Top tips for a successful trade promotion - Part 5

There is a lot to think about when running a successful trade promotion or competition. I am putting together a multi-part series of critical considerations to take into account when running your next promotion, here is Tip #5

Tip #5: Keep your entry mechanic simple

The golden rule for a great promotion is to KEEP IT SIMPLE! Don’t ask participants to jump through hoops to enter. Avoid over-complicated or multi-stage entry requirements. Remember that the average consumer will need to be suitably incentivised, so the more you ask of your promotion participants, the more valuable your prize should be, or they will be less likely to engage.

It is vital to ensure your promotion gives consumers the perception that there is a good chance of winning based on the quantity and frequency of prizes, and entry mechanic.

Here are some entry mechanic types to consider;

Sweepstakes:

Also known as a game of chance promotion. At their most basic level, sweepstakes are pretty straightforward. All entrants need to do is submit their information, and they’ll be entered into the promotion. Basic sweepstakes provide a low barrier to entry and allow you to collect customer information efficiently. You can use the information collected for follow up campaigns.

Every participant generally has the same chance of winning. Winners are selected at random via an instant win or prize draw process.

If a high response rate is crucial to meeting your campaign objectives, choose a chance-based promotion with a lower barrier to entry and fewer instructions.

Many successful games of chance promotions combine instant win and random draw:

• The headline of the major prize attracts attention (with the winner drawn at the end of the campaign); while
• The instant win awards lower value prizes more frequently, increasing the chance of winning, creating a sense of urgency to enter, and instant gratification if an entrant wins; and
• If the entrant isn’t an instant winner, they still have a chance to win the major prize, so everyone is happy!

Sweepstakes can have the lowest barrier to entry but may require permits to ensure they are compliant with state government regulations.

Contests:

Contests or games of skill require the entrants to perform a task that will be judged. They often involve mental or physical skill to determine the outcome and typically consists of deciding the winner based on set criteria. The winner must have an entry that’s unique to any other to be suitably skill-based.

In the same way that the prize should be relevant to what you do, so should the task. Most commonly a 25 word or less question is asked, but this could be a photo competition, colouring-in competition or video submission. When using a game of skill, you can expect lower entries, but depending on the channel and objective, they can be very effective. For example, if the aim is to get social engagement on Instagram, then a game of skill is the most useful.

A well-executed game of skill can drive higher engagement from those putting in the effort, and highly engaged participants can help drive campaign awareness via social sharing and referrals.

Channels are important!

Deciding on your channels is critical to getting to the right audience, for example, if your target market is females aged 18-34 who are interested in photography, then Instagram would be perfect. This, of course, does not mean you can’t utilise multiple entry methods. Providing entrants with the right entry mechanic can ensure you maximise entries.

Engage Interactive can provide you with an end to end solution from design, terms & conditions, permit applications, random draws, winner management and prize fulfilment or only individual components as required. Click here to download our promotions solutions brochure.

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