Used car dealerships love to give away hot dogs. They think that giving away something small in order to bring in people to buy something big is a worthwhile concept. Why? Because the people who don’t make a purchase will think nicely of you while those hesitant to buy are more easily convinced (ostensibly) because you’ve given them something already. They “owe” you in the same irrational way a girl owes a guy sex after dinner and drinks.
Beauty salons know the value of free. That bottle of Perrier or glass of wine “on the house” puts you in a mood to swallow the fees with ease and tip your stylist well.
Free makes sense for some. But only if free is about lubrication and not actual penetration.
Free doesn’t make sense if you run a hot dog stand. Sure, you can get a lot of people to stand in line for your free hot dogs, but for what? Popularity? Notoriety? You really want to be known as the person who gives away free things? Blood letting is only fun for the leeches.
Perhaps you were thinking you’d attract a bunch of people with your free hot dogs but only give them the first one for free? That won’t work because most people won’t eat three hot dogs, which is what you’d need to sell them in order to make some money.
You could try to sell your dogs at a higher price but this brings up another problem with free: giving something away often lowers its perceived value. Giving hot dog #1 away for free makes a $5 for the second seem outrageously expensive.
Or you could try a different angle and charge a fair price for a high quality hot dog served up by a smiling and engaged member of your staff. You might not get the flattering long line of customers on the first day like you would with the free hot dogs, but you’ll make money on every one you sell.
Social media has done for marketing what the mechanical separator did for the dairy industry. Instead of worrying about everyone else in the bucket, just focus on being the cream and you’ll make it to the top.
If you don’t, you’ll just end up as one of many hot dog stands giving away free dogs while the only people making money are the ones who made the “find free hot dogs” iPhone application.
That’s my thought. Run with it.
