A Best of contest can be a great opportunity for growth with your business and strengthen
the bond with your community. By following established guidelines and foisting a healthy competition amongst your advertisers, a well managed contest can raise a sizable amount.
This is, of course, reliant on taking advantage of the multiple opportunities we've created for advertising within the contest. Below we will go over each section of your contest and the best ways to target potential advertisers.
Best of Contest Sponsor(s)
The primary sponsorship position should be offered to those companies with the largest consistent contributions to your publication. They receive top billing across the contest, with their logo and banners appearing on every page of the competition. They also can appear as sponsors of any unsold categories within the publication, if you so choose.
While reviewing potential contest sponsors, target larger companies looking to get their name out within the community. Sponsoring a contest like this (depending on community size and readership) can lead to significant increases in public awareness and potential leads for them, so make sure to price appropriately.
Your contest is split into multiple categories, grouped together for voter convenience. As such, these groups can be sponsored by single or multiple advertisers. Obviously, the more groups your create, the more opportunities you have for bringing in additional revenue. However, don't be too greedy and create more groups than are strictly necessary.
For targeting, try to keep thing simple by matching sponsors to their respective group. Having the local auto-dealership sponsoring the eateries category doesn't make much sense now then does it?
As with groups, individual categories can be sponsored by a single nominee. What better way to represent your category than by sponsoring it? Keep in mind, some businesses might take affront if they don't win, so offering incentives and social media graphics might be beneficial.
As categories can be as varied as your community, look for active local businesses in the area. More established and popular operations are more likely to advertise with the right persuasion. Work with your sales team to develop appropriate packages.
Banner ads exist in two locations on your contest, as two or three square ads along the right rail of the contest, and as a Leaderboard or Super Leaderboard ad at the top of the contest.
Typically reserved for sponsors, an enhanced listing can be provided to any business within your contest looking for an advantage. We offer a number of "standard" features that are included for all nominated businesses. By withholding key features you can incentivize the more a-type businesses into participation.
Features typically withheld for enhanced listings include QR codes, consolidated voting for all sponsored categories, an "about us" section, and more. By allocating these to enhanced listings only, you can further differentiate the paying form non-paying nominations.
By properly monetizing your contest, a single publication with forethought and planning can see a serious increase in available funds for other projects and expansion. A good sales team, given the proper tools, should have no problem bringing new sponsors onboard and building a robust portfolio of potential business.
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