If you get excited by the word “free,” you’re certainly not alone. Not only is it a good deal, but our brains are hardwired to get a rush of dopamine — the body’s natural feel-good hormone — at an unexpected gift, creating positive feelings. From a marketing perspective, leveraging this psychological effect [[https://asicentral.com/insights/the-psychology-of-sales-a-deep-dive-into-promotional-giveaways/]] through contests or giveaway campaigns can help your business build powerful emotional connections with consumers.

However, not all giveaways are equal. An ill-planned giveaway can cause confusion or upset, leading to headaches for you and your business — especially if you run afoul of state or social platform rules concerning giveaways. If you’re interested in exploring the potential business benefits of a giveaway, continue reading for tips on how to organize one for your business successfully.

It’s Quality — Not Quantity
Pens, keychains, stress balls, phone stands, lanyards, tote bags, sunglasses and mini flashlights. These are common promotional products that can be found by the dozen at trade shows, conferences or other events.

These items are popular because they’re small, functional, affordable and customizable, allowing you to emblazon them with your business logo and make a positive impression on the show floor. However, if your idea of a giveaway means handing out these tchotchkes, think again.

One of the things that makes promotional items appealing to business owners — their low price point — is also what makes them likely to end up in the trash. Rather than giving away a grab bag of your favorite conference leftovers, give them something of value that accurately reflects the quality of your business: A free product or service trial will make a stronger, lasting impression of your brand while giving potential customers a sneak peek at what to expect.

PYMNTS, a news organization covering the payments and retail industries in the financial services sector, reports that more than 54% of surveyed consumers [[https://www.pymnts.com/subscriptions/2021/54-of-consumers-keep-their-retail-subscriptions-going-after-their-free-trial-ends/]] kept their subscriptions after their free trials ended. While this data was collected during the pandemic, when the majority of people were restricted to their homes and perhaps more likely to pay for a service that kept them entertained, this shows that if your product or service is worth it, consumers will stick around after getting a taste of what makes it great.

Have Your Promotional Strategy Ready
Getting the word out to your audience is vital for a successful giveaway campaign. You could have the best small business swag available, but it won’t matter if no one knows it’s up for grabs. Some considerations include:

• Choosing the right platform for your campaign – Most businesses have Facebook, but depending on your audience's age and interests, you might want to branch out to sites like Instagram, X (Twitter) or TikTok. Avoid professional networking sites like LinkedIn, unless your business focus and giveaway item are relevant to that audience.
• Creating a promotional content calendar – Your giveaway will need a series of posts to raise awareness of the event and generate excitement and participation. Use fun hashtags, photos and videos to get people involved. Phrase copy in a way that encourages engagement — such as likes, shares or comments — to boost your visibility and further your reach. Try creating posts ahead of time to avoid frustration on launch day.
• Obeying giveaway rules – Social media platforms have official, specific rules for how these campaigns can be disclosed and run. Refer to the contest rules for each platform on which you're promoting your giveaway to ensure it complies with their standards — failure to do so can get your campaign and account shut down.
• Finding a partner – Collaborations between brands or with your favorite influencer can help garner attention, amplifying your efforts thanks to the combined forces of your followers.

Know What You Want to Achieve
For any marketing campaign, knowing your goal is essential for measuring its outcome and, by extension, your success. Without having a specific aim for your campaign, it can be challenging to know how to improve.
 

RafflePress [[https://rafflepress.com/contest-metrics/]], a WordPress giveaway and contest plugin, recommends following the SMART goal framework — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound — for contests or giveaways. According to this framework, a giveaway campaign could entail:
 

• Specific, achievable and time-bound – Gaining 100 new subscribers as part of a campaign running Nov. 10–Nov. 21.

• Measurable – Tracking new subscribers for the duration of the campaign through your customer relationship management (CRM) software.
• Relevant – Achieving these new subscribers before — or due to — a new service launch.

Giveaways are a great way for small businesses to generate interest, foster engagement, involve their social media community and gain potential new customers without a significant investment beyond the freebie. With a high-quality giveaway and clear set of goals and metrics to analyze, you can craft a compelling campaign that delivers valuable business insights.

If you're looking for more inventive and exciting ways to help your business succeed, review our other informational articles on southernconsumers.org [[southernconsumers.org]].

Articles in this newsletter are supposed to be informative, enlightening and helpful to you. While all information contained herein is meant to be completely factual, it is always subject to change.

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