Using Contests to Increase Clicks

Fern Stancer: You are my contest saviour!

Thinking up an idea for a contest to draw traffic to a website is easy. Ensuring it runs smoothly and is strategic from a viral marketing perspective is something else.

This is what Fern taught me:

- Look for every opportunity you can to promote your message within the contest.

- Get used to the word “flow”. Make sure the participant’s experience is easy and makes good strategic sense.

- Look for ways to get additional information about your target market, such as a survey, as part of the entry process.

- Make sure all rules and prizing information is drafted by a dedicated contest lawyer (you wouldn’t go to an eye doctor for your heart would you?).

- Identify ways to increase the viral nature of the contest – what built-in mechanism will there be to ensure participants tell everyone they know about this?

- Leave A LOT of days for testing. Make sure it works. Then try to break the system.

Thanks Fern! Check out www.getcentred.com to see our contest. Fern can answer your contest questions at fern.stancer@chasmarketing.ca.

How would you sell underwear?

If you were asked to help boost underwear sales to the masses what would you do? Traditional marketing avenues come to mind - advertising, celebrity endorsement, product placement.... all ideas that are one step removed from the customers we are trying to reach.

Jockey went right to its customer-base with its Underwars dance campaign. A micro site hosts a video competition where individuals shimmy and shake in their favourite Jockey underwear to a list of pre-approved songs for a chance to win $5,000 (and some serious bragging rights).

It's a good example of a campaign well planned. Good design, a defined period of time, easy-to-execute, clear rules, appealingly racy but not in poor taste. Oh, and then there is the ability to 'get the right gear' and buy merchandise online. Did you know Jockey makes women's briefs that are.... it appears this campaign works in getting consumers to click onto their website and peruse their wares!

I'd be very interested to see a follow-up on this project and whether sales were actually increased. For now, an absolutely noteworthy effort and example of the potential of social media.