Giveaways

I was recently interviewed for publication on the subject of giveaways... it was an interesting discussion so I thought I'd reproduce my responses here... There are 3 basic giveaway strategies that I can see: short-term promotion, long-term product and industry shake-up. Short-term promotion giveaways are what Typepad gives free 30-day trials... and consultants who blog (like me) give away free intellectual property. Obviously this strategy is only effective when the product or service is worth talking about, and if the promotion is executed well. Poor execution is a sure-fire way to hurt your brand. The long-term product strategy is to make one product in your portfolio entirely free and make up your revenue elsewhere. This strategy is often quite useful in subscription or commodity industries like phone service (web sites), their primary revenue model is based on advertising. They get more from advertisers if they can offer more eyeballs; free stuff attracts eyeballs. Software companies use this strategy often; Adobe gives away the PDF Reader but charges for other features. Sun gives away Java. The list goes on. The last form of giveaways is the industry shake-up. Look for an acceptable, ingrained industry revenue source that you can eliminate. A good example is Reader Comments... Mantra Brand Communication. She has extensive experience in brand/marketing strategy, market/customer research, integrated marketing communications and channel support.