What are Freebies?

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Freebies are all those free samples, trial versions, gifts and other presents given by companies to consumers, with the main objective of promoting the brand. It is not a new practice, since companies have been using these methods to attract their customers for many decades, however, it has taken on a new dimension in the digital field, since the Internet offers a platform that allows the freebie to be delivered to the consumer easily and quickly.

In digital marketing, freebies are a fundamental tool in inbound marketing , in order to empathize with consumers in a non-invasive way and allowing the establishment of “friendship” relationships that lead to the subsequent acquisition of the company's products.

Meaning of Freebies
The term Freebies comes from English and can be literally cash app database as gifts. There is not much to go into this aspect, since it is not an expression used in a figurative sense, as is often the case in the world of computing. As mentioned in the introduction, it is a practice that dates back to ancient times, so much so that it is difficult to trace it back in time.

When a company offers a freebie, it is investing money so that users can enjoy its products and services for free, but this does not mean that the company is losing money. In modern marketing, it is understood that empathizing with the customer is extremely profitable when it comes to establishing a stronger long-term relationship, as well as dispelling any doubts that may exist before buying a product, in the case of a freebie focused on being a trial version.

What are Freebies for?
To fully understand the functionality of Freebies in the business world, it is necessary to delve a little deeper into inbound marketing, mentioned in the first section, as opposed to outbound marketing.

The first of these concepts is quite broad, but in general terms it includes all those advertising practices that do not involve invading the customer's space, but rather offering solutions to their problems and persuasively inviting them to invest in a certain company, under the idea that the company cares about them. On the contrary, outbound marketing is related to traditional invasive advertising. A couple of perfect examples for each advertising model are, respectively, blog articles intended to resolve doubts and YouTube ads.

Freebies are often an essential tool in inbound marketing, as they allow you to resolve doubts or simply give the customer a treat in a way that seems disinterested.

How do Freebies work?
Freebies will work differently depending on the type, some of the most relevant examples are:

Common gifts: these are objects that contain the company name, shopping vouchers, free samples of food, etc. These are traditional freebies and their sole purpose is to empathize with the customer.

Free Trials : These are trial versions of a product that allow the user to enjoy it to the fullest, for a limited period of time or in small quantities, with the consumer being forced to pay to continue using it. This is quite popular in web services, but it lends itself to unfair practices by users, such as creating multiple accounts to use the trial indefinitely.

Freemium : Freemium is a business model where two versions of the same service are offered. On the one hand, a free option is provided that includes the basic functions and can be used indefinitely, and on the other hand, a paid version that allows you to use the product to its full potential. In English, these two versions are known as Free and Premium , respectively, hence the name.

How to apply Freebies to your marketing strategy?
There are various methods to deliver the Freebie to customers, so that it fulfills its purpose, among the most used are:

Intrusive advertising: This combines the principles of inbound and outbound marketing, offering the free trial or gift through ads that appear on the customer's pages and notifications, as well as in other media. It is still a fairly popular method, but is often mistaken for spam or scams by consumers.

Via the company website: Freebies can be offered naturally on the company's website offering the product or service, as gifts that appear as promotions or free trials offered alongside the full paid versions. They can be delivered to the consumer organically using techniques such as SEO.