Competitions usedto be a fantastic way of alerting yourcustomers;to a new productor servicethatyou are aboutto launch,however do theystillwork?Even though we are in the middle of a prettydevastatingrecession, it seemseveryone has the latestgadget and can affordto buy the best plasma TV so whatcouldyou possibly give awaythatpeoplewouldcareabout? Do peopleevenbotherwithcompetitionsanyway?
Well,it seemsmanypeopledo and if you can add somevalueto it by givingsomethingawaythatpeopleactuallywant or is seenas valuable - you can reallyropein the publicity and the customers;. You can alsobe a littlebit cleverwithyourmarketing and use new technologysuchas Facebook,Twitterand MySpace. Manycompanies offerfree gifts in return for doingsomethingreallysimple,but whataboutgivingawaysomethingwithbusiness value? Well,manysmallbusinesses are strugglingat the momentand as we all know, whena business is on the ropes;, the firstthingthe ownersusually invest in is a new brand or logo,but wouldthatactually'sell'?
I researchedit and it appears it works - and how!
Competitions are won and lost by the valueof the prizes, but valueis very subjective and if you can offersomethingthata companywouldvery likely;haveto spenda lot of money on thenyou are likely;to createa 'buzz'. Theserviceindustry is an odd thing,it is intangible and mostcosts;are invisible to the purchaserwiththe inevitable outcome thatthosewithlittleknowledge thinkit is theref;ore;extremely expensive. The news is litteredwithcompanies spending;hundreds of thousands of pounds on re-brands,who can remember 'British Telecom'becoming 'BT'?
And so it seemsthata greatway to delivervalueis to deliversomethingthatprovides an intangible value. Thismight soundflippant,but thereis anotherway to thinkaboutthis. Let's take the 'BT/BritishTelecom'example. At the timeis lookedlikea ridiculous waste of money, however therehavebeen hugebenefitsin its ability to be a global brand.
Simply takingoff the 'British'has actuallyallowed the companyto thrive in countriesotherthanthe UK and it is now a global forcerather thansimply a nationalone. So,if you're thinking;of offering;a competitionprize, consider somethingthatwilllast longer thanyouraverage MP3 player or DVD,thinkof somethingthatcan actuallyprovide valueto a companyfar greate;r;thanthe perceived costof the serviceyou give.
But whataboutthe method of delivery;? Whatif you couldreachall these new customers;in a way otherthanthe traditional'write it on a postcard' style?
Well,new technologyis reallystarting to kickin now and whereas mostthinkthata mobilephone 'text-in' competitionis cuttingedge,thereis a new typeof customerthatreacts to somethingelse.If you want to be at the forefront you reallyneed to use the latesttechnologyand the very latestis the incredibly popular Twitter.
As withall competitions, it can be usedas a way of gaining;morepopularity,or in Twitterterms, 'Followers'.The reasonbeing,the morepeopleyou havefollowing you, the easierto market to thosepeople. But you need to bear a few things;in mind whendoingit.
Be honest
Social networkshate it whenpeopletry to bend the rules. You reallyneed to be totally honest withpeopleand say "We are tryingto gainmorefollowers".Don'ttry to explainit awayas anythingotherthanan attemptto helpyourself;. Sure,give peoplesomebenefit to joining and takingpartin the competition, but don'tmake thatthe whole point of the message. Givea decent prize
Nobody reallywants an MP3 player,they've all got them. Make it somethingthatis low costto you but has potential high costto yourcustomer. Intangible benefit usually comes withthe greate;st;value. Keeppeoplein the loop Theproblem withTwitteris thatyourmessage is sentand thenit goesaway. You need to keep 'tweeting' yourmessage in differenttimezones;so as manypeopleas possible read it.
And thereyou go! Use these new technologies and you can vastly increase yourreach, builda hugeTwitterfollowing and mostimportantly,sell more.
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