Some time back, I participated in what I believe was a brilliant promotional concept. A local HVAC company held a competition for the oldest water heater. They requested that you email them a picture of the product tag that included the model number and manufacture date.
At the time, I had lived in the same house for about 28 years. In all that time, I had never replaced my glass-lined water heater; I thought for sure that I’d be the winner! I didn’t win the prize for the oldest hot water heater, but I was close. The winner was a 29-year-old water heater.
The brilliant portion of the contest was that the submission process required me to submit the picture using an email address. Since the HVAC company now had my email, they could send me content about how to care for my aging water heater, and of course by entering the contest, I self-identified myself as a person whose water heater was approaching the end of its life. I suspect that the HVAC company also got some qualitative data on which brands and models lasted the longest from the pictures.
Predictably, my water heater developed a leak a few months later, and I had to replace it. Guess what company I used– That’s right! I used the HVAC company who had held the competition. Since I had developed a relationship with them, I called them when it was time for a new water heater.
A car dealership is another business that could utilize this strategy. If you are a car dealership, you could host a contest for the car with the highest mileage. People could submit pictures of their odometer to participate.
There are a couple of advantages to hosting this type of contest. First, folks self-identify themselves as having an end-of-life vehicle. Once these potential customers are identified, you can then market your product and services to them. The second advantage is you identify which vehicles last the longest. If your dealership sells one of the brands that had a tremendous amount of miles on it, you could use it as a great marketing message. There are plenty of businesses that could utilize this concept. For example, if you are a cleaning company, you could hold a contest for the dirtiest bathroom – a landscaping company could hold a contest for the most overgrown yard and so on.
In summary, contests can help a business engage their audience. Since they are not being pressured to buy anything, contestants are more likely to hand out their contact information in exchange for the chance to win a prize. After you obtain their contact information, you should provide additional free content to help move them along the know-like-trust continuum before you pitch a sale.
What contest can you hold to engage potential customers and get their contact information?
