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BACK TO BASICS: DO FREEBIES WORK?
2 recent thoughts I've had on marketing fundamentals...
Niall Ratcliffe
July 20, 2025
In partnership with
Morning!
I’m sat back in my apartment in Manchester, the rain is trickling down the apartment window, and I have dinner booked in 1 hour and 10 minutes’ time. I’ll probably end up finishing this one late into the night, but I thought I'd better get started now while I have a second.
It’s Oasis mania in Manchester at the minute, brands have Oasis-themed pop-ups on every corner. As I strolled to brunch this AM, I checked out a few and was reminded just how much we’ve forgotten about what great marketing really looks like.
In a world of AI, automation, and fancy tools, it’s easy to forget the core fundamentals that we marketers are meant to live by. Today, I want to remind you of 2 with some examples of how you can use them.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION
BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY
When I first got into marketing and when I first started this newsletter, I was obsessed with history’s greatest marketers. David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert, David Abbott, Claude Hopkins, Rosser Reeves. They were like magicians to me. They could take a brand that had nothing going for it and turn it into something amazing.
I particularly loved people like Gary Halbert, who felt like they were scrappy at the core and purely focused on doing what marketing was always intended to do - drive revenue into a business.
He’d send dollar bills in the post to convert customers.
He sent out 600 million letters selling people their family coat of arms.
And would write perfectly crafted copy that would convince people to literally send him money in the post.
That’s the marketing that gets me fired up.
Not necessarily because it’s so creative, but because he was doing anything he could to turn $1 into $3.
Today, it really feels like we lost this class of marketers and replaced them with people more focused on whether their campaign will look cool on their LinkedIn than whether it will actually work.
If simply writing a great A4 letter and mailing it to prospective customers’ homes would convert customers, would companies do it over a viral OOH pop-up? I don’t think so.
CEOs may wish they’d do that campaign, but the marketing team would deem in “uncreative” and “dull”.
But the reality is, marketing isn’t about who has the most creative campaign. It’s about driving new revenue into the business.
So today I wanted to bring us back to basics and remind you and myself about some of the fundamental basics of marketing and why we shouldn’t overlook them.
Starting with a simple Coca-Cola pop-up I saw in Manchester this weekend:
Fundamental 1: People Like Free Things
I took this photo at about 10:45 am on Saturday morning in downtown Manchester.
As you can quite clearly see, the weather was miserable. Rain pouring, yet still muggy and hot - possibly the worst environment to drink a Coke.
Yet as I stood in the doorway of Holland & Barret, waiting for my partner to spend 17 hours talking to the assistant about overpriced supplements, I saw at least 50 people stop by this stall and pick up a can of Coke.
Couple after couple would walk over, get 2 small cans of Coke and then crack them straight open and sip them as they walked off.
I couldn’t believe it, I’m not sure anyone in that moment truly wanted a can of Coke. I’d have it a guess that 0% would have purchased a can in that moment. Yet still, they happily drank one because it was free.
With each passing person who took a can, I was reminded of a simple truth:
People love free things.
We all do, me included. Just around the corner, Liquid IV had a fake Liam Gallagher performing as they handed out Liquid IV packets. So, as any human would, I happily accepted the freebies.
When I got home, I started to question just how effective this type of marketing activity was. On one hand, I felt like people just grab these freebies and then never think of the brand again. But on the other hand, sampling the brand will give people an opportunity to get to know the product.
I was unsure, so I did a bit of research. Turns out there’s a heavy amount of research into the success of sampling. Just take a look at these stats:
35% of people who try a free sample purchase the product during that same shopping trip. That means over one-third of tasters convert instantly - no fancy funnel required
Across industries, 73% of consumers say they're more likely to buy a product after sampling it, versus just 25% from seeing a traditional ad
Mass sampling campaigns have had 78% conversion to purchase in some cases, shifting millions of units and boosting brand loyalty
I hope you are as shocked by these as I am. But once you realise these, it’s no wonder major brands like Coca-Cola are investing millions in getting their products out there.
Then, on the other hand, it’s crazy that more challenger brands aren’t trying to jump on the same tactic. Of course, cost is a factor here. But in a world where people think the best way to get their product out there is:
Building a big social following
Creating a clever GTM campaign
Or attempting to get into retail
This is a reminder that sometimes the best way to get some early adoption is just standing on the street and handing out your product to your ICP.
Fundamental 2: Marketing Starts With The Consumer
On Tuesday this week, I stood in front of 100+ marketers at B2B Marketing Live Manchester and asked them a simple question:
“Who here has ever surveyed their ICP?”
Everyone looked around nervously as just 3 people in the entire room raised their hands.
3 out of 100+ people have ever even gone and asked their ICP a few questions to get to know them better. How crazy is that?
Back in the day, that’s how every marketing campaign started.
Step 1: Get to know your ICP
Step 2: Craft a campaign for them
Step 3: Launch campaign
Today, people launch entire businesses before ever even talking to their ICP, never mind clearly defining it. Which is what I think holds so many companies back.
But I also have to admit that I’m not an innocent man.
When we first started our agency, our ICP was far from defined. We had a general gist that we were targeting B2B companies, but we honestly didn't know even close to enough about what they really wanted. So, we spent forever running around in circles tweaking our service to align it with what they wanted.
About 6 months ago, we started regularly asking clients and prospects the same 2 questions:
What’s the most valuable thing we offer?
Is there something you wish you could buy from us?
It’s still not good enough, but I think the answers to those questions will be the reason behind 90% of our growth over the next 6 months.
A great example of this in action:
We asked all of our clients what the most valuable thing we do for them is. Many replied with the lead magnets we create with them. We then went and asked prospects what part of our service they were most interested in. They answer the lead magnet element.
We went away and created an AI tool that generated a free lead magnet idea and strategy tailored to your ICP.
We distributed it to our ICP through LinkedIn.
We got 350+ leads in 12 hours from that campaign a few weeks ago. All because we simply asked our ICP what they wanted.
Marketing starts with the customer, if you haven’t surveyed yours - it’s time you did.
🌱 THE GREENHOUSE
Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:
TL;DR
Don’t get me wrong, I love modern tools and tricks as much as anyone. But I do think it’s so important to remember these basics as well. Even if it’s as simple as giving your product away and surveying your ICP.
If you’re not doing either of these things, try giving 1 a go this week.
Oh and if you have a friend or colleague who might need this reminder too - please send this to them :)
Until next Sunday.
— Niall
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