So what's the big deal about giving away freebies? There are so many places where you can find freebies on the internet.  The big challenge is that who do you trust to receive these freebies from.  Chances are you'll be bombarded by spam in a very short time with no way of turning it off...

Here's something you might want to consider.  Instead of being the one on the receiving end, become the one on the giving end.  Just imagine people calling you to thank you for the freebies you gave them.  Just imagine people emailing you back saying thank you.  Just imagine people responding to your blog.  Just imagine people who don't even respond to your blog but click through to receive the freebies.  Who knows how many people do that. 

Here's the big secret.  The truth is professional marketers who give away freebies are not doing it just because they like giving away free stuff.  They are actually developing a data base of highly targeted people who are potential prospects for their products and services. 

There is a major factor that you need to be aware of about these professional marketers is that when you respond to their free offer, you are among literraly thousands of prospects.  The marketers actually never see your information.  It's loaded into an autoresponder that starts a email campaign that shows up in your inbox periodically until you stop it.  Chances are you'll never here from these marketers because they are only focused on numbers.  I'm talking about mass numbers.  The goal is to accumulate a mass amount of targeted leads to be part of their data base.

Here's the other side of how people like me use freebies. 

First of all I find freebies that are really valuable and I give them away to people who I can truly help with those freebies.

Second - I actually look to develop long term relationships with people so they will welcome my call or email.

Third -  I am always looking for ways to help promote the businesses I network with via resources and referrals.

Fourth - I purpose to stay in contact either by email, blogging, phone calls and in person visits

Fifth - I receive personal referrals to give away freebies from people who use my freebies with success which ends up leading to legitimate business referrals for my business.

In nearly 100% of the time this system makes for a warm call instead of a cold call.  People are open to receive my calls because they know the legitimacy of the free offers they have received from me.  They also are more apt to ask me about my business as well as look to refer people my direction.

Old ways of relationship marketing are still very useful.  They just take longer because the first contact by phone or in person is hit and miss.  Using the internet appropriately makes for a faster way of connecting with people of like interest.  Once the initial connection is made it's all about developing relationship.

Hope you found this helpful.

Ced

p.s. Be sure to see the valuable freebies in my previous blog: Freebie #8 - free software + bonus freebie