Making a good first impression is key to establishing yourself in an industry and securing the interest of your potential clients and investors. The easiest way to get your foot in the door and attract relevant parties is to offer a risk-free product in the form of a free sample.

Although handing out free products and services may result in a capital loss in the short-term, it also offers intangible long-term benefits such as improved reputation, increased brand awareness and product loyalty. Here are some tips on how and when you can use free samples to grow your business.

Sponsored events
Sponsoring an event is an important business opportunity as not only does it increase your overall brand awareness, it is also an opportunity to distribute free samples for product quality investigations and gauge public interest.

Event sponsorships (such as a marathon, workshop or charity performance) do not necessarily require monetary input, rather handing out your products for free may be helpful enough for the event. However, make sure the events you sponsor are relevant to your business values and that attendees are within your target demographic before committing to a sponsorship.

Customer bonuses
Clients will always be incentivised to purchase or commit to a product if they know they are getting an additional bonus for free and feel that they are receiving something of high value. Free samples in the form of service trials, extra product samples or a simple gift can boost client interest and loyalty. For a business, free samples are a way to grow the number of products sold to a client and increase the value of each customer. Clients will likely respond to your favours with loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising in the event that they enjoy your product.

Networking
Consider bringing free samples to networking events that you attend. Similar to a business card, handing out a free sample of your product when meeting potential investors for the first time can strike a conversation and increase interest in your business. Investors will be more inclined to take interest in your business if they can materialise your product (rather than an idea or pitch) and see that you already have an effective marketing strategy in place in the form of free samples.