If somebody offers something free of charge, there are numerous stuff that happen… many of which finish up destroying your brand. However for individuals that have a different approach, there’s tremendous chance to capture an even bigger market and solidify your BRAND.
To begin, you need to comprehend the distinction between building “Brand Awareness” and “Solidifying your Brand” with regards to creating a brandname Strategy. Frequently occasions I see both of these becoming comingled which could finish up resulting in “Brand Erosion” for any business. Seeing this does not happen is among the key required an innovator (Chief executive officer or Business Proprietor)… not down to marketing or sales or other silo within your organization.
Building “Brand Awareness” is all about presenting new people (prospective customers) for your brand… letting them observe that you exist available on the market. It’s an attraction strategy… one full of education and excitement for any possible client. It’s about discussing together something in your business that will help them enhance their lives (or business) they did not learn about before. It’s spreading the word for an audience you realize you can assist. It’s not about FREE.
In my experience, FREE is really a “lazy marketing” method of building Brand Awareness. It is easy… offer anything of worth free of charge and you’ll attract people just like a magnet. This is not brain surgery or proper marketing… it is simply simple and easy , does not take lots of expertise. Will we actually need an advertising and marketing department to get this done for all of us?
You will find 5 key difficulties with offering FREE that may ultimately lead to BRAND EROSION…
It doesn’t guarantee any more purchases… simply because someone checks you out of trouble on your free offers does not mean they’ll ever return and invest in your products later on. Anticipation of each and every marketer is perfect for the client to determine this kind of incredible product or experience they may wish to return and spend their cash… most customers don’t. Unless of course your experience rocks their world and it is something they’ll want much more of, products usually don’t drive them back… possible similar products in a lower cost elsewhere. This is actually the commodity realm of today where customers will find nearly as good or better products at affordable prices.
It’s offering margin/profitability which impacts other locations and merchandise… your products or services wasn’t free that you should create or acquire so anything above free means that you are offering valuable margin and profitability. If you do this, you need to “pay for it” by growing prices on other products/services or lower the margins in your top products/services. These two can be harmful ideas in the perspective of both financial aspects of the business as well as your Brand. And also the customer continues expecting this again and again… constantly lowering profitability with time.
It attracts “bottom feeders” for your business, not your preferred customers… nearly all free time doesn’t attract your preferred “Customer Personas”… those you want to obtain more of… it attracts individuals simply searching for affordableOrTotally free deals. This could become a massive problem for the Brand considering the ramifications. Should you attract the “wrong customer personas” by providing freebies, your “preferred customer personas” will begin to assume they are not the kind of customers your company is attempting to serve as you are catering (targeting) to those other personas. It has a “double negative” implication since you finish track of a lot of wrong personas while losing a lot of preferred personas. This ultimately can alter YOUR BRAND from what you would like to something you wouldn’t want very rapidly. Many companies finish up in cases like this rather than possess a clue the way they arrived. This is among the prime reasons companies finish up getting many of the wrong personas since most of their subscriber base.
It informs your clients who compensated for another thing these were scammed… should you be a person of the business which was offering FREE purports to others (not you) it might cause you to feel as if you were either not important or just being cheated by the organization. It transmits a loud and obvious message for your existing customers that they’re funding the disposable customers since they’re those having to pay. This never ends well. The very best customers question why this is actually the situation and obtain increasingly more upset once they see others getting free offers plus they keep having to pay premium prices. Banks are experts only at that “bait and switch” technique of luring you along with free after which charging a fortune in charges when they still offer Liberated to the “new clients only” rather from the ones they have acquired. A great strategy if you wish to turn your company right into a commodity and competing on cost… but very dangerous for your brand strategy.
It lowers your brand value within the mind of potential (desirable) customers… much like # 4 above, offering FREE transmits a really obvious message for your potential “desirable” customers that it isn’t really the best business to allow them to purchase from since you cater to a new audience together with your free offers. It’s ramifications inside your products, services, and customer encounters. Here is a simple example… you sell purses that cost $500 and also you offer smaller sized purses free of charge to new clients… using the intent to draw in more customers. Whenever your potential (desirable) customers check this out, they immediately feel the need for the company continues to be decreased which your purse really is not well worth the $500 they’d have compensated for this so that they proceed to another brand with greater brand value. You finish up attracting a lot of lower finish customers rather than attracting the greater finish desirable customers.
