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Competitions as promotions
by Tash Hughes
of Word Constructions (www.wordconstructions.com)
As a business
owner, it isn’t always easy to find effective and
affordable ways to tell more people about your business
and products/services.
One way to gain extra exposure for your business is to
offer prizes to people through competitions. You can do
this by running competitions yourself, or by donating
prizes to other organisations for their competitions.
Advantages
The prize you offer has a set price and will often cost
less than advertising options you otherwise consider.
Yet, your business can be seen by many additional
people, especially if you offer the prize to someone
else for their competition.
If your business relies on people becoming aware of the
quality of your goods and services, then you need more
people to actually try your product so they can start
the word of mouth process and provide you with
testimonials.
By offering prizes to community groups and support
organisations, you can support worthwhile causes whilst
also helping your business. It can also give you a
community-spirited and generous image.
Competitions through other businesses and websites can
be chosen to match your target audience. For instance,
if you sell nappies a competition prize for a parenting
website will be seen by parents who need nappies and if
you are a masseur, offering a prize to a local sports
club is likely to result in more clients.
Benefits
By offering competition prizes, you can benefit in a
number of ways.
- The prize
winner will be happy with you and is likely to
mention your business and/or product to others, thus
giving you some word of mouth promotion
- During the
competition, your business name will be spotted by
all entrants, and others who decide not to enter.
And, of course, the more people who see your name,
the more potential clients you have.
- An online
competition will link to your site which may
increase your page rankings.
- If the
prize is a consumable, or requires consumables from
you, you may find the winner makes repeat purchases
which will more than cover the cost of the initial
prize.
- The prize
winner may give you a testimonial for your
product/service which can be used to gain future
clients.
- If you
have offered the prize through someone else’s
competition, you are also likely to be viewed
favourably by them and thus gain more word of mouth
advertising
- For the
sake of entering a competition, more people will
visit your site than otherwise so it is an effective
way of increasing traffic to your site.\
- You can
grow your mailing list by making that a condition of
entry, and a larger mailing list can lead to many
more sales.
Tash Hughes is
the owner of
Word Constructions and is available to solve all
your business writing problems! From letters to
policies, newsletters to web content, Word Constructions
writes all business documents to your style and
satisfaction.
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