What if the price was FREE

I feature a lot of the stuff that Drew writes becasue it's pretty much on target. But this time, he may have lost his mind.

Best recession marketing tip -- give it away!

Posted: 09 Mar 2009 10:33 PM PDT

Are you worried about sales? Have you had to lay off some staff? Are you scared about making it through the recession?

Give away your product or service.

I know it's counter-intuitive. There's nothing conservative about giving away your hard-earned wares. I'm not going to go all new age on you -- but there's some magical that happens when you share what you have.

Here are some of the benefits:

You and your staff will be reminded how good you are. When sales are coming a bit more slowly or everyone is pushing you on price, it's easy to forget just how good you are at your craft. By giving it to someone who really needs it -- they're bound to be effusive with their gratitude -- and that feels good.

It's amazing word of mouth. In these days of doom and gloom media -- who isn't going to love a story of genuine generosity? And what do you think the recipient is going to do once they enjoy your wares? Right -- talk about it. To everyone and anyone.

It's a statement of faith and confidence. Think of it as a "screw you" to the recession. It's standing tall and saying..."we're not only going to get through this economic downturn....but we're going to do it by helping others. We're going to serve our employees, our clients and those who may not be able to afford what we sell -- so we're going to give it away."

Want a concrete example? My agency, McLellan Marketing Group, just announced that we're taking applications for our 3rd annual Adopt a Charity program.

Here's how it works. Non-profits apply (they can download our application here) and we choose one in April. Then, for an entire year -- we adopt them. Not only do we adopt them, but some of our business partners like Brackett Media and Event Services and Radio Garage also adopt them.

Over the course of the year, the charity will receive over $75,000 in free services.

Do you know a non-profit who could use a professional marketing squad for a year? Encourage them to download the application and get it in before the end of March.

More important -- get out there and give the recession a raspberry. Give away a little of what you have. Share your expertise. You'll be amazed at how good it is for business. And your heart.

Okay, it's me Scott again. Is this going too far? Is this a waste of time and talent?

I'll add a couple more items:

1) Yesterday I met with a small agency that is now working 12 hours a day, scrambling to grab new clients while his old ones are putzing around. He told me that if his old clients started becoming active again, he would be overwhelmed with work.

2) Our local Advertising Federation does pro bono work for a charity each year.

3) This week our Adfed is having an auction with money raised going to college scholarships. I included $2000 of FREE Radio ads that someone will buy at a discount.

So, what do you think of the price FREE?

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