Free gifts, who doesn’t like them? “Leading with value” is a catchphrase and business core value – where business (both small and large) desire to give to their clients and customers by providing value even before they purchase from the.   You can see this in action at a Best Buy tech desk, where you can go in and ask a question about an electronic that you have and they’ll freely give you as much information as they can. From there sometimes they can fix the problem on the spot free of charge. What a great way to get people to both come into the store and to interact with your personnel.

It’s much the same way online. You can easily give away “free” value to help people see more of what you have to offer as well as insight into an area they are in need of more information. Everything from how-tos all the way to where-tos (Places to visit) to tips   Here’s a list of 6 items that you can give away to add value and gain trust and following.

1. EBooks – One of the earliest online items for people to be able to buy, eBooks offer something that most people are already acquainted with as well as something that has become even more accessible with the availability of tablets to the masses on which they can be reading these books. It can be even more powerful If it’s something you normally sell on your website or elsewhere, then the visitor feels a lot of incentive to get the free item.
2. Software – The barrier to entry used to be so high for software. Now you can often easily and cheaply build plug-ins, apps, online tools, downloadable tools, if you use the right tool or have the right connections. In addition you can purchase private label rights software that you can utilize to add value to your customers.
3. Reports – Have some time on your side? A report is just a short eBook that is more focused on solving one problem, instead of an overall “how to” like a book would be. If you can do the leg work and the research work, the report could be an ideal offering of a smaller portion of what you have. It can also be more niche specific to target new verticals that you may want to bring into your funnel. You can also produce a report from software – similar to a FREE SEO report from an SEO agency in Salt Lake City.
4. Coupons – This one is a stead standby. People do love being able to get a deal and what better way than by getting it right from you. While you may want to watch out for discount seekers, as they may not make good long-term customers, you can still benefit greatly by reducing the barrier for people to try out your service or product by using a coupon. Don’t misuse the coupon though. Be sure that you have a strong follow-up plan in place to build a relationship with those that use the coupon. Sites like Groupon and Living Social were raving successes because people love coupons, but most businesses who offer deals there have done poorly at building a relationship with those that bought a coupon for their business.
5. Videos – Offering a video lesson or videos of a live event as a freebie is a great way to repurpose videos that you’ve made. Just load them up to deliver to the people who sign up for your list. People love video and YouTube is continuing to be one of the leading search engines in the world over all. You can choose to deliver the video after sign-up or offer free podcasts or videos to build a relationship before purchase and give even more reason for them to sign-up, whether it’s to get additional videos, further insights, or just to be mailed links by which to watch the next video.
6. Checklists – Checklists are so simple and yet, many people crave them. Why? Because there is so much information out there, we need someone to take it back to its basics again and a checklist is a great way to do that. The top 10, 5, or whatever number you choose will often be great intro information, however, if you want to make a bigger impact, get a little crazier and go for 50 or 100.

Utilize the ideas above to bring in even more people to your funnel. Use them to bridge the gap of trust and value and show potential clients and customers the value you provide. As you can see, there are so many different ways to go about this, that you can really decide which one fits best for you and your potential customers.