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When you are starting a business or taking your first steps to expansion, every penny counts. Advertising, operations and supplies requires an outlay of capital. If you’re looking at your business’ cash flow, free subscriptions offer an opportunity to get the job done without breaking your budget.
When You Only Need It Once
There are some things that happen infrequently in a young company. Logo design or re-design, creation of marketing material and website construction require a onetime use of software. Once completed, these functions will not be repeated for a long time. For these types of projects, use free trials to get powerful software without the cost. Most of the Adobe products have a free trial offering, including Dreamweaver and Photoshop. Generally you can get the full version of these software packages for 30 days as a trial. Video production platform GoAnimate gives a 14 day-free subscription, which is plenty to make a quick promotional video for a webpage. When using free trials, plan them out, so you do not run out of time before you are complete.
When You Want to Try It Out
Sometimes you want to test out a product. You have already committed to creating the new operation or marketing channel, and it is now a function of finding the right one. This is the reason that trial subscriptions were created. Things like cloud backup and offsite customer care platforms require an outlay of money, so it makes sense to test them out. MyPCBackup offers scalable offsite storage for your business documents. Depending on your industry, document security ranges from important to contractually mandated. To get people to try the product, it offers promotions on initial terms. For cloud based customer care, Deskero offers a free trial to its multichannel communication software platform. This application allows the user to integrate all social media and digital interactions into one integrated marketing message.
When You Want Points or Savings
Membership programs offer your business savings from economy of scale. Big box stores like Costco or BJs offer memberships that purport to save money. The typical membership for Costco costs $55 for the basic and $110 for a cash back membership. Sometimes Costco offers free memberships as a promotion. Do a little math to determine if the membership is worth the cost. For the higher membership, your company gets two percent cash back. To make it worth your while for the upgrade, you need to purchase $2,750 annually. Office Depot offers loyalty points for shopping with them. This membership is free, so there is no downside to signing up. Just make sure that you use the account for every transaction.
When You Want Something for Free
Consider the magazines in the waiting room, the little candies in the bowl or the small toy you give to the children of clients. Each of these cost money. Use free trial sites to get these things without touching your budget. Bzzagent is a free sample, product testing site. You sign up with your interests and Bzzagent sends you samples and items to try out. It costs nothing from you and eases a little of your budget concerns.
