One of the reasons why you need to make contests part of your online marketing strategy is because they are based on the concept of ‘free’. Your users feel like they are receiving something of value for free.
The concept of free
A research conducted by psychologists revealed that ‘free’ tends to give an emotional charge which makes people see what is being given as more valuable than it actually is.
To make contests successful as part of your marketing strategy, you need to focus on your audience’s emotions, for instance, fear, joy or even competitiveness. The contestant needs to see themselves experiencing or using the prize. You need to choose a prize that resonates with your customers and that matches with your brand message. This will …show more content…
Interestingly, they are also based on psychological research. Let’s see why you need to use contests when marketing online:
Urgency
Urgency makes people to take action. Contestants will want almost instant gratification. To ensure that your contest creates engagement, use a countdown clock. This will create a sense of urgency due to the approaching deadline.
Scarcity
This concept is based on supply and demand. When there is less supply, the demand is high. For instance, if you have a course, run a contest where there is only one winner, who will access the course. You could also let the contestants know that the scholarship runs only once a year. If the participants know that they will have to wait for an entire year, the sense of scarcity will get them to enroll.
You now know what makes contests successful. You therefore need to include them in your online marketing strategy. How then do you go about running a successful contest?
How to run a successful contest
Goals
This is the foundation on which your contest is built. The goals need to be measurable. This will help you to determine which contests worked and those that did not work. Here are some items that you can measure:
The email addresses that you …show more content…
You need to publicize your contest. Here are some options for promotion:
Your site
On this platform, you can reach both visitors and repeat customers. Put the contest at the top of the home page with an attractive header. Link it to a landing page that gives more details. You can also have it on the sidebar and advertise it on a pop up.
Newsletter
If you manage to have visitors and repeat customers to subscribe via email, you can promote your contest via email. You can give the people on your email list prior access to the contest. They will feel privileged.
Social media
Ensure that you tailor the contest to fit each of the social networking platforms. You could upload an infographic on Instagram, a GIF on Twitter (since the characters are so few), a video on You Tube, and a Q&A on Facebook.
Content Contests
As part of your content marketing strategy, you can also run content contests. The aim of these contests is to help you generate original content. You could run a contest that requires people to submit content. The participants will share this content on their social media channels, especially if they need people to vote for them. This becomes a personal endorsement of your
The concept of free
A research conducted by psychologists revealed that ‘free’ tends to give an emotional charge which makes people see what is being given as more valuable than it actually is.
To make contests successful as part of your marketing strategy, you need to focus on your audience’s emotions, for instance, fear, joy or even competitiveness. The contestant needs to see themselves experiencing or using the prize. You need to choose a prize that resonates with your customers and that matches with your brand message. This will …show more content…
Interestingly, they are also based on psychological research. Let’s see why you need to use contests when marketing online:
Urgency
Urgency makes people to take action. Contestants will want almost instant gratification. To ensure that your contest creates engagement, use a countdown clock. This will create a sense of urgency due to the approaching deadline.
Scarcity
This concept is based on supply and demand. When there is less supply, the demand is high. For instance, if you have a course, run a contest where there is only one winner, who will access the course. You could also let the contestants know that the scholarship runs only once a year. If the participants know that they will have to wait for an entire year, the sense of scarcity will get them to enroll.
You now know what makes contests successful. You therefore need to include them in your online marketing strategy. How then do you go about running a successful contest?
How to run a successful contest
Goals
This is the foundation on which your contest is built. The goals need to be measurable. This will help you to determine which contests worked and those that did not work. Here are some items that you can measure:
The email addresses that you …show more content…
You need to publicize your contest. Here are some options for promotion:
Your site
On this platform, you can reach both visitors and repeat customers. Put the contest at the top of the home page with an attractive header. Link it to a landing page that gives more details. You can also have it on the sidebar and advertise it on a pop up.
Newsletter
If you manage to have visitors and repeat customers to subscribe via email, you can promote your contest via email. You can give the people on your email list prior access to the contest. They will feel privileged.
Social media
Ensure that you tailor the contest to fit each of the social networking platforms. You could upload an infographic on Instagram, a GIF on Twitter (since the characters are so few), a video on You Tube, and a Q&A on Facebook.
Content Contests
As part of your content marketing strategy, you can also run content contests. The aim of these contests is to help you generate original content. You could run a contest that requires people to submit content. The participants will share this content on their social media channels, especially if they need people to vote for them. This becomes a personal endorsement of your