There are many benefits to using contests to help with your marketing campaign, such as lead generation. When set up right, contests can give your marketing team a lot of strong, interested leads.

Use these seven tips when planning your next contest to bring in new leads and potential customers.

1. Make sure your prize actually has value

Your prize must be valuable enough that people will want to enter your contest. It must catch the eye of your potential new customers and be powerful enough to drive them to conversion.

2. Have a value specific prize

While the prize must be valuable enough to drive conversions, you must also make sure it’s only valuable to people who have the strongest potential of becoming your newest customers.

If the prize has little to no customer value, no one will enter your contest. But if it has a strong generic value, everyone will want to enter, and you will end up with many unqualified leads. An example of a value-specific prize could be an extended trial of your product or service.

3. Make everyone feel like a winner

Now, this does not mean you have to pull an Oprah Winfrey and hand out extravagant prizes to everyone in sight. It simply means you should attempt to make everyone who enters feel like a winner.

You can do this by offering a limited-time discount or a sale exclusive to the contestants. This will both make them feel special and produce more sales for your company.

4. Utilize social media

When integrated correctly into your marketing plans, using social media can be a great way to spread the word about your contest and your company, interact and communicate with your leads, and ultimately, increase sales.

Utilize platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to rapidly spread the word to your followers and all of their followers.

5. Like and share

By using platforms such as Facebook, you can ask fans to like and share your business page or a photo posted on the page. The winner can then be chosen from the pool of people who shared your post as a form of entry.

Be sure to provide an incentive specific to your company, such as a discount or freebie. Make sure whatever they’re sharing clearly displays your company and the product or service offered.

6. Photo contests

Ask fans to take a photo of themselves with your product and post it to your page. Collect all of the photos and place them in an album with the contest rules.

The contest entrants will most likely share their photos and ask friends to vote for them, giving your company and product plenty of exposure to new potential leads.

7. Create a designated landing page with a CTA

Having a landing page is important if you’re running your contest through email marketing or drawing attention to it on your company’s website or social media.

When your customers click on the link, it is important that they are taken to a page that is tailored specifically to the contest. The contest rules should be included, as well as a clear call to action of what you want them to do next! This will increase your chances of conversion.

Contests are a fun, interactive way to produce new leads, create new exposure for your product, and form relationships with customers. Do not ever underestimate the power of a good contest! “Nobody loves free stuff,” said no one ever.

Looking to use a contest to get your name out there and generate new leads, but don’t know where to start? We’d love to help! Contact us today, and we can schedule a meeting ASAP!