Even if you’re not in the marketing world, if you’ve ever accessed the internet, you’re familiar with marketing giveaways. They range anywhere from free branded water bottles to exotic, all-inclusive vacations. If you are in the field of marketing, however, you need to be aware of how to create a successful campaign. In this article, we’ll go over mistakes to avoid and how to make your next marketing giveaway a hit.
Why Giveaways Go Wrong
Before you even begin to plan out your marketing giveaway, be sure to familiarise yourself with how not to use promotional merchandise. Even with the best of intentions, it’s easy to set your company up for failure if you’re incorrectly using products to attract clients. In terms of giveaways, you need to be careful with the following:
Ignoring Your Targeted Audience
This should be engrained in every marketer’s brain by now. Nonetheless, you would be surprised by how frequently companies try to give away products that have nothing to do with their services. You can’t expect a successful campaign if you have a gardening business and are offering the latest electric suitcase as your giveaway. You’re wasting everyone’s time, including your own.
Not Choosing Your Products Wisely
Just to reiterate, your campaign will fail if your products aren’t something that will attract the right kind of clients. If you’re unsure of your demographic, read up on determining your buyer personas before even think of hosting a giveaway. As Steve Kovar, the co-founder of ViralSweep, stated, “The success of your promotion depends largely on the products, so if the giveaway does not align properly with your target audience, your promotion will under-perform.” Also, don’t get carried away and give away something so expensive that the campaign puts your business in jeopardy.
Making the Giveaway Entry Complicated
If you are truly determined to make your marketing campaign fail, make sure that the entry process is long and frustratingly complicated. People are busy, and you don’t want them to remember your company as the one who asked for their aunt’s life story in order to win a pen. Also, remember that not everyone is on social media, so don’t ask for a Facebook login to enter.
The Problem with Facebook Giveaways
Social media is awesome, but not everyone uses it. In addition, you don’t own your followers on any platform. Even if you have 20 thousand Facebook followers, you won’t be able to contact them if something goes wrong with your Facebook account. Not focusing on building your own email list is the ultimate fail. So, if you plan on requiring likes and comments for people to enter, you’re stepping on your own feet.
Marketing Giveaways that Go Right
Now that we’ve discussed what not to do for your giveaway campaign, you should have a better idea of what will lead to success. Right? Ok, maybe it’s not always so simple. Let’s take a step back and examine why you would have a giveaway in the first place. It’s surely not because you like throwing money away.
The point of a marketing giveaway is to raise brand awareness, engage with your targeted audience, as well as gain leads to convert browsers into clients. When the campaign is over, you want the right people to favourably remember your company. In other words, you’re looking for a long-term return on your investment.
To recap, here are a few helpful giveaway tactics:
- Offer a giveaway product relevant to your business and desirable to your targeted audience.
- Make sure that the giveaway is attractive and worth your demographic’s time. This is called the value proposition.
- Don’t overextend yourself when it comes to your budget. It’s not worth risking your company’s fiscal health. (See here for tips on successfully using promotional merchandise on a budget.)
- Simplify the entry process.
- Steer clear of Facebook-based giveaways.
- Be sensitive to your audience’s desires and remain flexible with your giveaway’s size, colour, etc. Diversifying your prize can also be advantageous.
Case Studies: Successful Marketing Giveaway Campaigns
Now that we’ve discussed the dos and don’ts of marketing giveaways, let’s look at how they play out successfully. While we’ve stated that Facebook giveaways aren’t always the wisest choice, social media can still help your marketing giveaways. Whether or not your campaign is digital, if done right, these platforms can still help your promotion gain major traction. See how Red Tomato teamed with O’Brien Real Estate and the Pirtek Fishing Challenge for two different successful marketing campaigns.
If you are thinking of starting a new marketing giveaway, let us help walk you through your next promotion. Your success is important to us and we urge you to contact us with any questions you may have.
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