How to Turn Free Giveaways into Paid Work

This article is a follow up to the one I wrote last week about how I gave away 15 minutes of my time and made $5700 as a result. The article drew a good amount of attention, and started a pretty good conversation. Our discussion brought a rather large question into the light.

How does a person actually get paid jobs by giving away something for free?

In my experience, there are four major parts that make a free giveaway profitable. Read more for a detailed description of each part, and how you can use them to run a successful giveaway.

Who’s getting the freebie?

Whether you’re giving a presentation to an audience, or offering up a prize on a website, the ‘who’ is a critical part of making a giveaway successful.

My most successful giveaway was one that I did at a chamber of commerce convention, and I credit a big part of its success to the fact that the crowd there was 80% small business owners. Nearly every person I talked to was my target market and had the power to make a purchase if they wanted.

Even the best prize in the world won’t get new business if the audience isn’t in a position to buy, or isn’t interested in what you’re offering.

Is your giveaway relevant and interesting?

The success of your giveaway depends on attracting the attention of potential clients, and then turning that attention into a sale. In order to accomplish those goals, your giveaway must be interesting and valuable enough to get the attention of your audience in the first place, and it must be relevant to the product or service that you want to eventually sell them.

Finding something to give that’s both interesting and relevant can be hard, but you’ll be rewarded with a successful giveaway when you do.

Free means you’re trading value, not money

For best results, your free item should have a lot of value—because you’ll need to get something valuable in return if your giveaway is going to be successful. A good giveaway usually ends up being a trade between you and your potential clients, or you and the event coordinator (as with a presentation).

Here are some things you could ask for in return for your prize or presentation:

- A subscription to your newsletter or blog
- An email address, phone number, etc…
- Exposure to a large audience
- People’s time and attention
- A commitment to meet with you later
- Good will towards your company

A lot of these you won’t ask for directly from your audience or recipients, but instead you’ll get them as a result of the giveaway format or venue. If you aren’t asking for something directly, make sure you know enough about the format/venue that you have a good idea of exactly what you’ll get in return.

I made the mistake of not doing enough research on one giveaway, and I ended up loosing money because of it (I wasted $700 on 9 hits and no clients). As it turned out, the method of the giveaway didn’t provide nearly enough exposure for the value of the prize I offered.

How will you lead them to the sale?

One of the big benefits of a giveaway is that it can serve as an entry point to new customers. A free presentation will get you in front of a lot of people, a free product can get people to talk to you, etc… But without anything else, a lot of free offers don’t go any further than that. It is important to remember that the giveaway is usually only the first step in the sales process—you still need to lead people from there to the second step, and from the second step to the third, until they become a customer.

Planning out exactly how you intend to convert people into customers once you have their attention is probably the most important ingredient of a successful giveaway.

At the end of my successful 15 minute presentation (This one) I told people about all of the free tips and strategy I offer on my blog, and mentioned that if they wanted to sign up they should just drop their business card in the box on the table. I also asked everyone who talked to me in person if they were interested in setting a lunch date to talk more about marketing their business. Lastly, I had flyers, sales materials, and a portfolio on hand for people who wanted to talk more on the spot. The end result was that I had several paths leading people towards our company and our products.

With the right audience, the right message or product, and a good conversion path, you’ll have a hard time not making a lot of money with a free giveaway or free presentation. Please feel free to ask more detailed questions or share your own personal experiences in the comments section.