The whole idea of giving things away for free seems daunting for some businesses. How can giving something away help you to grow your business and increase sales?
There are actually many great reasons why giveaways and contents can be powerful ways to grow your customer base, and here are a few reasons you might want to start doing the same.
Grow Your Social Media Network
There are many benefits of giving things away for free, one of which is that you can grow your social networks.
People love freebies, and this can be a great way to get people to share your posts and get you more exposure, helping to grow your network.
Improve Brand Image
Giveaways and prizes are fun and show your brand in the best light. By rewarding your loyal customers, or welcoming new ones with a freebie, you can improve your brand image instantly and get across the fact that you are a fun brand.
Generate Positive PR
Competitions can provide excellent PR opportunities, especially if you have an amazing prize to give away. The better the prize, the more exposure you’ll get, so keep this in mind.
Get More People into Your Funnel
Contests can be a great way to generate leads. If you offer a prize that your target customers will find interesting, this can be a great way to attract more of them to your business and sign up to your newsletter.
Market Research
By offering a prize in return for completing a survey, you can also use it to generate some excellent market research. People may be reluctant to spend time filling in a survey, so an incentive can really help.
Powerful Marketing Opportunity
If you provide giveaways at tradeshows, this can be an affordable marketing technique. If you provide high quality branded products, people will continue to use them after the event has finished, spreading the word about your brand.
It’s Affordable
You don’t have to spend a fortune on your giveaways or prizes. In fact, when done properly, this is one of the most affordable techniques even if you are giving things away for free.
How to Launch a Great Giveaway or Contest
When it comes to launching a contest or a giveaway, take the time to consider your goals first. What do you want to achieve? Brand awareness? New leads? Market research? PR? Having a clear goal will help when you determine every element of your giveaway.
Decide on your giveaway and the type of giveaway you will be running. Will you be doing a giveaway at a tradeshow to help increase your brand awareness? If so, something reasonably cheap but effective is a good option, like a custom lanyard from lanyardsusa.com or something similar.
As long as they are high quality, these can be used over and over again, providing you with cost-effective marketing.
Alternatively, if you’re running a contest, your free prize will have to be a bit more eye-catching and something that will make people want to participate for the chance to win. It could be something of value like a free iPad, or it could be a free product from your store.
Try to make your prize relevant to your business to attract participants who could become your customers. You could also provide a range of prizes, such as a $100, $50, and $20 discount voucher to spend in your store for a first, second, and third prize. That way you win as well because they will buy something from you.
If you want to provide a really amazing prize but you’re worried about the cost, you could even consider getting it sponsored. As long as the sponsor gets some good publicity, it could be a win-win situation.
Make the Most of Your Prize
If you award an exciting prize to a customer, make the most of it. Rather than letting them know in private and then forgetting all about it, use it as a marketing opportunity.
Update your customers in your newsletter, post something to your social media accounts, or ask if they would mind doing an interview or providing a photo of themselves. All of this helps to generate more buzz.
If your prize is really special, like a free luxury vacation, you might even be able to get some positive press, especially if you run a local business.
So always be on the lookout for ways to get more from your prizes and giveaways.
Benefit from Giveaways at Your Business
As you can see, there are many good reasons to use giveaways and contests in your business, and they can help you to grow your customer base affordably. So start thinking about how you could incorporate freebies into your marketing strategy, and take advantage of the benefits.
