As you plan and prepare a contest strategy or promotion campaign, stop and think it through strategically: What are you trying to achieve? Many marketers execute good tactical ideas without considering the brand’s objectives. Every tactic needs a strategy, and a winning contest strategy starts with a thorough grasp of your goal.
Identifying why you want to execute a contest seems easy, but it’s not as simple as wanting to activate a lot of participation. There are only four reasons for a contest or promotion, and (spoiler alert) “because it sounds like fun” is not one of them.
Once you’ve determined the primary reasons for the campaign, the next step is to design the promotion in a way that executes your contest strategy.
Here’s an outline to guide you with a challenging question for each to help you evaluate your ideas.
Enhance Your Brand
Evert promotion must align with your brand values, but the best contests support your format position and enhance your brand in the minds of your audience. No matter how much you love an idea, don’t implement any idea that doesn’t support your image.
What desired station characteristics will stand out as a result of this campaign? Many AC stations relying on at-work listening promote “listen and work” campaigns, and a few take it further by offering vacations and getaways. Both enhance the station’s primary brand.
Perhaps your station has a strong community presence. How can the contest increase your local profile? Does it emphasize the brand’s music position? Or maybe it features your morning show and demonstrates how your station takes risks or makes you laugh.
Every programmer and marketer should understand the station’s unique selling proposition and brand benefits. To make it stand out, creatively design giveaways and promotions with your strategic positioning goals at the forefront.
Question #1: How will this promotion make you stand and reinforce your brand’s image?
Marketing Buzz
Great promotions cause the audience to talk about it. How can you activate the audience to generate free publicity?
A clever approach can turn ordinary promotions into conversations via word-of-mouth and social media, at least among current fans. This goes beyond stunts such as Live In It To Win It. While those can be worthwhile, there are other ways to make a contest exciting enough to increase brand recall.
For example, instead of just giving away Taylor Swift concert tickets, what if you designed an All-Taylor Tuesday? Give away a pair of tickets every hour, and play nothing but her hits for a full day. You might even consider changing the station’s name and imaging for a day to Taylor 100.7. Would that cause some talk?
Question #2: How will this contest excite our listeners so we are in their conversations?
Ratings
Most contests aim to entice existing listeners to tune in more often or for longer periods. When launching a campaign designed solely to increase ratings, identify precisely how it will succeed. Don’t just launch a contest with promos to listen at 9, noon, 3, and 6 and hope for the best.
Here are some things to consider:
Can you attract new listeners by boosting cume? How will you activate current listeners to get new ones to tune in? For example, will you promote it to the email database for your station and others in your cluster? How about a social media campaign targeting fans and followers of similar formatted stations? How will you attract frequent contest players to come to your station to win?
Does it cause existing listeners to listen longer? This isn’t easy, but a promotion like High Low has proven to keep the audience tuned in loger.
Most contests try to activate listeners by increasing tune-in occasions, but studies prove that increasing actual tune in occasions don’t work with a call in to win contest. They simply activate those already listening.
Question #3: How will this contest drive more tune in moments?
Revenue!
Sadly, this has become the primary reason for a promotion at many stations. Sales departments force client promotions and contests on programming more than ever.
This can be both a problem and opportunity. Programmers should be proactive in designing promotions that appeal to include sponsors and new revenue sources. Get in front of the issue and create packages with the DOS to help them fund your campaign.
The right promotion will attract non-spot or digital revenue without pressure on your commercial or promo inventory. And, if you’re creative, it often comes from new advertisers.
Question #4: Does the contest self-liquidate or generate new revenue from existing advertisers?
Conclusion
Answer the four questions honestly and objectively when launching each contest or promotion. If your answers are vague or you lack confidence, go back to the drawing board and keep brainstorming until you find a specific answer that advances your brand.
By the way, this goes for sales promotions and community events as well as programming contests. Put them through the same filter when accepting every promotion, but don’t wait until you can do all of these things at once. Start working on this list and incorporate it into your strategy immediately. When you change how you manage and promote contests and promotions, you’ll get far more value from them.
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Tracy Johnson is a talent coach and programming consultant. He’s the President/CEO of Tracy Johnson Media Group. His book Morning Radio has been described as The Bible of Personality Radio and has been used by personalities worldwide.