How to Choose a Prize for the Contest

Every savvy contest organizer knows the drill: a good prize means new customers. A bad prize means high abandonment rates. Choosing a prize for the contest is a responsible task because it can determine the level of engagement, drive your traffic, help you build a community of loyal clients, or… kill it all (sad trombone sound).

The contest prizes that win you new audiences don’t always have to be super-expensive. So, noì. An iPhone isn’t the best prize for all contest types. Let’s discuss how to select a smart prize that resonates with your goals.

3 key attributes of a great prize

Great prizes for a contest may be clearly defined, based on 3 key attributes that they share.

#1. The relevance of the prize for the target audience.

Target a high purchase intent to attract the most relevant audiences to your contest. This means that you have to think about the preferences of your ideal client and then match your project goals to the individual expectations.

#2. The value of a prize.

If you want to make your contest go viral, ensure that people will want to share it. Assign the proper value to your contest prize to avoid the situations, in which users won’t share, just because they wouldn’t want their audiences to see what they upvote. For instance, a hair loss cream would be a doubtful option.

#3. Incredible prize.

Just make it awesome. Inspire people by the very sounding of your prize name, make it an out-of-the-box thing for your target audience, and you’ll get your contest buzz.

How to choose the best prize?

Define the contest objectives and goals

A prize and your contest objective have to make a great couple. It’s even better if these two get married and live happily ever after. Think about what you’d like to reach in the end. If this is boosting brand recognition – provide prizes that place the emphasis on the particular product/service, feature the logo or reflect on the properties of your brand.

Choose a contest prize

Once you know all your objectives by heart and can describe your target persona in all the tiniest details, it’s the right time to come up with a contest prize. At least one of these six suggestions will match your strategy perfectly:

• Your product. This is a win-win for all types of companies and brands. Offer your own product in return for engagement with a contest – boost recognition and increase sales in a single step. A flock of birds killed with one stone! Note that you can use this strategy for service-delivering companies as well. As an example, you can offer a free consultation or a free workshop ticket.
• Promotional products. By giving away promotional products, you can make people think of your brand each time they use their pen or drink a coffee. Branded T-shirts and cups, notebooks and pens – they are real killer tools for your contest strategy.
• Unrelated but awesome prize. This is the right choice for contest organizers, who aim at driving as much traffic as possible, without targeting a narrow audience segment. And yes, this is one of that rare cases when iPhone will be just the right thing to give away.
• Money. Think cash prize contests are the safest options, cause there’s no single person who wouldn’t need it? You’re wrong. Although people are willing to enter money contests, they rarely connect to the brands that organize such campaigns. However, if you’re up for a win-and-leave, this might be a good option.
• A prize from your sponsors. Do you know what we call winning? It’s when you give away great contest prizes and pay nothing for it. Find a partner that will help you not only increase brand recognition but will also be interested in showcasing own agenda by providing giveaways for your contest. Smells like a great success!
• The experience. Presenting experience as contest giveaways isn’t only a cost-efficient option. Going creative with experience-prizes may help you win loyal clients. Particularly, if your company specializes on car races, organizes events or provides dancing classes.

TOP 5 creative giveaway contest ideas

Check these 5 creative giveaway contest ideas that will help you invade your target users’ hearts.

#1. Check-in contest.

Great choice if you want to attract people to a physical store. Set up the contest that will offer best giveaway prizes for checking into the target location. To spice it up, you can ask users send you their selfies from the store as proof.

#2. Best song contest.

Let’s say, you’re promoting a new online music platform. Attract people by letting them showcase their own talents on it! It goes like this: you ask the music-lovers to submit audio recordings or videos with their performances, locate the materials on a website, and set up voting. The winner gets listed on your music platform. The same idea will work for any art sector.

#3. Love story contest.

Aim at promoting a jewelry store, a dating service, or a gift shop? Love story contests will suit for all of these and even more. Ask people to submit a short essay, in which they tell their own love story and make the world choose the best. Select the relevant prize that will emphasize your product and get a win-win: showcase the brand and accomplish your clients’ dream!

#4. Guess-where contest.

Great choice for travel agencies or photography businesses. Post a photo that features some location and announce that the one who’ll guess first where the photo was made – gets a prize. Tweak it to your liking: you can even post a series of neat images or organize a guess-what contest.

#5. Caption contest.

This type of contest gives your target audience a chance to contribute and become a part of your mission. You can ask people to come up with a new menu item for a cafe or a title for a new book – make a decision based on what your business targets.

Best 5 examples of prizes for the contest

Giveaway prizes ideas have to be matched with your aims and audience preferences. Here are 5 directions that you can take while selecting the top prize giveaway ideas:

• Food. Make it yummy – you can’t go wrong with food prizes. For instance, branded wine bottles or chocolate sets will do a delicious job.
• VIP treatment. Want your winner to feel privileged and have a great service that can help you make this true? No hesitation allowed!
• Upsells. Is your business selling cameras? Provide a contest winner with a carrying case, sit back and wait for him to purchase a camera.
• Date with a star. If your contestants are Taylor Swift’s fans, you know what to do.
• A year of goodies. Do you know how to turn a first-time-buyer into a loyal client? Give him a free year of goodies!

And the last pro-tip: add extra value to your contest excellence by automating the management process through contest voting management with Judgify contest software – get started for free now.