The reality is that freebies and free offers promoted by reputable companies on line actually are free. That does not mean that there is nothing expected in return. Some companies are looking for your opinion or your contact details so they can send you more offers, and product information, or they have another, more obvious motive, which is to get you to buy their products.

Internet freebies and free offers are exactly the same as the promotional giveaways that you find in shops and businesses across the country all the time. Businesses are always offering free samples, discounts and coupons for one very good reason; they want you to try their products. The hope is that when you do, you will like the product, or service and you will want more, you will happily pay for it, and hopefully keep buying. Obviously, companies do this more for products they really believe their Customers, or potential Customers will like.

Freebie offers are a very reliable market test for a new product or service. They give the company a strong understanding as to whether or not people are in fact interested in a product, whether they have a use for it, and whether they will buy it; essentially, it tells a company whether this is a product worth investing their resources, and cold hard cash, in further.

Freebies are also an effective means of introducing a new product into the marketplace. People, being very habitual, are often reluctant to try new things; sometimes they are simply not motivated. But with a free and better alternative placed in front of them, the offer becomes irresistible. In addition, and considering people are becoming ore immune to marketing messages, the chance to try something free means that they can make their own evaluation of a product, with little or no risk, before deciding whether to become a Customer.

On the Internet, freebies, giveaways, and free offers serve another very effective purpose. Companies use freebies to harvest email addresses and contact information. Using this method, marketers obtain permission, and continue to send you information about their products. They may also use this as a subscription to a regular newsletter or other means by which paid products and expanded services can be marketed.

Looking at freebies from a marketing viewpoint, as a means of promoting your product, or testing your market positioning, the Internet, in particular freebie sites, offer good examples of the methods used by savvy companies to attract Customers.

Freebie marketing on the Internet has added a new dimension to traditional freebies and free offers, the practice of offering freebies as a marketing strategy is not new; freebies have been a staple of product testing and advertising for more than a century. No doubt this will continue and, for a consumer, that's great news as never before have so many freebies, and free stuff offers, been so accessible, and easily available.