A friend of mine once gave blood because the Red Cross was giving away bobbleheads.
If you’re not American, you might not know what a bobblehead is—
A little figurine, plastic or ceramic, with an oversized head on a spring. Tap the head and it starts bobbling around, hence — bobblehead.
My friend normally never gives blood. And his experience giving blood this time was particularly slow, painful, and scary.
In the rush and push of the big blood drive, the nurses forgot about him. He looked on in panic for what seemed like a long winter, convinced that air bubbles were coming up into his veins.
And yet, he did it, for the bobblehead, because he’s a big baseball fan.
My friend staggered out afterwards, clutching his bobblehead of Brooks Robinson, the legendary third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles.
“Please take me home,” he said weakly.
So I gave him a ride back to his place, where he spent the next three days sleeping and recovering, with the Brooks Robinson bobblehead next to his pillow.
My point being, you can sell a lot of unsellable stuff by giving away a free gift.
But you probably knew that already.
So let me zoom in a little and point out that you can sell a lot of unsellable stuff by giving away a completely unrelated free gift.
Most bonuses in the DM world tend to be relevant to the main offer:
“Order a ThighMaster NOW and get FREE a ButtMaster plus a copy of Suzanne Somers Toning System™ workout video!”
But a free bonus doesn’t have to be related to your core offer. And in fact, it might work better if it isn’t.
The blood-drive bobblehead is just one example.
I also remember hearing Dan Kennedy give a couple of other examples.
The magazine Advertising Age, which sold subscriptions with a bonus mug. No relevant bonus could outpull the mug.
And Omaha Steaks, which sold steaks, from Omaha. Their best-performing free bonus was a calculator.
Why?
Who knows. Just know this:
If your current offer is as much fun as giving blood… then your free bonus doesn’t have to be a kidney removal.
And now, please sign up for my email newsletter. If you do, I’ll send you a free bonus, a picture of the cover of Breakthrough Advertising, with Gene Schwartz’s name blocked out and your name pasted in.