Gain PR attention using contests, awards, and surveys

 

by Marilyn and Tom Ross

 

While mass marketers often run games and contests on a nationwide scale, small business can't afford this kind of promotion. But what we lack in money, we can make up for in moxie. Let's examine some other industries to discover what they have done. Hopefully, this will trigger some ideas for you.

 

Holding Contests

Texas is the birthplace of a lot of big ideas. The first Living Legends Classic, an annual bodybuilding competition, was held in Warton, Texas. What an ideal contest for a gym to sponsor. And you might know a Texas bank, TransFirst, came up with a sweepstakes idea to encourage customers to use its Moneymaker automatic teller machines (ATMs). A joint promotion with a local radio station and 7-Eleven stores, where the machines were placed, made the costs affordable. Sweepstake numbers appeared on each Moneymaker ATM transaction slip. A whopping 2.5 million entries resulted.

 

On a smaller scale, one Halloween a market placed a giant pumpkin in its window and offered cash prizes to the person who guessed closest to the number of seeds inside the pumpkin. The contest drew thousands of entries—and sold an unprecedented number of pumpkins. Experimenters counted the seeds, seeking clues to aid in the guesstimating. Could you mold this concept to fit your operation in some way?

 

Restaurants are famous for the fishbowl inviting customers to leave a business card for a drawing on a free meal. In return the restaurant gets a mailing list of their customers and a ready database to solicit for parties and meetings. Apply this concept to trade show exhibits and book festivals.

 

Do be aware contests could dump you into legal hot water. Most states have laws regulating contests and declaring lotteries illegal unless they are sponsored by the government or a charity. The Federal Trade Commission also monitors some contests, as does the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Postal Service. You may want to check with an attorney before embarking on a journey into this highly regulated jungle.

 

Contests are limited primarily by our imagination. What can you do to delight someone else and get free promotion for yourself? Just be sure your contest is relevant to your business. A beauty shop might give a free shampoo and style to the woman with the longest hair; a church could award their longest-standing member a token gift. An insurance agent could honor the driver with the longest safe-driving/no-ticket record. How about a travel agent giving the customer who has logged the most miles in a year a free trip to somewhere or a catered breakfast in bed at home. A weight control center might make the woman who lost the most pounds Queen for a Day.

 

In a promotion aimed at bookstores, Bard Books, Inc.—publishers of an offbeat corporate biography titled NUTS! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success—doled out 10 free round-trip tickets to anywhere Southwest flies. To qualify for the contest, store managers had to "Go NUTS!" creating a window display that portrayed the zany style and maverick spirit of the airline.

 

Want free radio exposure? Call a talk show host or disk jockey on a popular morning drive-time show in your area and suggest an idea for a call-in contest that ties in with your book. Donate a dozen copies and be sure to ask the host to mention where listeners who don't win can purchase a copy—and to announce your phone number or Web site.

 

Giving Awards

Awards are another intriguing promotional tactic. If no one in your area is doing so, why not institute a Good Citizen award? Have your assistant scan papers watching for stories of people who have performed a kind deed or helped significantly in the community. Each month select a winner; then send him or her a certificate and a letter explaining the program. Also be sure the media gets a copy of the letter and the name of that month's award recipient. Cap it with an annual award drawn from the monthly winners—and a big media splash.

 

A New York-based consultancy, The Communication Workshop, annually presents the Percy Awards. They feature the business world's most fuzzy, laughable, and misworded communications. Although copies of the winners are available, company names are not released "to protect the guilty."

 

Conducting Surveys

Besides a huge jump in the number of politically oriented commercials, what else accompanies a national election? Yep, political polls abound. You don't have to wait for 2008 to focus attention on industry issues, however. You can conduct a poll—complete with percentages and statistics—anytime. Surveys display your knowledge and specialty. They establish you as the expert and inevitably lead to new business.

 

According to PRink, the best topics for surveys are those that make for stimulating conversation: health, leisure time, hobbies and interests, sports, retirement/life cycle issues, quality of life, education, the arts, and people's feelings about entrepreneurial behavior.

 

Author Lisa Kanarek (Everything's Organized) contacted 600 women who responded about how much time they spend each day looking for lost items. The study was given generous coverage in Entrepreneur magazine.

 

A study commissioned by the Girl Scouts turned out interesting findings that support "smart cookies" join this organization. Girl Scout alumnae end up with a lot more than merit badges. The study found that 61 % of the 1,339 women queried credit their professional success, particularly in terms of self-confidence and teamwork, to their scouting experience. That should make for good recruitment material!

 

Word survey questionnaires objectively, get as large a sample as possible, and double-check all mathematical calculations. Your survey can be an informal analysis done among your customers/clients. A health spa, for instance, might shape questions to explore attitudes about exercise, weight loss, and the importance of a careful diet.

 

Another approach is to explore your company files. You may be sitting on proprietary information that could be molded into a fascinating survey. Be sensitive to gathering information that will involve your prospects. Human interest stuff is always appreciated. For instance, the public "gobbled up" Nabisco Brands, Inc.'s study on how people eat their Oreo cookies.

 

Once the poll is complete, write up your conclusions and offer them both locally and to the wire services. Recycle this information in other ways. How about a direct-mail piece, slated for buyers, summarizing your findings?

 

Holding a contest, giving awards, and conducting a survey—then circulating the results— is a low-budget, high-impact way to promote yourself and your books.

 

© Copyright 2005 Marilyn Ross

 

Marilyn and Tom Ross are the coauthors of 13 books including the best-selling Complete Guide to Self-Publishing and the award-winning Jump Start Your Book Sales. Through phone consultations and ongoing coaching/mentoring, she empowers authors and self-publishers to realize their dreams. She can be reached at 719-395-8659 or Marilyn@MarilynRoss.com. Visit http://www.SelfPublishingResources.com for free meaty information on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing strategies.

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