Before Your Contest : Creating Excitement in the Community
Participation requires awareness, follow these steps to generate the most bang for your buck.
Before any event, a good deal of planning is required to generate success. The same is true when running a Best of the Best contest. Steps need to be taken to ensure that your contest has the right opportunities and sponsorships, as well as the correct categories and voting rounds.
Fortunately, we've generated a brief list of steps that can be taken in the months and weeks leading up to your start date.
3 Months Out
Roughly three months before your contest is a good starting point for some light outreach. Starting with a “Save the Date” email blast to subscribers and advertisers is always a great idea, followed up with a "Coming Soon" banner on your website landing page. to notify visitors. Next up, a sit down with your sales team to review sales packages and any new opportunities. Lastly, consider adding new categories to your contest to attract new advertisers.
2 Months Out
Another "Save the Date" email is again your best bet, keeping your contest front of mind for readers and advertisers alike. Now is also a good time to start generating social media materials for yourself and your advertisers to get the message out. Lastly, finalize your sales packages and give your advertisers a "sneak peak," to help continue building excitement.
1 Month Out
With just a few short weeks to go, a final "Save the Date" email should be sent. Next, coordinate with your web team to have a contest link in the navigation bar, online banner ads and a dedicated graphic launch when your contest goes live. Lastly, make sure your sales team is pushing those advertising packages to your local businesses, big and small.
2 Weeks Out
With just two short weeks to go, now is the time to update banners across your website, as well as buzz articles generated and posted to your publications and shared to your social media channels. Adding a count down clock to your main landing page can also help continue building excitement. Another good idea is to motivate your advertisers, participants and local organizations to share contest messaging on their social media channels.
Week Of Contest
With just a few days left, have your sales team push any unsold advertising in a last minute blitz. A final email blast and social media message is also another great idea to give your contest one last hurrah. Lastly, you should go through your entire contest, verifying links, promotions and the website itself is ready.
While this is a rough guide, these steps should help you build out the requisite messaging for your local community and advertisers. Every step should be reviewed and adjusted to fit your needs, but the broad strokes are there to get you where you want to be.
After the first few contests are under your belt, creating and promoting a contest should be second nature, but this guide will be here to keep you on track.