Promote Your Business Through Giveaways and Contests

Bylori

It can be safely said that most people enjoy winning. Combine this with a sweepstakes, giveaway or contest, and you have a powerful method for promoting your business while creating happy experiences.

Using Contests and Giveaways for Promotion

giveawayHere are some insights on how to promote your business with giveaways and contests.

  • Offer something of genuine value: Cash is the most basic valuable prize that you can offer, but remember that your products and services can also serve as a solid basis for a contest or giveaway. Include a sampling of your products, an example of your service, or a generous discount on your offerings as a prize.
  • Use social media for promotion: When you’re running a contest, use all available channels to promote it. A contest on your website is fine, but you’ll get a lot more interest and participation if you also promote it using social media. Tweet about it, highlight it on your blog and your Facebook page, and put up related images on Pinterest. Consider using Twitter or another social media platform as the way to enter your contest.
  • Design for easy sharing: Construct your contest information and entry processes so that they’re easy to share on social media and online platforms. Use short URLs or a shortening service to create easy-to-use links for entry. Provide clear links for sharing and invite your readers to retweet or otherwise share these links.
  • Promote early: Don’t hesitate to start promoting your contest or sweepstakes even before it starts, especially if the prizes will be substantial. Talk about the contest on your blog and Facebook page. Consider sending out some pre-contest postcards or email messages to your subscribers. Send a brief press release to relevant online news sources to announce the upcoming contest.
  • Track your results: To find how to promote your business the next time, use a unique code, hashtag or other identifier that lets you identify and track results. You could also construct a dedicated landing page for contest entries only.

Using your products and services, what kind of contest could you run to generate interest and promote your business?

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