Sound like a post about some type of baby give-a-way contest?  Guess again.  Pink Spoon Marketing is a way to grow your email list by building the “know/like/trust” factor to create a thriving business utilizing email marketing.  Your email list is your gold.

The term “pink spoon” was created by Andrea Lee and was inspired by the popular ice cream store that hands you a little pink spoon to let you sample some of the 31 available flavors.  In business, the pink spoon you offer to your clients or customers might be an article, report, tip sheet, or ebook.  Or maybe you want to give them one of each.  That is totally up to you!

While this concept of offering a freebie has been around for several years, the “pink spoon” analogy is a good one.  Giving away something free via the Internet is one of the most cost effective things you can do – yet gives you tremendous power.  Who doesn’t LOVE getting things free and being the one to offer this freebie gives you an exceptional chance of winning the business.

A “pink spoon offering” has these five characteristics:

1. It’s free. The person wanting the pink spoon sample simply has to provide their name and email to receive it.
2. It has value that someone is willing to pay for. However, by getting it free, you create a vital bond between you and them.
3. It is a true sample in that the size is small – like a single page tip sheet or a 4-6 page report.
4. There is a onetime cost to create the pink spoon (e.g., to write the report) and setup the distribution…but then it runs itself.
5. The relationship between the pink spoon item and your core product or service follows a natural pathway.

My pink spoon offering to my clients follows an eight-step approach for success.  It includes the following:

1. Ensuring you’re in the right niche market for you.
2. Determining the problems your target customer/client has.
3. Creating a list of solutions for the problem your customer/client faces.
4. Deciding on what product to offer and how to package that product.
5. Delivering highly qualified traffic to a web site or blog.
6. Converting that visitor traffic from a “sampler” to a “purchaser” who returns repeatedly.
7. Building your trust factor to enable your business achieve its full potential.
8. Helping you to be known for the personal integrity that you apply across all areas of your business.

Through my Pink Spoon marketing service offerings, I have found that clients who were undecided about what direction to go (or flavor to select, if you will) are now able to focus on what they truly want to offer.  Plus, knowing they have the backing of someone who understands this approach is just like putting the cherry on top of their hot fudge sundae!