Comments on: Build Brand Buzz Through Contest Marketing

By: Bruce Mind

Bruce Mind — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:37:59 +0000

Hey Lisa,

Nice guide indeed. I know it’s written more than a half year ago but still a question: do you have any tips how to keep more participants of contest happy after one of them is announced as a winner? I believe there would be a lot of dissapointed and upset people after the winner is announced. I know it’s impossible to keep everyone happy, but it is possible to increase the ratio of happy participants.

By: Synovia Dover-Harris

Synovia Dover-Harris — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:52:19 +0000

I think that this makes so much sense. I have a marketing book (A2Z Inspirational Marketing) that is currently being published and am thinking about doing a marketing contest. At the high school, college and professional level. I’m still trying to work out exactly what I want to do, but the information you’ve given is very helpful. Thanks.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:07:03 +0000

Thank you, Lisa, that was a fascinating link. Both the discussion and the comments were food for a lot of thought!

By: Rebecca Kelley

Rebecca Kelley — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:25:21 +0000

Holy crap, that ginger kid has a HUGE head.

By: O'Brian Woods

O'Brian Woods — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:49:08 +0000

Lisa – this is a great post. @tlockemy on twitter referred this post to me. I am trying to figure out the best way to offer giveaways and contests to promote BidMyCleaning.com the world’s first online marketplace for residential cleaning services. Thank you so very much – because your post helps a great deal.

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:36:38 +0000

Hey Sandra. :) What I meant was that when people make links their top concern, they tend to head down bad paths. They start naming their contest “search engine optimization contest” so that they get overly heavy anchor text in their links back, they start inserting links where their shouldn’t be, etc. It’s really easy for a good idea to go bad simply because people are focused on the wrong thing.

Here’s a good case study of what can happen from SEOmoz. Matt started out with an awesome concept…and then other people got their hands on it and twisted it for their own gain.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/widgetbait-gone-wild

By: Therese

Therese — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:09:04 +0000

This is a great post and very informative, saving this in my clips now :-)

By: Sandra

Sandra — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:59:59 +0000

I was really interested in this line:

“Links! Yes. I know you want links. However, links should NOT be the end goal of your contest. If that’s all your worried about, then you may start veering off into skuzzy areas.”

Could you expand on that a little bit?

By: Yawn Webmaster!

Yawn Webmaster! — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:07:04 +0000

Hey, thanks for the clarification. I’m a bit of a photo fiend, particularly when children are used.

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:54:30 +0000

Dr. Pete: What’s that? You just launched a contest, you say? Ah, I’ll have to go check that out. :) You’re very right about the prize. An iPod is nice, but aligning your prize with your brand’s story is going to be twice as impactful.

Yawn: The photos we use are either from istockphoto or have been CC-licensed through Flickr. The child photo above is through istock.