Weekly Campaign Idea: Simple Enter-to-Win Giveaway

Today’s campaign idea is all about simplicity.

At ShortStack we see everything from photo and vote promotions built using one of our templates to integrated marketing campaigns that require pages and pages of custom code.No matter how complicated a campaign is, the basic goal behind every campaign is simple: collect some data and give away a prize.

Here are 4 things to remember when building an enter-to-win giveaway.

‍1. Know your audience: The reason I love today’s campaign example is because it’s so targeted. Zaxby’s is a chain restaurant in the Midwest and Southern the United States. Zaxby’s was giving away Chickenflage (which is short for chicken-camouflage) merchandise and Si Swag. I’m from the West Coast of the United States so I’ve never heard of Zaxby’s or chickenflage or Si Swag. However, this particular contest garnered more than 33,000 entries even though Zaxby’s wasn’t giving away fancy or big prizes like an iPad, cash or a car. It’s a great example of how important it is to know your audience and build a campaign that speaks to them.

‍2. Make your promotion ongoing: The great thing about offering smaller prizes is that you can offer more of them. This enables you to make your promotion last longer. Zaxby’s Campaign ran from January 5 to March 29; they did weekly giveaways.  Every week, six winners had the chance to win either a Zaxby’s T-shirt, cup, mug, bobble-head, duck call or Si-Cology Book.  Bottom line: The longer you can run your promotion and collect entries, the more leads you’ll have.

‍3. Consider your publishing options:  The great thing about ShortStack is that you can make your Campaign live with one-click. You can also choose additional publish methods such as placing your Campaign on your Facebook Page.According to Donna DeClemente, a marketing professional and social media consultant who  helped Zaxby’s run their campaign, “ShortStack allowed us to install the promotion to a tab on the Zaxby’s Facebook page and also to host it online so Zaxby’s can link to it from their website or any of their advertising. ShortStack has been offering both these options now for the past year, along with the option of embedding directly into an existing website. We’ve also been able to link the promotion up to Google Analytics so the team at Zaxby’s agency that we are working with can view all the traffic data in real time which the Shortstack app easily allows you to add.”  As DeClemente points out, having the ability to place a campaign in multiple places allows a business to drive traffic from a variety of channels.

‍4. Submit your contest to sweepstakes websites: There are hundreds of websites that are dedicated to listing any current giveaways that are being run online.  Most of them are free and some may charge a small fee, but a little research can help you find some websites that can help you reach a larger audience with your Campaign. Here’s a good list to start with.

Example of Zaxby’s Enter-to-Win Promotion

If you’re interested in learning more about the strategies behind Zaxby’s giveaway, read this great write-up from Donna DeClemente. Below is a screen shot of Zaxby’s campaign.