What Makes a Contest Valuable to Your Sponsors
Provide Unique Branding Opportunities
Contests provide excellent opportunities for branding and name recognition. For many sponsors, the chance to align their business with your brand is the exact result they’re looking for.
But many sponsors want more than just branding. They want measurable results and qualified leads. Contests are your opportunity to achieve the exact results your sponsor wants.
Reach the Right Audience
No matter which contest you chose, driving the results you want starts with choosing the right prize. Work with your sponsor to choose a prize that is not only valuable, but also relevant to your target audience. If a microphone company is your sponsor, giving away one of their high quality microphones would surely attract the right entrants.
Grow Your Sponsor’s Email Database
Be sure to include an email opt-in for your sponsor on the registration form. This is the only (legal) way they can email those leads afterwards. Your email opt-in doesn’t need to be long and complex, but should clearly state what the user is signing up for.
Identify Potential Customers
Work with your advertiser to develop 1-3 lead-gen custom questions to add to the registration form as well. Lead-gen questions will identify qualified leads and identify valuable information about potential customers.
Educate Your Audience
Beyond the registration form, leverage other aspects of the promotion to provide additional value to your sponsor. Include their logo and links to their business within the branding of the promotion. Plus, if it’s a quiz or ballot, consider using the sponsor’s products or services within the promotion as well.
Drive Foot Traffic
On the thank-you page or results page of a promotion, have your sponsor include a coupon or discount to all entrants – everyone wants to be a winner. As a best practice, also email this offer to all entrants as well.
What Makes a Contest Valuable to Your Sponsors
But it’s not all about your sponsors. Digital contests are your key to delivering on multiple goals for your own brand as well.
Grow Your Own Email Database
Growing and nurturing your own email database is key to your success. Running promotions with email opt-ins, you not only ensure your list grows in size, but you also ensure those people in your database actually want to be in your database. A large email list is good; an engaged email list is better.
Know Your Audience Better
When you know more about your audience, you can send out targeted messages to those that match your interests. By incorporating demographic questions or custom lead-gen questions, you can develop rich audience profile data you can use for more targeted messages.
Make More Revenue
Beyond engagement and list-growth, promotions are your key for driving significant revenue. When you can provide both measurable results and branding to your advertisers, you’re providing something with a lot of value – that means you can charge more, and your sponsors are willing to pay more.
Digital promotions are the fuel you need to jumpstart your entire brand. They’ll fuel your email list growth, they’ll strengthen your relationships with your audience, and they’ll help you achieve (and surpass!) your revenue goals. It’s time to get started.
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Liz is the Senior Director of Customer Success and has an extensive background in media. She is a huge advocate of the power of promotions for every department within an organization, including sales, marketing, audience development, and editorial.