31GYL Day 22: Setting Up Contest Giveaways

It’s Day 22 in our Growing Your List challenge and today we'll look at creative ways to use contests & giveaways to get new subscribers.

You'll want to use this marketing strategy carefully so as not to build a list of freebie seekers, but rather to attract your ideal subscriber & potential buyers.

For Day 22, refer to pages 54-56 in the 31 Day Guide to Growing Your List

Whatever you do, don't offer prizes like cash, iPods, general gift certificates, etc - OR - submit your giveaway to general contest sites. This will bring freebie seekers out of the woodwork and you'll end up with a list of people that aren't even interested in your site, products or services!

Contest Prizes: What Should You Give Away?

Ideally you should offer your own products or services as a prize. Or if you don't have a product or service, something of specific interest to your target market. You want to use this method to build a list of responsive, engaged readers.

A brilliant idea from Phil Hollows in his List Building For Bloggers guide (Practical Personalization chapter beginning on page 133) is to offer a giveaway during the birthday month for your subscribers. You would need to collect this information at the opt-in, but it would keep your readers subscribed anxiously awaiting their gift when their month rolls around.

You can announce the winners and their prizes each month (using initials or first name only of course) to keep the concept fresh for all subscribers. It will show them the cool types of prizes that are given away each month, increasing their anticipation. A fun idea!

This is a great way to keep your list engaged by using giveaways on an ongoing basis. Just one of many brilliant ideas I got from Phil! 😉 He also mentions contests & giveaways specifically on pages 37-39.

If you want something a little easier, you could do a random drawing from your subscriber base on a monthly or quarterly basis. Consider what they want or need most, and use those ideas to come up with offers and prizes.

In my case for example, I might do a random drawing every quarter for free lifetime access to my Private Brainstorming Group. That would be four new (free) members a year. It would attract the right people to my list, and I could keep it fun by interviewing the winner each quarter.

Tips For Successful Contests & Giveaways

• Brainstorm prizes or formats that people will share so your contest goes viral.
• Consider giving a prize to every entrant - perhaps a coupon code for our product/service, or for one of your merchants if you're an affiliate marketer.
• Require participation (sharing or blogging) for greater exposure.
• Run mini-contests for specific JV Partners, or when you write guest blog posts. An exclusive and personalized giveaway for a specific group is sure to be well-received!

Bonus Tip: If you are doing a one-time contest for the purpose of growing your subscribe base quickly, I would segment the contest entries by creating a new list in your Aweber account. You can also segment those subscribers using other list features, but a separate list is simply easiest.

You can easily choose both lists anytime you send a broadcast, but it gives you the option to personalize your communication with contest subscribers - and to keep separate stats for that list.

Your Task For Today:

Decide on a prize to give away, and how you want to structure your contest. Will it be a one-time contest or an ongoing contest? Brainstorm all of your options, and outline how you will set it up and what tech you'll need to get it running.

See Viral Marketing Examples to brainstorm ideas for your contest or giveaway.

Have an example or idea, or know a great plugin or program to help people run successful contests and giveaways? Leave a comment below and share it with us! 😉

Best,