How to get competition prizes?

[voucherz]

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Just been thinking of ways of increasing the user base of some of my voucher site. I notice that some voucher site offer "prizes" for users when they sign up to a newsletter e.t.c

Just wondering if anyone has had any success/advice in creating competition incentives for email/newsletter sign ups. Also, are their any particular nice affiliate programmes who would be nice enough to offer prizes in return for homepage promotion

[aaclapham]

I have run a number of competitions after asking Merchants for prizes, resulting in loads of signups to newsletters.

Once money saving expert gets a wiff of a competition they are like a plague of locusts.

I gave up in the end as was time consuming securing prizes and making sure they were delivered successfully.

[kylah16]

Once money saving expert gets a wiff of a competition they are like a plague of locusts.

:tup hilarious!

[DavidCartlidge]

Once money saving expert gets a wiff of a competition they are like a plague of locusts.

They sure are and the problem there is that (in my case at least) when you have a loyal readership and you are securing prizes for them, and for new people that would become a loyal readership, what MSE actually sends is hundreds of people that only sign up for the prize and bring nothing else at all

[voucherz]

Surely if you're clever enough, you can entice ANY kind of visitor (locust, wasp, leech, fly), into a lead/sale if you dangle a big juicey worm infront of their faces.

Thats my thinking anyways.

[pallavi]

Hi there,

Even i won a prize at a forum where they are asking for LR number. i dont know what it is ??? and how can i claim my prize

If any one know please do help me out.....

[Spreader]

Hello folks,

You can always ask merchants to donate prizes. Some of them are very lovely and will give a prize depending on the extra exposure they are going to receive... :tup

Things like home page presence, a newsletter to your database, data sharing (giving the merchant the email address's of the competition entrants) are all attractive to a merchant.

Hope this helps.


Zak.

[morleymouse]

Just wondering if anyone has had any success/advice in creating competition incentives for email/newsletter sign ups. Also, are their any particular nice affiliate programmes who would be nice enough to offer prizes in return for homepage promotion

basically as Zak said, AM's all about performance and results. If someone gives you a small £50 prize what can you offer them in return? And if they were then to up that prize to a £500 prize what further could you do?

If it all stacks up in a merchants eyes most will be happy to do something, if your case is 'a prize so i can grow my mailing list' then you'll struggle

[purple]

Put together a small powerpoint presentation, explaining to the mechant who you are, what exposure you will give them, an idea on visitor stats the comp will provide, how you will advertise the comp? how long the comp will run. Will you provide links to the merchants site, will you share the email sign ups from the comp etc

The more info you can provide the merchant the more likely they are to supply a prize.

If it is a win win situation you will get more merchants buying into the comp

[KimCullum]

Hello folks,

You can always ask merchants to donate prizes. Some of them are very lovely and will give a prize depending on the extra exposure they are going to receive... :tup

Things like home page presence, a newsletter to your database, data sharing (giving the merchant the email address's of the competition entrants) are all attractive to a merchant.

Hope this helps.


Zak.

Ditto,

BeCheeky.com are open to offering lingerie prizes out in exchange for some of the enhanced exposure methods Zak mentioned.

If any one is interested in this let me know as I'll be happy to help arrange something with any affiliates of ours who have a proven track record, or offering as a reward for new affiliates once they reach an agreed sales target. might work quite well, especially with Christmas just around the corner

PM or email me if you think you might be interested in this using my details below,

Kim
kim@becheeky.com
Lingerie, Swimwear, Bras, Thongs, Bikinis, Corsets. BeCheeky.com

[voucherz]

BeCheeky.com are open to offering lingerie prizes out in exchange for some of the enhanced exposure methods Zak mentioned..

"Lingerie" and "Enhanced exposure" - Oooo Laa laa!!

Thanks for the feedback guys. I pretty well up on being able to offer good promotion, I'm just wondering which companies would be up for donating a prize or two.

[loquax]

If you do get a sponsor then imo get the prize off them first - we gave up with sponsors after ending up forking out for prizes because the network/merchant sponsor couldn't get their backsides in gear to send things out. It didn't look good being a competition site not giving out prizes, so after 3 months we paid up ourselves.

Other options are pay for prizes yourself (e.g. Amazon vouchers) or look at getting some branded stuff done (e.g mugs) and using them as prizes. We get a better response for branded Loquax stuff than other prizes these days.

In terms of "Once money saving expert gets a wiff of a competition they are like a plague of locusts." - same can be applied to other comp sites too.

However, that still hasn't stopped many an affiliate site stuck for entries to request a link (and then forgets to tell their sponsor where they suddenly found entrants or give a link back *cough*)

The trick though is to use those visitors to your own end - provide a good experience, get them talking about your site etc. Not always easy - and monetising them can be a massive headache.

But competitions shouldn't always be seen as instant "money making" - they are brand developing mechanisms, traffic generators and do help build newsletters etc.

Last bit of advice is hold out for a decent prize from a sponsor - again in our experience those that have offered the least value/least desirable prizes often expect the world from you - e.g. homepage coverage, newsletter domination, mailing list sharing etc.

For a first competition - I'd always suggest be your own sponsor - it gives you a chance to test things, positioning etc before a sponsor comes in and starts dictating terms.

Jason

[ash]

If anyone is looking for a competition prize i can usually arrange a nice Digital Photo Frame as a prize in return for a bit of exposure and a seo friendly link or two.

Already sorted one out for Voucherz which should be with him shortly.

[gocommerced]

Hi Voucherz,

We are starting an affiliate scheme soon and are in the infancy of promoting our product which is an online ecommerce business solution.

With a limited budget for marketing I would certainly consider a prize for front page exposure.

How long would the exposure be for and what would you think is a fair enough prize for that exposure... bearing in mind that its a bit like paying for marketing - which is what we are short of...
- Would a good prize be 'Win a Full Years Free Professional eCommerce Website Setup and Hosting with Support worth well over £500 ... etc etc etc be suitable for your customers perhaps??? Your customers may want to earn money online too?

- Its all I can bring to the table at the moment. :drool

Also - we can create a regular discount voucher that you can advertise if you want to. I don't think you have a category for eCommerce though..

Let me know if you can help, we can help you... you never know.

I can but try!

Good luck with it anyway - i'm sure there are some big name takers out there - if not, then they are stupid!

Kind regards
Faye
GoCommerced.com

[voucherz]

Faye - Sent you a PM