The best way to strengthen the relationship between your brand and its customers is to make sure it’s a win-win situation. And there is literally no strategy that is as effective in making this happen Marketing Contests.
Entertainment and the promise of a reward are two extremely powerful levers Attract, convert and retain your prospects. A brand that organizes competitions not only becomes more visible. It’s also perceived as more generous, fun, and consumer-centric than its competitors.
In this article, we explain why competitive marketing campaigns are so effective and how they can benefit your brand. We’ll also give you some advice on choosing the right format by introducing you to some of them Examples of competitions.
What is gamification marketing or contest marketing?
A marketing strategy that focuses on competitions uses gamification mechanisms (we also say “gamification” in French) to target its potential or current customers.
Specifically, your company will therefore use game-specific processes (technical or narrative) and apply them in its marketing campaigns. For example, we think of the fact that you challenge your audience, the mechanism of progression through different skill levels, the reward system, etc.
Marketing games can do that too can be organized across both digital and physical channels, making it an ideal tool for your omnichannel engagement strategy. Your goal in implementing a gamification strategy will indeed beencourage interaction between your brand, its prospects and current customers, and increase popularity and loyalty to your company.
How can marketing contests help your brand?
If so many brands today are embracing gamification and incorporating this strategy into their marketing calendar, it’s because it has tremendous benefits for their growth.
Indeed, with a variety of marketing contests at your disposal, this leverage is an excellent way to achieve multiple strategic goals, from stimulating sales to generating leads by activating and retaining your customers.
Here are the main reasons why you should do it Think of the marketing game as an indispensable tool.
Organize a competition to retain your customers and generate new leads
Competitive games are a Very effective leverage for your Inbound Marketing Strategy. You can both attract new customers and provide your fans with fun and entertaining content to interact with.
The consumer will interact with your brand because they expect the joy they will get from participating in your marketing game, and most importantly, the opportunity to earn in return.
Marketing games also create a virtuous cycle of engagement and virality around your brand. They promote and multiply user-generated content, which we know is a great lever to gain visibility and build trust.
In addition to reaching and converting potential new customers, Marketing contests fit perfectly into your customer retention strategy. In order to retain your fans and turn them into ambassadors, you must actually offer them more value than your competitors. The opportunity to win gifts, but also the simple fact of engaging in a relationship that is not transactional but fun, strengthens the bond and creates loyalty.
Understand your audience better
A strong brand is a brand that knows its audience and adapts to its needs. But marketing contests are a great way to learn more about your customers and gather valuable information on a larger scale.
In fact, consumers are increasingly reluctant to share personal information. If you want them to take the time to fill out a form, you need to offer them something in return… For example, a free moment of entertainment with a chance to win a bonus gift!
Through a marketing game application or even a simple social media contest, you can do this collect relevant data (email address, location, occupation, preferences). All this data then flows into your marketing strategy, but also into your pricing, the design of your products or your sales mix.
Strengthen your brand image
Marketing games are also a powerful lever to solidify your brand image. It’s not just a differentiating marketing approach that allows you to stand out from your competitors.
Indeed, a contest differs from the typical content that brands post on social media or share in their email marketing campaigns. The tone is lighter and less commercial than, for example, a simple post promoting a new product.
As interactions with your audience increase and the rewards unlocked become more rewarding, your brand will be perceived more and more as a “friendly brand”. You make your community feel like you care and that your exchanges are not purely transactional.
In addition, the provision of free products or services creates a positive experience around your brand. It’s a marketing strategy that gets you qualified leads and more engaged customers.
5 examples of marketing games to energize your community
The goal of your competitive marketing campaign depends on the business results you want to achieve. The good news is that there is a wide variety of formats to explore.
Are you running out of original competition ideas? Here are some examples of games where you can win gifts that you can organize for your customers and prospects.
Create a Sweepstakes
The raffle is an example of marketing games that you can easily organize on social networks. It just consists of proposing to your community to win a prize within a certain time. The winner will be drawn at the end of the competition.
Unlike other marketing games, the draw is mostly unconditional. However, this format allows you to add playful elements to your campaigns (using a game like Memory or Tap Tap) and insert links to your website to increase your traffic.
To increase the participation rate Be original with ideas for prizes to be won.
The creative challenge
Under a “brand” hashtag (i.e. in the name of your brand), Challenge your subscribers by throwing a creative challenge : like recreating a choreography, a recipe, or finding the most original caption for your latest photo. This type of online competition is easy and fun. It is based on the skills of your community and allows you to generate unique and viral content around your brand.
Create an “Instant Win”
Again, the concept is simple. After playing a scratch card game, spinning an online wheel of fortune or a wheel of fortune, Participants will find out whether they have won a prize or not.
Very easy to set up and customize, instant wins can reward players multiple times. It is therefore an excellent way to retain your customers and multiply the touchpoints between your brand and its customers.
You can also Create an advent calendar during the holiday season to win gifts for your community every day.
Treasure hunts and treasure hunts
If you decide to create a Treasure Hunt or Treasure Hunt, you will offer your audience a highly immersive and more advanced gaming experience. In a universe (often digital, but also physical, for example in your shops), the participants have to find a hidden gift.
If you organize it in your online store, this process increases significantly the level of interaction between your visitors and your website. In particular, it allows you to generate traffic by encouraging participants to browse the pages to find a gift. It also lowers your bounce rate, which is very important for your SEO.
Create a quiz
The quiz is a good way to liven up your community, but also to reach out to new prospects on social networks. Participants must answer a series of questions on a specific topic related to your field of activity. Winners will then be drawn at random to win their respective prize.
Diploma
As I’m sure you understood, gamification is a very effective lever for attracting, converting and retaining your customers. Still, it requires developing a solid strategy and requires some investment (to write the game’s scenario, etc.).
If you don’t have the in-house skills to start your own competition, a specialized platform is often your best ally. Discover our tools to launch your gamification campaign and reap the many benefits of gaming marketing.
