How to Create an Effective Sampling Program
Sampling has been around for ages. So it obviously works. But like other promotional programs, bad implementation will lead to bad results. Here are some tips marketers use to create successful sampling programs:
- Find ways to drive new users to your company: Simply giving samples to people who already love your brand or your product is like preaching to the choir. They’ve already got the message.
- Get permission: You may think that you would never turn down something that is free. But how many free samples of perfume or cologne do you have stuffed in the back of your bathroom cabinet? Taking a sample doesn’t turn people into customers unless you have asked permission to give them the sample.
- Encourage trial: To do this, you need to give your samples as close to the point of need as possible. People who are your target audience, but in the wrong setting, will not pay any attention to your samples.
- Start a conversation: Be like Seth Godwin who gave away free copies of his book “The Idea Virus. ” Create a buzz.
- Measure your results: Sampling results might not be as easy to measure as other promotional strategies, but they can be measured. It would be mistake not to do so. Seth Godin saw the results of his sampling program not in the number of downloads, but in the number of people who bought the hardcover version of his book.