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• Sweepstakes Administration
• Game Administration
• Contest Administration
• Facebook Promotions
• Interactive Promotions
• Legal

Why Run a Contest?

In today's competitive marketplace, it's hard to get attention for your brand or product. Traditional media outlets are slowly dying out, and everyone's attention is divided among dozens of modes of communication, from traditional radio, TV, and print to limitless online platforms-from Facebook and YouTube to the latest blog. Aiming to saturate the market by placing advertising dollars in one medium doesn't cut it these days.

 

So where should you spend your precious advertising dollars? How about on a contest? There are a number of reasons for exploring this option.

 

Contests work. Large and small brands alike have figured out that contests can increase brand awareness and drive sales. They can help generate new excitement for both new and existing products, introduce new customers to your products, and inform existing customers of all the creative ways other customers use your products.

 

Everyone loves to win. Who hasn't had the fantasy of winning the lottery? But you don't need a million-dollar giveaway to attract attention to your brand or product. Even smaller prizes entice consumers and provide a meaningful way to reach out to-and engage-your target market. When contests involve displays of skills-such as photo or essay contests-contestants receive the additional payoff of being rewarded for their accomplishments, and linking that feeling of accomplishment to the brand or product.

 

Enhanced branding. To the person entering the contest, it might be all about the free iPod or cash prize, but for your business it's so much more. It's about putting your brand front and center and building valuable relationships with current (and potential) customers. Essay contests about your brand or product-prompted by statements such as "Tell us how X changed your life"-provide a rare opportunity to obtain (free) testimonials. They also help drive traffic to your website. Contests also keep your brand in applicants' minds for a longer period of time than an advertising campaign would-from the time they first encounter the competition to the instant they enter to when the prize is finally announced.

 

Lead generation. Also, because many contests involve collecting consumer data, especially if there is an online voting component, you'll have the tools to reach out directly to your target market even after the specific promotion ends. This added benefit strengthens and extends your customer base.

 

Social media buzz. Nowadays everyone wants a piece of the coveted social media landscape. A contest or game promoted via social media tools gets your brand highly valuable attention in this space, along with new fans or followers to do the heavy lifting of promoting your brand for you. Furthermore, your company can leverage user-generated content resulting from contests (such as photos or videos) in future advertising or promotions-letting the payoff continue.

 

So how can you capitalize on this opportunity? The first step is to enlist the help of experts who can help you implement your contest or promotion.

 

At Marketing Resources, Inc., we administer games, sweepstakes, and contests for a wide variety of top-tier brands and agencies. Our in-house experts provide official rules, create judging criteria and contest guidelines, collect and pre-screen entries (both online and offline), judge entries, validate winners, conduct background checks, fulfill prizes, and build and host websites for online contests.

 

Our expertise spans all types of contests-essay, art, photo, video, recipe, and more. And our legal department can help ensure that your contest complies with applicable state and federal laws and doesn't bring negative publicity, or worse, to your brand. Whatever your needs, we can help ensure that your contest is a success.