However, federal regulations state that there are rules on how you can and cannot use "free" on your marketing collaterals. The Federal Trade Commission provides the following rules to govern your flyer printing and postcard printing campaign:

Frequency of the "free" offer. The Federal Trade Commission says that the offer should not exceed more than six months of advertising in a 12-month period. And it also states that before you can make the same offer, you need to wait for at least 30 days before you can advertise it again.

In addition, the maximum times that you can make the offer are 3 times in a year, with no more than 50% of your items to be given away for free. 51% must be on regular transactions at the normal selling price.

Second Item Offer. If your offer includes your client having to buy another item to get the free merchandise, then the buyer should not pay more than the regular price for the second item. None of that trying-to-recover-the-costs from the free item.

At Regular Price. According to the commission, "regular price" means the price that you have been using to sell the item for a considerable amount of time. When the price goes down, then the lowest price during the 30-day period shall be the "regular" price. And you cannot increase the price even for one day just so you can make it look like you've been offering a much bigger discount to your clients. That's not allowed under federal law.

Conditions and Obligations (***). Putting an asterisk or a footnote at the bottom of your promotional flyers and postcards to indicate conditions and obligations is not advised. The federal rule states that "any conditions and obligations pertaining to the free offer must be in close proximity to the offer."

Offer While Supply Lasts. Free offer on new products can only be made during a limited period of time. When the promotional period expires, then you have to start selling the item at the price it was promoted.

"Free" Substitutes. No substituting the word "free" with such words as "gift", "bonus", or "reward".

Most business owners have used the word "free" liberally with their promotional materials such as flyers and postcards. But "free" doesn't mean that there are no reservations and conditions. When you want to use it to create a more effective marketing collateral, I suggest that you get legal assistance before you even start your promotional campaign.

Just to be on the safe side.