BBB Business Tip: 5 Smart Ways to Use Giveaways to Win More Customers

One of the most important tasks involved with building your business is capturing the attention of new customers. In order to grow, you need to find ways to increase your brand visibility, and one excellent way to do this is through giveaways and contests.

Giveaways can be a great addition to any marketing strategy because they offer several benefits to both the company and the customer. Not only are they fun for customers to enter, but they also generate positive publicity for your brand and help with customer acquisition. But just how well do they work?

Do giveaways actually work for customer acquisition?

With the cost of acquiring new customers having increased by approximately 60% over the last six years, brands are looking for fun and innovative ways to capture new customers for less. Giveaways can be a great addition to any marketing strategy when implemented correctly.

In fact, marketing teams that run Instagram contests see an average of 64 times more comments and 3.5 times more likes on contest-related posts than on their normal content. This success is why approximately 83% of companies use referral contests to increase brand awareness and improve lead generation.

Giveaways and sweepstakes are also a great way to improve your email click-through rate (CTR). Contest emails have an average CTR of 8%, while the standard email marketing campaign’s CTR is only around 2.5%.

5 ways to use giveaways to win more customers

Giveaways can be a fun and effective way to acquire more customers, but you still need to be methodical in your approach to implementing them in order to see success. Here are five tips to keep in mind to ensure your giveaways help you win more customers:

1. Market giveaway to your audience – not to everyone

One of the most common mistakes small business owners make is trying to market to everyone rather than focusing on their customers.

This applies to running giveaways and sweepstakes as well. There is a reason the saying “you can’t market to everyone” rings true to this day: Not everyone will be interested in your products/services.

So, when crafting your giveaway, focus your attention on your specific demographic. This will ensure that the giveaway is relevant to your target audience, and it increases the chances that your customers will enter the giveaway.

2. Offer a prize worth entering for

Another factor that is often overlooked when creating a giveaway is the prize itself. While you might not want to give away all of your best merchandise at one time, you still need to give your audience a good reason to enter.

That’s because you’re likely going to be asking your customers for something in return when they enter your giveaway, such as:

  •   A referral (tag your friends)
  •   Personal information (enter your email address)
  •   Complete an action (fill out this form)

You need to give your audience a reason to hand over this information. Sample products, free trials, and special discounts are all enticing prizes that may compel your audience to take action.

3. Make giveaways as interactive as possible

Interactivity is a great way to increase your brand’s visibility and engagement when running a giveaway through social media integration, live-tweeting, and gamification.

For example, if you are running a Twitter-based competition, you can offer your participants an increased chance of winning if they retweet a post and use a certain hashtag. This engages your audience differently than traditional email marketing campaigns, and it increases your brand visibility organically.

4. Encourage submissions of user-generated content for additional entries

Another clever way to market your brand through your giveaway is through the use of user-generated content. User-generated content can come in several different forms, including:

  •   Photos of your customers using your products
  •   Videos of your customers using your products/services
  •   Testimonials (written and recorded)

You can entice your customers to upload this content by offering them additional entries to increase their chance of winning. This not only boosts your brand awareness and credibility, but you can also use this content in future marketing campaigns!

5. Follow up with participants

Your work doesn’t end when the contest does. If you want to see real results from your giveaway efforts, you need to follow up with your participants to thank them for participating, whether they’ve won or not.

This makes your audience feel valued and lets them know that you care about their time. The more they perceive that you care, the more likely they are to interact with you in the future.

Grow your customer base with help from the BBB

When implemented correctly, giveaways are an excellent way to build brand awareness and win over more customers.

To find success, make sure you are focusing on the specific demographic you’re trying to reach, offering a good prize, and following up with the winners. And remember, giveaways aren’t the only way to grow your customer base!

For more tips on growing your ideal customer base, check out the BBB business newsfeed today!

 

Information courtesy of the Better Business Bureau