As soon as you mention getting something for FREE these days, people instantly start thinking of common and negative phrases like,
"There's no such thing as a free lunch"
"Nothing in this life is free"
"If it sounds too good to be true, then it normally is!"
When initially hearing about this Referral Based Advertising idea, where you can basically receive a £299 Playstation 3 for free, it seems incredibly unrealistic. At first it is hard to
elieve, it seems ridiculous and incredulous. The thought of getting something for nothing seems to send people into a frenzy of disbelief, but why is that?
Is it that hard to imagine in a decade where you get given free mobile phones, worth hundreds of pounds when you take out a new contract or when you get given £50 of Marks and Spencer's vouchers for recommending a friend to Sky. Other examples of getting things for free, are when you take out broadband with a company, more often than not they will give you a free modem or wireless router.
These companies are basically paying / bribing you into trying their products, and why not let them? For this reason I suggest forgetting the aforementioned negative phrases associated with getting something for free, and consider this positive one:
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth."
With this positive notion in mind, lets examine how this whole system works.
Referral Based Advertising & Affiliate MarketingIn order to get a Free Gadget, such as a PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, iPod Touch, or iPhone, you will have to try a product or service, then recommend friends to do the same. This is basically how Referral Based Advertising works.
One site which specalises in helping get free gadgets online is Gratis Gadgets. At the moment they are particularly helping users get their hands on a free PS3. This site was set up by a group of people who have received free gadgets online in the past and are now helping others do they same.
Normally a product or service sells well if it receives good word of mouth reviews, and people tell their friends how great this product / service is. Referral Based Advertising is similar, except that when you spread the word about the company you will receive an item in return for free.
Affiliate Marketing is simply the process of a Company paying another 3rd party company (Reward Network), to direct new customers to their door. The company then pays the 3rd party company for each and every new customer, or referral, sent their way.
So, if you sign up to one of the Companies (such as Lovefilm, or one of the various Credit Card offers available), the Reward Network receives a fee. If you then recommend 8 friends to so the same, the Reward Network will receive another additional 8 fees. How much is this fee? I believe it varies depending on the Company and the offer, but if we call it £25 for argument's sake, then you can quite clearly see below, how the whole process works.
In this example above, I'm going to be using an 80GB PS3 as the receiving gift. The PS3 requires 15 referrals and each referral earns the reward network £25 commission.
Does this actually work?It does. Having been sceptical about the whole process, with a head full of ideas about scams and major disappointments, I tried this Referral based advertising program and received my first free Nintendo Wii in February of 2008.
Now you will have to nag and persuade your friends and family to sign up for you, this goes without saying, as 9/10 people seem to disbelieve that you can get something for nothing. However, maybe if you point out to them that companies in the UK, USA , and Canada give away free products every day in return for you trying or using their product it will make sense. This is just a different twist on the process.
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