Turbo Tax – How to Market Free

I recently came across a ad for TurboTax. What stood out? “Free tax prep.” Even more interesting was their positioning against FreeTaxUSA, claiming it’s not truly free.

This is a strong example of strategic marketing—leveraging both placement and product messaging to shape consumer perception. TurboTax isn’t just promoting their service; they’re actively reframing the competition’s offer.

In my latest blog post, I’ll break down how TurboTax is owning the concept of “free” and how they use this to craft a cohesive ad strategy.

Banner Ad Analysis

Date: February 1st—17 days before the February 18th deadline. The timing is strategic—early enough to be proactive but close enough to keep taxes top of mind without creating false urgency. It also prompted me to explore both TurboTax and its competitor’s offerings.

I started off by reviewing TurboTax’s landing page, which I found to be straightforward and compelling. It reinforced the “free tax prep” message and featured a clear call to action to download the app. If I were in the market, this would catch my attention—after all, who doesn’t like free?

To verify TurboTax’s claim, I visited FreeTaxUSA’s landing page. While they do offer free federal filing, state tax filing comes at an additional cost. The issue? That pricing information is placed below the fold, which feels less than transparent.

Additionally, their approach leans too heavily on direct response tactics without properly educating the user. When sharing something as sensitive as my Social Security number, I need to trust the platform. Unfortunately, this landing page doesn’t do enough to build that confidence.

Paid Search Analysis

I wanted to see if TurboTax was marketing $0 tax returns across other channels, so I searched “file tax with government for free” to check whether they were also positioning themselves against the government’s free filing service. The answer? Yes—TurboTax is running paid search ads on this term.

A few things stood out:

• They emphasize “$0” three times in their ad copy as a clear value proposition.
• Their ad appears at the very top of the search results, outranking several competitors.
• Since TurboTax isn’t directly relevant to this specific query, they are likely paying a premium for this placement.

Typically, I’d advise against bidding aggressively on high-cost, low-relevance keywords. However, in this case, it’s clear that owning the “free tax return” narrative is a core part of their strategy—and they’re executing it well. This is one of the rare instances where paying for a premium ad position makes strategic sense.

Cohesive Ad Strategy

I even came across a remarketing ad in Google’s Discovery feed—another smart touch in TurboTax’s strategy. It’s clear they are ramping up their ad spend ahead of tax season, ensuring potential customers stay aware of their offering across multiple touchpoints.

This is a great example of a well-executed, cohesive ad strategy—from competitive positioning to landing page experience to sustained remarketing.

For small business owners, this raises an important question: How strategic is your marketing approach? Are you reinforcing your message across the right channels and building trust with your audience? Feel free to contact me to get help with your ad strategy today.