The value of free in relationship building The most powerful word in marketing is the word "free". by Thomas Prendergast This is why you see it in advertising all the time and everywhere. There are varying degrees of the usage of this powerful little word. It is best used when the offer is of good value and it really is free. If you have to purchase something to get something for free, that is really not free. So what exactly is free? You have to ask today because so many things claim to be. But are they really? The Japanese have a saying that free is the most expensive. I agree to a point. Here is why.. When it comes to advertising and marketing, free is a loss leader. However, you must give something to get it. Usually giving your contact information (like email and physical address and phone and fax numbers). Allowing them permission to send you offers via your info. This might not sound so bad until you realize that this information is going to be sold again and again. This means that your email is going to get spammed to death. This means tele-marketers are going to call you incessantly and your fax will become the target of ever increasing advertising. Not so free huh? So, when you see something for free, read the fine print. You see, all lead production is done with an offer. Have you ever been to a county fair where you can enter to win a free car, a free vacation or a free cruise? Lead production at work. Fill the card out and I guarantee you will get many calls pitching you something. Most likely time-shares. Have you seen the TV commercials promising you work from home success and sending you to a web site to fill out the questionnaire? Lead production. Most of these type of lead production systems get your information and they sell it to multiple sources and before long you find yourself buried in unsolicited emails and annoying telemarketing calls. Unethical and totally disconnected. But not all lead production is done the same. Free is paramount for a great service or product. But unlike most lead hackers there are some systems that actually do protect your privacy The privacy policy will make it clear that your information is protected and that it will not be sold or traded or disseminated. These systems make it very clear the protection they offer. They will disclose exactly what kind of contact will be made. On the Internet these offers will always send email verification to complete the process as well. As the Internet has evolved many free services and free sites have disappeared. Many sites have resorted to selling their databases to make needed revenues. The thirst for leads drives the free offer market. So you have to be careful as to what you are actually paying to get free. How valuable is your contact information and how valuable is the free service you are looking for. Be informed and aware exactly how the site is going to use your information. Here is a quote from the Internet's largest free stuff site, thefreesite.com: "Question: Hmm, "free stuff." I'm suspicious. Answer: Actually that's not a bad approach to take, both with our site and any freebie offer you may find on the Web. Although we work hard to make sure all our offers are legitimate, it's always best to remember that people usually don't give away free stuff out of the goodness of their hearts. By and large, freebie providers are looking to draw you to their site to drum up business, so they can sell you something. Having said that, there are an enormous number of great freebies out there for the taking. So just be careful and use common sense, and you'll be OK. Incidentally, if you sign up for a lot of freebies, you may be targeted by spammers (junk E-mail senders). Be sure to protect yourself against spam." The relationship side of this: We use many traffic portals that offer great free services for one reason only. To build a relationship with the person that signed up into one of our portals. When someone signs up into our distributor's particular portal for that specific free service, the subscriber's contact information becomes available only to that particular distributor. Our distributors are instructed to call that specific subscriber and strike up a conversation that will likely lead to building a friendly and profitable relationship. Contrary to the conventional techniques of just sending unsolicited impersonal email to advertise, our system entices the visitor to subscribe and thus invite the distributor to make the phone contact. This process has proved to be very effective in building large profitable spheres of influence. And spam is not part of the equation! FYI: I am the CEO of Inetekk.com. We have pioneered free on the Internet and also pioneered true privacy in regards to subscribing systems. We do not sell our contact databases. If you want to check us out go to http://skypedestrian.veretekk.com and signup for a free system. Come join us, it is free! http://skypedestrian.veretekk.com Sincerely, George Hendricks |USA|EST|  917-498-7200 skypedestrian@veretekk.com