This will work for niche products too, but you’ll probably have to tweak it a little bit.
There are ALWAYS good products available. Sometimes you just want to have a look at them all, but can’t afford to.
When I started out, there were dozens of things I wanted to buy, but due to me not having the money (I was making a couple hundred a month, so spending $50 on a coaching course or product would be silly) I couldn’t.
However, I have used this strategy to get products free, multiple times. And the best thing is that this is 100% legal.
Some of you probably do this for music and movies, and IM-products too… you go to warez forums and ask for the download link. I used to use warez when I started out, and I’m not proud of it… I stopped after seeing one of my own products ripped and realising that dozens were profiting from my hard work. Without me receiving a dime.
Of course, that’s how other product creators feel too. I am NOT recommending warez, it is not a good thing and you’ll only realise how bad it is if you ever launch a product of your own and see it stolen.
However, I am going to teach you how you can get products free. For example, for my product I’ve said that anyone with a blog that has 200 subscribers will get a copy of the product free in exchange for a review. But what if you don’t have a blog?
This will usually work for any product you try. Unlike mine, most products tend to have a pre-made list of people to contact for free copies, that is joint venture partners. Either established affiliates, or other product creators, or large blog owners.
However, you may not fall into any of those categories. You can however still get the product free – legally – if you’re willing to put in a little effort for it.
Contact the owner of the product in question, and send them a PERSONALIZED email. Find out their name, the name of the product and so on.
Remember, this is a business they’re running, and they have to treat it as one. They can’t just send copies to anyone that asks and promises a text testimonial. So you have to go above and beyond the norm. Here’s a few things you can do…
Want a product? Tell a product owner (and follow through) that you’d be willing to give a full 2-3 paragraph testimonial if he sent you a copy to look over, along with a short audio recommendation.
Want a product? Tell a product owner (and follow through) that you’d be willing to create a honest video testimonial that s/he could use to market it.
Want a product? Tell a product owner that you’ll make sure that their product is linked to on a blog with X,XXX – XX,XXX+ subscribers. How can you do this, without paying for a review? Simple – write a high quality blog post, send it in as a guest post and link to the sales page in your author blurb.
Want a product? Tell the product owner (and follow through) that you’d be willing to create five articles, and submit them to article directories on the related topics in the niche.
Want a product? Tell them you’ll submit the sales page to X directories, ask them if they need help with design (if you have some skills there) or coding (if you have some skills there).
Want a product? Tell the product creator that you have X hours to dedicate daily, would be willing to have a real go at it (until it works) and when it did, would send in screenshot proof (as well as an audio / video testimonial) of your success. Nothing sells a product better than solid third party testimonials…. even more with proof.
Most product owners will be more than happy enough to send you a copy completely free if you do one of the things above, or offer them something that HELPS them. And the good thing is, that rather than ripping off someone’s hard spent time and money, you’re actually helping them. I’ve made friends with people that had never heard my name, or even knew who I was… friends with people that are a lot more established than I am through this, and they’ve passed on advice that has helped me further advance my internet business.
All of the above ideas will cost you less than it would to purchase (usually), even if you outsource and you have the chance of making friends, marketing yourself and so on. By doing something that benefits the product owner, you’re benefiting yourself… if not more.
Good luck! I hope the stuff talked about here helped and that some of you will actually use it. Remember, it doesn’t have to be an IM-product, you can do this for other niches, but you will have to tweak the approach a bit. 
November 4th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Thanks a lot for the informations.
I think i will try some of your ideas.
Mario
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November 4th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Awesome ideas
I’ve heard of the first one you mention but I never really thought of the rest though. I wonder something if these testimonials are even real sometimes but I guess they could be.
Bruno Auger’s last blog post..How to Advertise yourself through Social Networking
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November 4th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Excellent advice Jason, as usual. I think sometimes people are scared to use that approach, but they’d be surprised what can happen once they take the initiative. People want the extra promotion for their products and a free copy usually isn’t a huge deal, as long as you can add some kind of value in return.
Cheers (and congrats on your product release!)
Jay
SuiteJ’s last blog post..Website Flipping: Hunting Down Buyers
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November 4th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
This is brilliant, its like bartering but with something you could possibly create for next to nothing. Thanks
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November 4th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Dude, I’m all about asking for what I want! No matter if it’s a freebie, or a nice payment plan when one doesn’t exist. If you want something ask, worse they can say is no…and could you blame them?
But what if they say yes? You’ll never know without asking! Great post Jason
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November 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Great post Jason! Like always :p
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November 4th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Very interesting.
The Almost Millionaire’s last blog post..Stock Hunting
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November 4th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Sorry, but I must report you to the IRS.
Wait… 100% legal?
Darn! My plans to dominate TUK are ruined!
Obed Ward’s last blog post..Lightbulb Turned On
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November 5th, 2008 at 12:14 am
These are great tips, thanks for sharing them. Im gonna have to try some of them. Its always good to get products for free
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November 5th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Great idea. I knew that if you offered to review or promote it (and you were “worthy”) you could get a free copy, but you went even further with some pretty cool ideas.
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November 5th, 2008 at 1:24 am
very interesting article.
Lets see how many free products i would be able to get
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Weng (14 comments) Reply:
November 27th, 2008 at 4:33 am
I think with these tactics, you probably won’t be able to get some product that’s more expensive – a few hundred bucks! But anything under $100 should be alrite. Well that’s my assumption.
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November 5th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Want a product?
Offer to sign up under the creator’s affiliate link for a service or product
Rajaie AlKorani’s last blog post..Let’s Be Friends on Twitter
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November 5th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Neat ideas, some of those might actually work
Sellers can use this approach as well if they notice that people are not responding to their products.
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November 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Excellent Jason, some awesome ways to hopefully end up with lifetime JV partners.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Do You Have Good Follow-Through?
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November 5th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I know what you mean about not knowing how bad it feels until you have it done to you and your work. However people love things that are for free, which explains the popularity of sites like warez.
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November 5th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
You know me, if you can find something for free, I am there. Your good when it comes to finding ways to get free stuff. Good job
sara
http://www.gadgetadvisor.com
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November 6th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Sounds interesting. It just concerns me that some people may not follow up on their promises. People put hard work into their products and do not want people profiting from their ideas without paying for them.
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Dennis Edell (56 comments) Reply:
November 6th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Unfortunately that apart of doing business today. Eventually you build up a network of trusty partners though.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..100 RSS Subscribers – It’s Happy Dance Time!
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November 6th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Jason ~ These are all great tips! I have a few products in mind that I am going to try a couple of these with … I’ll post back with my successes (or denials LOL). *SmiLes* Suzanne
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November 6th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Excellent advice Jason, as usual. I’m gonna have to try some of them.
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November 7th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I tried this once for getting a very popular ebook. I just said that I’d be willing to write an honest review on my blog if he sent me a free copy. Within minutes, I received one!
In my opinion, most people will give you a free copy if you write the request in a good manner. Having large blogs are very advantageous for getting a free copy.
Ganesh’s last blog post..Commenting My Way to Success!
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November 8th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Thanks for sharing it’s always nice to get something for free, I like such things
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November 17th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Those are some awesome tips. Thanks.
Michael Henry’s last blog post..Weekly Website Update, 2nd week of Nov
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November 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
It’s really creative ideas, but not easy to do. Maybe someday I’ll try it. Thanks
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November 27th, 2008 at 4:42 am
there’s another way which will only work if you have a decent sized list. You can ask to review the product, and if it’s good then you’ll promote to your list.
But the tactics in this post can be effective even if you have nothing at all! That’s the cool thing about it.
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December 8th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Thanks for sharing this tip, I’ll be sure to try it.
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December 17th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
[...] a few ways you can get something for free: Jason Pereira had a great post on how to get any IM product free, legally, but here’s a few quick [...]
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