I’ll Scratch Your Back and You’ll Scratch Mine Business Strategy

There is a saying “There ain’t no such thing as free lunch” and “Cash, gas or ass no one rides for free”. Yes of course there are many things you can find in the internet for free. Free information and sometimes freebies given by companies who promote their products. But all of them have a catch (I mean a drawback). For example, there are websites that offer free ebooks but to get it, you have to give your email address or subscribe to their mailing list. So you think giving away your email address in exchange for the free ebook you downloaded is totally free. The truth is, it is a mailing list business strategy to send you an email later so that they can offer you more products to sell. And sometimes your email address is sold in bulk to internet marketers that sells products or services that is why there are so many unsolicited or spam emails in your inbox.

Just last week, someone from a company I’m not familiar with asked me to post their training schedules on my blog and their purpose is to promote their training services like what I’m doing for TRC and KSNS (Kabuhayang Swak na Swak). Then I asked them what will they give in exchange  for posting their training schedule. But I was surprised because I never got an answer. So my conclusion is, they want to promote their business for free, get customers and leads for free. So what will I gain? you’re right! nothing.

You might think why am I doing it for TRC and KSNS? first of all those two organizations are already popular. Kabuhayang Swak na Swak is shown on television and already have an exposure. People are already searching for them so I gained something for including them in my blog. Also, TRC didn’t hesitate to put my link on one of their popular page, you can check it out here. And if you are not aware, government websites have authority with regards to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and if you have links from government websites, it will boost your websites or blog’s search engine rankings. So isn’t fair and a good strategy to offer something before asking a favor?