Want to get your brand in front of more people?  Try an online contest!

Online contests are a fast, easy and low-stress way to earn a high-volume return for a relatively small investment of time and energy.  Whether participants can win a $200 Threadless gift certificate or have Toyota throw a party in their hometown, the concept is the same:

Cool prize + easy entry = great word of mouth

For example, our client Bigelow Tea has been doing some great contests, with prizes that range from free tea to free tickets for Wayne Gretzky’s annual hockey camp.  The cost of entry?  Simply liking Bigelow Tea on Facebook.  Who wouldn’t trade the few seconds it takes to click a button in exchange for a chance to meet The Great One?  (For all you non-hockey fans, that’s Gretzky.)

When Bigelow recently gave away the herb plus tea gift set on Facebook, the one-week contest earned them more than 400 new Facebook fans.  That’s a 7% increase in their total number of fans, which rose from 5720 to 6162.  If they did that every week for a year, they’d nearly double their fanbase in 12 months.

And what’s their investment in this venture?

  • A prize (obviously, the more interesting the prize, the better)
  • Time (planning, designing & promoting the contest)
  • Shipping the prize to the winner

What would your company be willing to invest in a year-long doubling of their marketing reach?

Because you can rest assured that your customers are willing to invest the time to click.