How Do Sweepstakes and Other Promotions Support Lead Generation?
Everyone likes a chance to win. But did you know that sweepstakes, contests, brackets, and other promotions can help your business win too? At a recent Northeast Digital Marketing Boot Camp Bites webinar from Advance Media New York, PA Media Group, and MassLive Media, our team took a closer look at why contesting is such a valuable tool for lead generation. Here, we’ll explain what you need to know about identifying and marketing to prospects with help from these promotions.
Offering Value for Lead Information
Today’s customers are willing to share personal information with businesses but expect to receive something of value in exchange. Promotions are an easy way to support this exchange, as many people are eager for a chance to win something they value – especially from a company offering services they are interested in.
Consider a simple promotion executed by Advance Media New York for a local retailer. The retailer ran quarterly sweepstakes, offering a $250 gift card prize for each. While not overly costly, this prize offered a high level of value for entrants and made them willing to share their names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other details.
As a result, the retailer attracted more than 14,000 entrants, added 4,500 contacts for their email newsletter, and increased store traffic. With these numbers in mind, it’s easy to see how the value of the leads generated exceeded the monetary cost of offering prizes for sweepstakes entrants.
Tailored to Your Business Goals
Promotions can be used for very simple needs, such as raising brand awareness. However, they’re also ideal for more targeted business goals. For example, you might create a quiz focused on a new service that tested participants’ knowledge of the topic and positioned your business as the local expert.
Before implementing a promotion, determine what you want to accomplish and how the prize offered and the promotion itself will help achieve that goal. Working with a promotions partner is a great way to clarify goals and ensure your contest delivers the maximum benefit with minimal extra work for your team.
Easy Lead Segmentation
After generating new leads, your sales and marketing team will invest considerable time in understanding their needs and developing targeted messaging. With help from a promotion, you can eliminate some of this work and let leads segment themselves at the time of entry with survey questions.
While you don’t want to overwhelm entrants, one or two simple questions can yield additional data to make the most of the new lead, such as:
- Areas of interest
- Future purchase plans
- Geographical data
- Interest in receiving a quote, offer, or consultation
- And more…
Every promotion form should also include an opt-in area to let participants choose to receive communications from your company. While this list will likely be smaller than that of all entrants, you’ll find these leads to be more engaged and valuable.
Differentiate Your Brand
Your offerings and quality set you apart, but getting that message out isn’t always easy. Your target audience receives countless advertising and marketing messages each day, and even the best can become lost in a sea of ads, emails, and social media statuses.
By running a promotion, you offer a new, fun, and more engaging alternative to support other marketing tactics. Your new leads are more likely to stop by your website and social media platforms again to see who won the contest and stay in touch with your brand. Additionally, you’ll create a positive buzz around your brand that encourages leads to think of you first for their needs in the future.
Are you ready to run a promotion and generate new leads? If so, visit our other posts related to the Northeast Digital Marketing Boot Camp Bites series on promotions: How to Successfully Execute Promotions and Using Sweepstakes and Promotion for Lead Generation. For upcoming webinars, please contact Advance Media New York or visit http://www.nebootcamps.com.
