Top tips for a successful trade promotion - Part 3

There is a lot to think about when running a successful trade promotion or competition. I am putting together a multi-part series of crucial considerations to take into account when running your next promotion, here is Tip #3.

Tip #3: Offer prizes that are relevant and appeal to your audience

Prizes are an essential component of any competition, so think this one through. You want to give away a prize that's highly appealing and exciting but still relevant to your brand.

You shouldn't offer items in a giveaway that are highly wanted but have nothing to do with your business. For example, don't just do an Apple Watch giveaway. You will likely get many people to sign up just for the giveaway, but many won't be the right people for your business. Instead, do a giveaway or run a contest related to your business — a product or service that your real customers would be interested in. You will get a much higher return on investment that way.

By offering up something relevant to your business, you can ensure you're attracting the right types of promotion entrants.

In my experience of running promotions, I have found the following to be successful;

?       Offer your products or services (gift cards or vouchers) as runner up prizes. This might help you reduce costs and ideally attract consumers with interest in your brand, product or service.

?       For a winning prize, cash is king. It's universally appealing, tangible and consumers know how they'll spend it if they win!

?       Cars, technology products and holidays also perform well.

?       While aspirational prizes such as dream homes, flash cars and exotic holidays will attract attention, don't go overboard. The more aspirational a prize is, the more unattainable it seems – the perceived chance of winning drops and this can negatively impact on response rates.

?       The more you're asking consumers to do. The more valuable your prize should be. If you're asking users to submit photos or videos, you'll probably need to offer them a bit more incentive than if all they need to do is share or like.

?       Depending on how much you want to give away, it can be a good idea to allow for multiple winners. The more likely consumers think they are to win, the more likely they are to enter. It's because of this that giving away numerous prizes can be a great way to increase participation and drive more action.

Prizes during COVID-19:

If you want to give away an international holiday, please re-think this prize type for now as no one wants to travel internationally right now. There will come a time when this pandemic is under control; then an international travel prize will be very enticing but not for now.

Keep holiday prizes in Australia. There are lovely regional communities that need the tourism boost right now. Your promotion will be helping these communities to recover.

Click here to see some examples of the fantastic promotions and competitions we have been involved with recently.

For more information, please follow me or Engage Interactive on LinkedIn or via our company, contact us page.