Contest Marketing Basics

You’ve made the decision to run a contest marketing program but aren’t sure where to begin? Here are some contest marketing basics from our latest white paper to help get you started:

1. Strategy:

Identify your overall goal in holding the contest, such as increasing your prospect mailing list, converting new customers, a new product launch or just brand awareness. What is the single most important message you want to get across in all of your messaging? The strategy must be clear, concise, and focused with the end in mind.

2. Prizing:

Prizing is a critical step. Ensuring you have a product that is valuable to your email list and social following is a must. There are many prizing options. An incredibly valuable prize is one option such as a trip or expensive product, or as an alternative you may consider an inexpensive daily prize for a 30 to 60 day contest.

3. Implementation

The user experience is in the implementation of the program, the ease of use and the creative.  Should you consider running a program yourself, be sure that you have the contest rules supplied by the appropriate authority for your jurisdiction. As a marketer you will need to think about utilizing three key people: designers, copywriters, and developers to get the contest live.

4. Data

User information is often the primary reason for running a contest marketing program. A solid program will gather basic user information such as first and last name, address, email, gender, age and location information via postal code. Programs can also be utilized to gather additional information for testing and or sale. Prospect opinions can be harvested on various items such as brand, competitors, and pricing levels, just about anything you need to learn about your consumers.

5. Rules

Familiarize yourself with the rules that social media sites set up for running a contest. Larger prized programs should have an expert provide rules and regulations, and larger brands will and should consider the legal aspects of national programs.

Are you ready?

Once you’re ready, what are the next steps? Find out in our free 2015 Contest Marketing White Paper.

Alex Page, RAVEN5 Ltd January 2015

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