Being that the holiday season is about giving, and because I’ve seen this a few times over the holidays, I thought it would be a good time to talk about one of my favorite ways to attract new clients.  Give them an iPod to be your client.  Or better yet, give an iPod to each of your client’s new clients.  Huh?

As everyone knows, iPod is probably the hottest consumer product of the last 5 years.  Everyone wants one, whether you’re young, old, man, or woman.  They are just cool to have.  And because they are relatively expensive, they become an even more valuable item.  It’s not like getting something that costs $50 - this is a pretty nice item that you’re not going to get every day. 

You could give any product away but when you give an iPod away, you’re taking advantage of the product’s marketing power.

You could just give away $200, but that’s not as special to someone.  If you give $200 back, it feels to them like they’re saving money, which is good, but not as fun.  But if you give away an iPod, that person feels like they’re getting your product AND an iPod.  They’re getting an iPod for free.

If you had given them $200 back, they’re not going to spend that $200 on something fun or anything that they’ll remember in a couple of months.  But if you give away an iPod, it’s something that they’ll remember for the years that they have it.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

There’s one more indirect advantage of giving away an iPod - you’ll get some free marketing.  When someone gets an iPod it’s usually a story.  A Dad tells his friend that he’s now just as cool as his kids because he has an iPod just like them.  And now that story is going to include your company.  When someone asks Dad why he finally got around to getting an iPod, he’ll brag how he got it for free… from your company.

So that’s good and it might help bring you some new clients but there’s a way to really help your clients, who will become your biggest advocates.

Let’s say that you sold some sort of marketing service to orthodontists.  For every new client that your service brings in for the orthodontist, you will give that orthodontist an iPod to give to the patient.  And you can engrave the clients’ name on the back of the iPod (done free by Apple, by the way).

Now the kid who got braces from your orthodontist is bragging to his friends at school how Dr. X gives away iPods to his new patients.  All of a sudden, you created a brand new marketing and sales program for your client.  You only had to give away that one iPod to his client and he can continue to give away other iPods.  But you created a real incentive for that orthodontist so that kids who wouldn’t normally want to get braces, would be excited because Dr. X gives away iPods.

Just Give Something Away

While iPods are one of the best products to give away, you can use this type of strategy with a lot of different products or services.  If you’re worried about the price, you’ll probably make up the difference with increased sales.  If that still doesn’t satisfy you, just increase your prices a bit to cover it.

Sometimes you have to give to receive and giving away iPods is a great way to receive a lot more clients.