When it comes to promoting your business, one way to shake things up and get your customers excited is with the use of promotional contests. These can take on many different forms, but the intention is always to generate buzz about your brand.
By including these types of promotions in your overall marketing strategy, you can add variety to your other advertising tactics that might be growing stale and ineffective. These also pave the way for greater interaction with your customers, ultimately bringing in more sales.
With these benefits in mind, you might be wondering how to actually pull off a successful promotional contest. The steps are rather simple, to be honest. You just need to establish the rules, execute your plans, and promote the contest to encourage participation.
To better ensure that you are successful in doing so, here are some tips to help guide you.
1. Keep the rules of the game simple
Begin by brainstorming a contest mechanic that is both fun and easy-to-follow. The whole point is to get as many people to join, and you can’t do that if your rules are overly complicated.
However, just because your rules are simple doesn’t mean that the game should be easy. A worthy challenge will bring out the best in your customers and people will be far more likely to be interested if the entires showcase a level of skill.
2. Provide all the needed information immediately
Next, promote your contest by creating promotional material that delivers all the necessary information to your customers. At the very least, any advertisements you promote must include what prizes customers stand to win, what steps they have to complete to enter, the duration of the contest (specify the dates), and a link to more comprehensive terms and conditions.
Make sure all this information is accurate and complete, and take some time to design your ad so that it captures your customers’ attention.
3. Utilize all your marketing channels
Display your contest ad on all the platforms you have at your disposal. The most cost-effective ones will include most of your digital marketing mediums such as your website and social media pages.
If you have the budget for it, you might even consider traditional mediums like print and broadcast media.
4. Throw in a few bonuses
To entice more people to join your contest, give them an incentive they can earn just by participating. You can provide giveaways for everyone who submits an entry or offer a discount on a future purchase that they make.
They won’t necessarily cost much, and by having them as part of the contest, you can guarantee a situation wherein everyone wins—including yourself.
5. Share the results
To retain transparency, remember to also announce the winner once your contest has run its course. Doing so will instill confidence in your customers and may guarantee that they participate in any future contests you might run.
Conclusion
As you can see, running a successful promotional contest doesn’t have to be difficult. There are complicated aspects—yes, that much is expected—but with some thoughtful planning, you can certainly hold a contest that will bring more customers to your business.
We’re a company of promotional contest managers from Boston. If you need experts to strategize and execute a contest that delivers real results to your business, get in touch with us today. We’re happy to help.
