Can you make money by giving your products away?

Seems a strange thing, to suggest that you can make a ton of money by giving away what you’re selling. But we’re already familiar with trial-size bottles of shampoo, scent, toothpaste. And think about the food court in some shopping malls: as you walk around you’re often confronted with the invitation to try a free sample of the food.

The food thing is a good example. You try one of the tasty snacks on offer and if you like the taste of it there’s a pretty good chance you’ll either get something then, or remember for next time that you liked the taste. That’s a clear example of giving something away and actually gaining paying customers.

But in that example, notice that you only get a taste - not the full dish. It leaves you wanting more.

Computer magazines are very hot on giving free software away these days too. You usually get an earlier version of software, or a time limited demo, and you get the chance to put the application through its paces and see if it’s for you. If it is and you’re tempted by the upgrade offer, voila!, you become a new customer.

Well, the same thing is becoming big business in the online world too. But up until now managing a giveaway promotion has been pretty hard to do. What with co-ordinating all the partners who get involved and listing the products available.

I just bought some software to automate it all for me. I’ll be doing a JV giveaway event in the near future and it makes no sense to have to do everything manually. Why re-invent the wheel, right?

So I bought Giveaway Manager from Brad Smith.  It’s currently on offer and the price is due to go up in the next day, so if you want to save a chunk of change and get a product that could cause your business to go viral, now’s the time to jump right in.

And watch this space for my own Giveaway event!