When someone receives something of value for free, trust and good feeling naturally arise. Giving away a free item or service are very effective marketing strategies. They will acquaint a new person with your product and company plus can be a non-agressive means to re-contact former customers or clients.

Whether you work off-line or online, are in private practice, part of a mlm or are employed by a corporation, giving away freebies works to increase business and distinguish you from your colleagues.

For many people, there is a lot of discouragement due to getting minimal results by placing ads randomly in various ezines, newspaper classified ads and website pages.

Here are some concrete examples and strategies that have proven to be effective:

1) Many local newspapers will run without cost a free service listing in the announcements section. If you are a lawyer, consultant, massage therapist, chiropactor or have a related service set aside a 2 hour block on a Friday and send out a press release such as, "Dr Jinet will be available for free 15 minute phone consults Friday, Oct 13 from 3-5 at xxx-yyyy.

3) If you have sample sizes of an item, you can set up a booth at a local fair and distribute it for free with contact info enclosed. For a web-based business, a free ebook or report are good. Make yourself standout by offering e-mail consults on the ebook or report you give away.

3) As a social worker and yoga teacher, I was looking to expand my practice and classes. I wrote a 24 page booklet on Stress Reduction in Daily Life, incorporating tips from yoga, psychology and meditation. At a local health food store, I put them on the counter under the bulletin board. That week 2 new people attended my class and I received a new psychotherapy client. As added pluses, my therapy client gave the booklet to her best friend who began session. A month later a financial planner in my yoga class bought 500 booklets to give as a free Christmas gift to her clients with her sticker on the cover. She has re-ordered 500 booklets 2 years in a row and it has been a useful viral tool for her business.

4) Think outside of the box. If you see someone locally giving a seminar (or online doing a teleseminar) is there a package you can give them they can add as a bonus? Can you find someone already active with a mailing list, workshop or busy shop that can use a free item or service for their customers?

Dee Cohen, a Social Worker and Certified Yoga Teacher. Visit http://www.outside-the-box.net for information on increasing your business by placing your sticker on her booklets.