The digital age has taught business owners that they need to know how to promote a website on social media to gain market attention. However, there are some age-old techniques that prove to still be worth trying including giving freebies and prizes.
You opened a business to earn but experts would tell you that you need to give your products and prizes away. The question lingers — how can I promote my website using prizes and freebies?
Giving your products away or conducting contests can make you feel intimidated. You are after the profit so why will you give free samples and bear the cost? However, do not let your fears dissuade you. It has been proven that free samples can skyrocket sales.
You can use products samples in these situations:
- To introduce your product to a new audience who is not familiar with your brand
- To foster the existing relationship and inspire loyalty with your existing customers
- To expand the shopper’s knowledge regarding the products that you are offering
- To encourage repeat customers and more sales for your new products
- To gain attention for your brand or event
Product sampling in these instances can produce great outcomes for your business. However, aside from raising the funds to fund your sampling and contests, you also need to know the do’s and don’ts and the benefits of this marketing technique.
How to Use Freebies and Prizes for Marketing
Most business owners ask, “How can I promote my website effectively through freebies and prizes?” Here are key ways:
1 Get prizes that are relevant to your brand.
It is important to prioritize the quality of your freebies and prizes over quantity. Your goal is to draw more people to your brand – those who may actually buy the products or avail of your services and not just after what you are giving away for free.
Just like learning how to promote a website on social media, you also need to choose the proper prizes for your marketing needs. In order to do that, you need to look at them for these purposes: first is to attract the target audience, and the second is to showcase the product or service. So if you are promoting your dog daycare in Etobicoke, your prizes should be related to that, too, such as a free trial or a pet bag with daycare essentials.
2 Offer a variety of prizes and freebies.
You may think that one freebie or prize should suffice in your marketing efforts but the truth is, people also want options, even for things they can get for free. To address this concern, you have to determine the kind of business that you are promoting.
For some, especially those that are based online, going by the book on how to promote a website on social media and offering digital materials for free access is a sound option. These digital materials can include e-books, free days access, downloadables, and others.
If you are promoting products and services in physical stores, you can offer more freebies and prizes. Common promotional materials are coupons, gift baskets, gift cards, shopping bags, caps, shirts, and many others.
3 Think of the season
Seasonally timed prizes are the perfect way to promote and attract new users to your website or social media pages. For example, you can run a contest in the two weeks leading to Christmas and offer different prizes relating to the season. Holidays and festive events give you an opportunity to be more creative with your giveaway mechanics, promotion, and prize options.
4 Give rewards to user-generated content
Contests are a great way to encourage the participation of your market and get something valuable in return: data. Creating a campaign that takes advantage of user-generated content and rewarding the winner who generates the highest engagement rate is just one way to generate more data.
A very common example of this is photography contests by mobile phone companies. Users are asked to submit photos taken using the phone model they just released. Aside from the submissions, the companies also harness the data of those who interact with the posts. Even after the contest is over, the photos could still be used for various promotions and marketing collateral. What the company needs to shell out is just some cash, merchandise, product, or service to use this enormous data.
5 Consider your ROI
A good prize can attract people but this will also require a large investment. The goal of your contest is to engage, increase awareness, and convert. Your prize should cover the goals that you set but you also have to consider if this is feasible.
If you are looking at small engagements just to stir the mood of your followers, you can keep your prizes small. You can give a free meal to a market member who can give a good recipe for a seasoning mix you are selling for example. However, if you want something that can stir the greater interest of the market, you will opt for something bigger. A brand new car or a hundred thousand dollars for example can attract more participants but you also need to up your games to make the prizes more coveted.
Remember, do not break the bank and bet on potential. Study the game mechanics and make sure that you will get good returns.
6 Make it novel
If you’ve heard of the story of how KFC, the fast food giant, rewarded Mike Edgette with a commissioned portrait of Colonel Sanders giving him a piggyback ride then you would know how the marketing is genius. Whether it was intentional or not, the fact that the “contest” was effective because it was novel. The uniqueness called for a memorable prize as well which is why the company chose to give a painting instead of a set of coupons for free meals.
Giving freebies and prizes has been psychologically proven to stir the audience’s interest and recall of brands. It may initially entail expenses on the side of the company but if these are properly executed, the returns would be greater.
