You are walking in your high street and walk past a shop where you see a sign saying you could win a holiday worth £1,000 in big bold writing and all you have to do is text the word HOLIDAY to 88802. It takes you 10 seconds to whip out your phone and send a text. 10 seconds later you receive a message thanking you for entering the competition – it’s that simple.
Who wouldn’t want to win a holiday worth £1,000, or maybe a life time supply of sweets, or those last pair of tickets to a festival? Winning is always a great feeling, especially when it takes no effort at all.
As soon as businesses found out the power of the mighty mobile phone, they jumped on the idea of text to win competitions and they took off like a rocket.
So here 5 top tips to ensure your text to win campaign soars to victory.
Easy to enter
Keep your word short and simple, something that people will recognise and be able to spell easily. Don’t select two words together, as by selecting 2 or more words, would mean the auto correct on the phone would constantly keep trying to change it or split the words up.
Pick a simple word that people can easily text to enter like; WIN, HOLIDAY, MEAL, CAR etc.
Clear instructions
Don’t have all the instruction in a tiny font that only a pixie with a magnifying glass could read. Keep your instructions clear, to the point, and if you need to include a lot of information, send people to your website for more information. There they can spend time reading all the instructions and Ts & Cs if they want to.
Be creative
Make your text to win idea stand out, try and be creative, inspire and engage customers with your business.
Frijj did a great campaign where you could ‘Win Warren’ – yes that’s right, you could win Warren. They were giving you a chance to win Warren where he would come round your house and do anything you wanted him to. A great fun idea that received thousands of entries.
Why not try and tie it in with an event, like the World Cup, Olympics, Super Bowl, Glastonbury etc. Or have you got something that you can offer that no one else can? Maybe you know someone famous or can offer something unique?
Keep customer updated
Once someone has text you, reply back with an automated text message response. You could tell them when the competition ends and when the winner will be announced. You could even include a link to your website for more information or just to get people onto your website.
Promote
Now you have set up a great text to win competition, all you need to do now is promote it. There are lots of different marketing channels you can promote on, some are more effective than others, and some will cost more than others. If you are strapped for cash why not just post it around social media, put a banner on your website or include an image and some text in your email footer.
If you want to promote to a wider audience and don’t mind spending some money try promoting it the TV, radio, billboards, around your shop, and if you sell a product with packaging, why not include it on your packaging.
Also don’t forget your existing customers, send them a text message with the details of the competition in and how they can enter.
If you think a text to win competition is something you would be interested in, then set up a free account today. Every account comes with a free keyword and some free credits for you to test with.