24 Sep Online Contests. Do it Right.
Online contests can be cheesy, and downright annoying. But they don’t have to be. When aligned with your brand, voice, and integrated as a part of your marketing strategy, they are a powerful user engagement and marketing tool.
In the past, we’ve crafted contests which went viral. One contest crashed servers. We thought a hacker was maliciously attacking the contest microsite with an automated script. We were receiving up to 9,000 entries per hour. What happened? Our contest was featured by a website with millions of subscribers, and the entries were legitimate.
That experience is an outlier, and is a one-in-a-thousand experience, that every marketer dreams of. Utilizing carefully created contests as part of your marketing strategy to build your email list is now a common and effective way to grow your prospective guest list and increase engagement amongst your past guests.
First, if you haven’t already, develop your Hotel or Resort’s voice and tone. Is it fun, playful, business oriented, sophisticated, etc? You probably have a good idea about what defines your brand already. If not, try this and maybe this.
What web based platform should you choose for your online contests? There are some powerful 3rd party services which make it easy. Here are a couple:
Ready to dive in? Here’s a good post on how to create a wildly successful online contest.
Featuring the property itself as a giveaway generally works well for Hotel and Resort contests. By matching the contest prize with the product you offer, you create alignment. This increases future conversion of contest entries, into paying guests.
Feature a short stay at your Hotel or Resort as the prize. Using empty room nights to fulfill the contest winner is virtually free. These contests are popular and will help grow prospect lists. They will also re-engage past guests to keep your Hotel or Resort destination brand in the front of their minds.
If you’re ready explore more about the IndyKey Guest Loyalty program, check out our Redeem page and contact us today.