Sometimes it can be difficult to determine what kind of promotion will work best to attain your company’s goals while avoiding “serial-sweepstakers” who are just looking to win a great prize. After all, if none of your offer’s entrants become fans or customers, you’ve wasted your time and resources. Hopefully this blog gives you some ideas for designing a successful campaign without giving away the farm.
When choosing the grand prize to give away to the winner of your promotion, it’s tempting to offer something that will attract a lot of traffic; a car, a cruise, a shopping spree – and while those prizes certainly would attract a lot of entrants, they may only be entering for a chance to win a car, not because they are interested in your product or service (car dealerships, please ignore).
If you’d rather have conversions than visits, your prize and sometimes even your offer needs to be a little more strategically “targeted.” If your business is a Spa, then a fishing pole may not be the best prize to offer in order to get more mani-pedis through the door.
Every promotion is going to have a budget; ads, creative, work-hours allotted for setup and administering, etc. Whether or not purchasing a prize from a third-party is possible, offering your own product or service is usually easiest on Accounts Payable, and is perfect for accomplishing your goal – dissuading people who may not have an interest in your business. Even if you do not sell a tangible product, you could always offer a free 1 hour massage, 1 free pool-cleaning, a year’s worth of shoe-polishing, or whatever service you provide. This is usually the least expensive way to fulfill a prize and ensure that all of the entrants, even the non-winners, would be interested in future promotions or specials (remarketing).
You may be saying “Okay, but this year we have a large prize budget and we really want to get traffic and new fans.” That’s great! You can still target the right people who may become customers even if they don’t win. Just “keep it in the family.” If your business is selling tires or auto-detailing, then a car would be a great prize. If you sell replacement camping accessories, then a top-of-the line tent might be a good prize idea. Alright, I know, these are softballs. Let’s try something a little more challenging – What if your business is selling custom orthotic shoe insoles? A pair of shoes may not be an exciting prize, and they may be made by your competitor. Why not partner up with another business and offer a free chiropractic session as the prize? Sell luggage? Offer a vacation package. Sell sunglasses? A tropical vacation package! I think you get the gist.
Whatever the prize is, make sure that it somehow relates to your industry so that it will attract people most likely to be interested in your products or service (better quality leads) and you can’t go wrong! Have questions or an idea to discuss? Email us at support@woobox.com.