When you have decided to run a consumer contest, the next logical thing to do is deciding what type of consumer contest to run. There are many types of consumer contests there outside in the market which you can copy and adopt but its important to know what consumer contest works for your brand and what doesn’t and in the end, does it achieve the objective that you have set. Most importantly, that it complies with your local government’s rule and regulations.
Here I will cover some of the commonly used consumer contest methods for you to consider which best applies
SMS and Win
One of the easiest with limited barriers of entry. One just needs a handphone to SMS or WhatsApp, WeChat etc. Usually this consumer contest method is used with the objective of increasing sales as very little effort is needed to join this contest. Disadvantage is you would most probably draw more contest seekers to buy and join your contest than your genuine consumers
Creative Writing or Drawing
This is the kind of contest that the participant needs to complete the slogan or writing creatively or draw creatively. This contest method only works if you have a very large base of loyal consumers as not everyone has the free time or space to be creative. Depending on the contest requirements, participant needs to be either really good in a language or drawing skills. Therefore, with the high barrier to join, the contest prizes needs to be attractive to encourage the effort and participation.
Collect and Redeem
Participants are required to collect a required number of points and redeem prizes. Not a very commonly used method since point collection requires over a period of time and some people may forget if the collection period is stretched out too long. Recommended period of collection usually runs from 3 to 6 months hence to counter the risk of forgetting the contest, you need to have a set budget to constantly remind people that your contest is running. Apart from this, another risk is the risk of boredom as consumers may view your contest as boring and repetitive over a period of time as well
With the digital era, a new type of contests that are popular and in the run are such as
Comment, Share, Tag, Record
No matter what the action is, depending on the social platform being used, a lot of brands these days also adopt to comment on the posts to create more engagement with their target audience. Share and Tag to create viral effect and record your moves or your actions using Tik Tok or on YouTube in order to win.
Game App
Another method that some companies are using is to gamify their contest. The game involved are usually pretty straight forward eg the highest score of the week wins a weekly prize etc to create more excitement for the brand
