5 Tips On Offering Free Samples Effectively

One of the strongest marketing tools you have at your disposal is that of the "Free Sample." Everyone likes to get something of value for little to no cost, right? That's why grocery stores hire the demo ladies to cook up the micro bites of pizza to pass out to shoppers. People in our business give away e-books, videos, trial memberships, sample chapters or excerpts, free reports, white papers, 60 minutes of free consulting time, and the list goes on.

If you are an author, you have the perfect "Free Sample" to give- an excerpt of your book. However, you may want to consider other freebies to add, especially as you build your author platform. But there are some things you may wish to consider as you make your free offer. Here are tips on making your samples really work to attract visitors for you:

1. Offer something of value- As you think of a sample to offer, ask yourself, "What can someone use?" If you are honest with that question, you are going to be far more successful at using your sample as a tool to draw visitors. Your book excerpt is of tremendous value because you are giving someone an opportunity to see if they may like your book before putting their cash on the line.

2. Market the benefit, not the features of the sample- When you make your sample offer, do it in a way that tells people what benefit they will get from the sample, not just what the sample is. For example, you can offer people a free report on customizing their blog or you can offer them a report that will help drive people to their blog by following your tips on customizing it. You can offer an excerpt of your book, or you can invite them to read a portion of your book that will warm their heart and will keep them smiling the whole day.

For you non-fiction authors, this is where you really have an unbelievable opportunity. You can not only give them a taste of your book via an excerpt, you can give them real knowledge they can use today. If you do that well, they will want to read what else you can do for them.

3. Deliver what you promise with the sample- How many times have you seen an offer of an e-book, report or anything free and thought, "Wow, that's just what I have been looking for!", only to find that what you got was a dud? I have, and I bet we all have. For example, I can't tell you how many articles I read where the headline talked about the importance of creating a marketing plan for your book, but when I read the article, it gave no practical tips I could use to create a book marketing plan. The whole article was nothing but statements of how important it is to have a marketing plan and it may have thrown in a few examples of why it's important to have one. In the worse cases, the author offers an e-book or report you can buy to get the answers.

If you are like me, you will have serious doubts that this person can deliver on his or her promise by now. If you promise them the world in the free sample, then you need to deliver. If you let them down with the sample, you will have a tough time getting them to sign up for your newsletters or to purchase your books.

4. Give the best you have- Your free samples are the last place you want to skimp when it comes to quality. I am amazed at people who throw out scraps as samples because they want to keep the juicy stuff in the paid book or product. The truth is, people will use the free sample to decide whether to buy your book or not. You need to not only capture their attention, you also need to overwhelm them with how totally awesome that free sample is. If you do that, then someone will be eager to sign up for your newsletter or buy your book. If your sample is so-so, then so will be people's response to it.

5. Leave them wanting more- The purpose of the sample is to scream to your visitors, "Do you see how great I am? There is much more waiting for you!" The perfect novel excerpt is the one that quickly invests you into the life of a character, sheds light on a goal, and introduces an obstacle. You want the reader to want to buy your book to see what happens.

The perfect excerpt for a non-fiction book is one that addresses a common problem and provides a real solution for the reader to use. There is a time and place to list all the problems your book can solve without providing the solutions (i.e., your table of contents listing or your book description), but it should not be the sample. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest mistakes authors make when using samples. Think how strong your appeal to buy the book will be if you provide an answer to a problem and then say, "My book will also show you how to do this, this, and this."

Samples can be powerful marketing tools for your book. Use them right and you can have people taste your work and be eager to order the whole course.

Tony Eldridge