Building your Brand with Contests and Giveaways

Written by businessideas.info

In the hyper competitive world of business, it has become necessary to go the extra mile in order to retain your customer base.  At every turn there is another company popping up look to steal some of your market share.  If you want to stay on top, you need to go beyond simply selling good products at fair prices.

Contests and giveaways are an easy way to increase sales and promote your brand.  Customers will come to appreciate you and look eagerly forward to your next events.  Remember in May, 2005 when Mountain Dew and Microsoft arranged a promotion to give away an Xbox 360 every ten minutes?  That got people talking heavily about the Xbox 360, Microsoft, and Mountain Dew.  Also, because of the promotion, Pepsi's (manufacturer of Mountain Dew) sales of the soft drink and other merchandise shot up astronomically.  The contest seemed so easy to win, and thousands of consumers purchased loads of the product in hopes of winning.  People thought differently, even if only a little, about Mountain Dew, and it can be the same for your business as well.

There are key differences between contests and giveaways.  For contests, users usually have to have an advanced level of participation (for the Xbox 360 giveaway, users had to enter a code from their drink caps into a website).  Giveaways require simply an entry of information or a purchase.  Contests usually increase sales more because of the required participation, but they take more time to manage. 

The obvious downside to having an event like this is the price.  However, you can turn small prizes into big events.  For example, if you are giving away an iPod, a relatively inexpensive item (compared to what other companies give away), you can make a whole contest surrounded around it.  Although an iPod does not cost much to a business, it is a luxury to individuals (including yourself).

If you run enough contests, eventually you will become known for them, and if the contests and giveaways are marketed correctly, this can increase your brand image dramatically.  As you grow, give away bigger and bigger prizes, and people will become excited to do business with you, as they know your subsequent contests will always be better than the former ones.