pretty girls simply handing out the giveaways to the people passing by, with not much more than a ‘hello’ and ‘you’re welcome’ (if the receiver was even polite enough to say thanks). I am sure that if you would ask that person ten meters further down the aisle ‘which company gave that to you and what does the company do?’ he wouldn’t be able to tell you.

It’s a shame, because you actually miss out on a great opportunity. When you hand out the freebie, you have the perfect chance to discover if this person could be a potential customer to your business. Simply ask him or her what it is that he/she does and what they are looking for at the exhibition. You should by then have a little clue about how your company could help this person with products or services. When you know which challenges this person faces, it is far simpler to adapt your pitch to his/her needs.

2. Make sure the freebies are relevant

I can’t tell you all the times I had to hand out gadgets that had absolutely nothing to do with the company. Make sure your freebies are relevant! First of all, a freebie related to the company or the industry is a perfect conversation starter, making the previous point even easier. Second, when there is a clear relation between the freebie and the company, the receiver will make the connection with your company way easier whenever he is faced with that gadget once he is home/at the office/at the golf course/etc.

3. Quality over quantity

I write this point with flyers in mind, but I believe it is applicable to more giveaways: quality over quantity. Many companies print out thousands of flyers and hand them out to whoever walks by, often without even talking to them. Without a single exception, at the end of the day the floor a few meters away from the stand would be covered in paper. Such a waste of money! How about instead of thousands of cheap flyers, you get about 50 — 100 very nice brochures? Thick paper, high quality ink, beautiful graphics and enough space for all the relevant information. A real reflection of the quality of your company. You give them to people who seemed very interested in your business after talking with you (point 1 and 2), or who specifically reached out to you, asking for more information. Instead of wasting money on fillings the bins, you invest in something that a real potential client will find very useful.

Now ask yourself: how much thought have you put into your most recent giveaways? On what points could you improve?