Here is a very simple concept that most businesses overlook or never think about: giving something valuable away for free. I’m not talking about free coffee at McD’s or a monthly prize for following someone on Twitter. I mean something that the company had to work hard on, something valuable and useful to the end user.
Recently a local design firm did the design, the research and the production of an online tool called PolicyTool.net, which generates business or personal policies for websites, social media, etc. They then launched it online and made it a free service.
The amount of time, effort, design, thinking, and ideas that had to be put forth to finish this concept are substantial, and then to offer it for free is unheard of. Which is why its also brilliant. In the first 4 days of being online, 700 companies downloaded a policy.
A company can offer free things that it buys for pennies, like a cup of coffee, or ugly key fobs which have the company’s name and get thrown out within hours, or the company can offer something that takes time to create, is usable and adds value to the end user and be remembered.
Its (almost) free promotion, can get you into the news, and spreads your brand into new areas. With so many ideas existing in the digital realm, products can easily be made available to the world and have the potential to go viral.
What does your company do that could be given away?
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