Web Marketing: is gratis really free?

"Gratis" and "free" are two of the most researched keywords in the internet, according to the statistics of the most common search engines (such as Google, Yahoo or Bing). Allegedly, people seek after free things and they like what they can have without giving out no coins: words like "for free", "discount" or "special sale" draw our attention immediately and lead our behaviours, most of times.

But, if free products are so loved by internet users (and all the rest of people, too!!!) why do sellers love them the same way? Don't they have some drawback giving away articles for free? They do, if they decide to sell high quality products for no money, but gratis articles are (almost) never the best ones on their shelves or web pages.

Let's consider this: when we receive a present, we are glad regardless of the gift itself. Of course, if we get something good, we are happier, but even if we are given something we will never use, we often feel pleased anyway, don't we?

Marketing experts know that very well and are aware that a gift builds a tie between two people, the giver and the receiver. If I give you something you didn't ask for and I don't want anything in return, you will feel tied to me: "obliged" is a synonym of "grateful" not by chance (see Portuguese "obrigado/a" for both "thank you" and "you're welcome").

So, free products (as well as Free Software) can be considered as the gifts sellers give us to tie us to them. If you want to start up a web marketing champaign, you should consider some kind of "gratis" articles you want to give away: the results you get will be amazing! Reciprocity is one of the best deep-rooted feelings in our modern society and 2/3 of your target, in accordance with latest statistics, won't miss this rule: if you need some proof of its efficiency, try to think of the series of words we say in order to indentify someone who breaks the reciprocity rule (ungrateful, unappreciative, sycophant, sponge, drone and so on...).

So free products do work well, if you can use them properly as a seller, but they can turn into a "smoke and mirrors" bait if you are an ingenuous free-things-receiver: you might be enmeshed in an extremely effective mechanism of our mind and be led to accept further requests from "the generous seller who gave you once something for free".

Breaking the reciprocity rule can be very hard, as we have seen in the previous capsule. Anyway, we can enjoy free products we collect or are given in the internet without remorse or other problems. It's very easy and it's first of all a psychological attitude.

Reciprocity exists only when we are given something without any evident purpose: in such cases, and only in them, we should be grateful and feel obliged to our generous giver of free things. But is the internet full of philanthtopists? I don't think so: every gratis thing you get from a website is a clear way to establish the feeling of reciprocity in your mind.

If you consider a free e-book, image, video or some software not as a gift but as the first approach of a marketing strategy, you will feel free of any reciprocity bond. This doesn't mean that giving free products is a fraud or a scam: it is perfectly legal, represents a very effective selling strategy and offers the opportunity to try a product before buying it.

The "secret" to enjoy gratis things is obvious: don't have great expectations! A free e-book about a subject, for example, will not satisfy your curiosity but, on the contrary, it will feed it: you won't find any whole information in it, just something interesting (in the best cases!) and some link to other e-books for sale.

So, if you want to learn something well, you should rely on complete information and, most of the times, you'll have to pay for it. On the contrary, if you just need a general knowledge about a subject or don't have any special need, free e-books and gratis products will be ok. Have fun, looking for your free articles on the internet!!!