Faithful readers, I’m proud to announce that you’re reading the insight of a 1st place Halloween costume contest winner. Yeah, that’s right…I’m a pretty big deal. And as I stood triumphant on a stage in a sweaty, overcrowded bar in NYC a few days ago, I thought of the theme for this week’s blog entry – Contests.
Marketers love them and clients eat them up. They’re relatively easy to produce and have the potential to attract some serious media attention. But take a moment to step back and ask yourself why you’re having a contest in the first place. What do you expect to get from it, and how long after the contest is over will you see results? All too often, these questions are overlooked and a contest is used as an easy way to get some quick attention.
So, my friends, it’s time for a little WOM wake up call – It’s not hard to come up with a catchy idea for a contest (or to recycle the same old ideas). And it certainly isn’t difficult to get the media attention and a solid number of entries when you’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the program.
But coming up with a contest that involves strategy, a long-term vision and an eye on the word of mouth potential requires some real thought and creativity.
So here are some of MGH’s core thoughts to consider before building out any sort of contest or sweeps:
1) Motivation – Why in the world would someone enter your contest? Because they care about you and your company or is it that they want to win some stuff? It’s cool if it’s both, but if they’re entering because they want a new Nintendo Wii, then you might as well hand your prizes to people on the street. Make sure that your contest rewards those who show the most interest and passion for your brand.
2) Longevity – No matter what some may tell you, length is important (at least in contests). The problem with most of these promotions is that once they’re over, they’re over, and the day prizes are awarded is the same day that everyone moves onto something else. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Ideally, people should buzz about both your contest and your company for months after it’s over. Put the time and effort into building your initiative so that it’s strong enough to withstand the test of time.
3) Buzz – Think about it: how many times in a day or week do you see an ad to enter some sort of contest or sweeps? And how many times do you completely ignore it? Well, guess what? That’s what everyone else is doing too. Your promotion should stand tall above the rest and give people something to WOM about. And it should be built so that details and info can easily be passed on from one person to another.
We love contests here at MGH, but recognize that having a contest just to have a contest does nothing for our clients or the majority of consumers. So our best piece of advice is to take a good look at your overall strategy, and then (and only then) determine if a contest is something that’s right for you.
