Part 13 Viral Marketing: Run a Contest!
People love to win things, and they love to be recognised for
winning. Be creative in deciding what the prize should be, but
consider how much your customers will think it is worth.
While a prize doesn’t have to be something of great value, it does have
to be something that is useful or of some value to the winner. Make
sure that it is something they want, not just a blatant advertisement
for your business.
A bumper sticker marketing your web address is not
going to generate a great deal of interest. Your advertisement or web
address should be plainly visible, but it should not be the focal point of
the item you are giving away.
If you are running a business to business website, free advertising on
your site for the winner is something that wouldn’t cost you anything,
but if your site doesn’t attract very much traffic the prize may not be
seen as being very valuable.
The great thing for you is that running contests is a great way to drive
large amounts of traffic to your site. Other than the cost of the prize,
there is not very much cost involved in this technique. There are
websites and blogs that are in the business of telling others about
contests that other people are running.
They will do your marketing for you. All you have to do is contact these
sites and let them know about your contest. If it’s worth mentioning
they will tell their subscribers. If the contest is good enough or creative
enough, it may catch the attention of a blogger who will spread the word to others.
The better the prize package, the faster and farther it will spread.
A good way to take advantage of this technique is to have a repeating
contest, or a series of contests. This method will keep customers
returning to your site.
Not only will they return to sign up for the new
contest, but they will also check back periodically to see what the next
contest is, and when it begins.