Everyone loves a freebie, a fact that businesses have been using to their advantage since time immemorial.  Companies give away everything from free samples of their products and services to a whole host of other corporate gifts to entice the business of potential clients or to encourage repeat business.

Of course, in order for any type of freebie to achieve its aim, it has to be valuable to the recipient and the one thing that most people value is knowledge.  This is why offering free e-books on a subject that is directly related to your products or services can be so effective in terms of marketing.

Like well-written company blogs, e-books are a great way to build your brand.  They help to raise confidence and trust in your expertise.  Additionally, e-books are a superb tool for driving high volumes of traffic to your website and generating sales leads.
 
And because those who visit your site to download the free e-book are already specifically interested in what you have to offer, the leads you generate are of the highest quality.

If you are not a budding author or simply don't have the time to write your own e-book, then the services of a freelance writer can be procured for very little money. All your business then needs to do is promote the e-book through e-book libraries and freeware sites and follow up on all those valuable leads.