Freelance Copywriter Secrets: Free Sample Marketing
As a freelance ноутбуки acer aspire copywriter, I am always doing research. I study other people’s copy (there are some who say I am looking for ideas to steal, and they would be right), I read books on marketing, copywriting, advertising, web design, professional rainmaking, and all sorts of stuff that only a copywriting wonk would be interested in.
But I especially like doing research that involves free food.
There is a mall near my home that has a giant food court. Also known as a trap for the weak-willed dieter.
A favorite marketing ploy for some of the restaurants is to give away free samples of their food. I know this because I walked by one place that served Cajun food about six or seven times the other day, and they kept offering me small samples of food on a toothpick. I never said I was proud.
But after I was full of the free food, I sat down and watched how much business the various places were doing. Sure enough, the restaurants offering free samples were doing well over twice as much business as those микроволновая печь bork that did not.
Why does this work? Well I believe there are two reasons.
The first reason is obvious, a free sample gives the hungry customer a taste of what the rest of the meal will be like and often that small taste is enough to make an undecided shopper choose that restaurant.
But the second reason is in my mind more interesting. In Robert Cialdini’s essential book, Influence: Science Знамение and Practice, he explains a powerful persuasion technique he calls The Law of Reciprocity. Reciprocity is the social obligation we feel when someone does something for us. When this happens,
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