06 Apr Marketing Like A Drug Dealer

Marketing is a tough gig when there are thousands of competitors online and sometimes dozens of local competitors to contend with in your marketplace. You have to stand out from your competitors. Your product and service has to be so good that people want to come back over and over. However, you have to entice them to initially come to you and then get them hooked. Then you have a loyal client for years to come as long as you provide a quality product or service. It sounds a little like a drug dealer, doesn’t it?

Well, that’s okay as long as you’re not offering drugs. One other thing a drug dealer does is to let others sample their “product.” They are banking on their product being so good that the person will be back with money the next time. Transfer this practice over to legitimate business practice and you have coupons or free samples. Let’s take an ice cream shop, for instance. Most ice cream shops have little taster spoons which they will scoop a sample of a flavor for you to try before you buy. Once you taste it, you are hooked and you fork over the cash. Restaurants are prime businesses for this practice. Offer coupons for a free appetizer and watch how people come with their whole family or a group of friends. There’s a pretty high probability that these patrons will be buying other items such as drinks, entrees, desserts, or other appetizers. Therefore, your “free” coupon actually yielded a paying customer or most often customers. Another common occurrence would be free wine tasting by wine shops or wineries. You try; you like; you buy. What a simple concept. Spend a little on free giveaways and make a bundle on new purchases.

Give your business a long hard thought about what you can offer for free that will not only attract new clients, but will also spur further or future purchases. Something about your business has that ability to hook people. For Perfect Imprints, it is our graphic design. We have an unrivaled graphics department that can design anything from t-shirts to business cards to billboards. We offer 30 minutes of free graphic design with any purchase of promotional products for all online orders. This is often needed to convert logos over to a print ready format.

So go ahead and be like a dealer and watch your business grow. You won’t have to be continually looking over your shoulder for undercover po pos, but do look for increased sales. You can have almost an immediate response for this as long as you get the word out about your free samples.