Does the idea of running a Halloween contest spook you because you're a B2B?
Perhaps you find it hard to come up with Halloween contest ideas that work with your marketing. If so, we have a bag of tricks and treats to help you understand how easy and effective it can be to conduct contests in the spirit of "All Hallows' Eve." Here are nine Halloween contest ideas bound to engage your customers in October.
1. Simple Giveaway
Reward a prize randomly at the end of a specific time period. To get into the Halloween spirit, dress up a basic template for the season, add a form to collect an email address from everyone who enters, and use the giveaway as a powerful lead-generation opportunity.
2. Photo Giveaway
Ask users to submit a photo to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, on a theme related to your business. Use hashtags to help your giveaway gain traction and choose a winner randomly or by votes.
3. Caption Contest
You supply a photo or image and ask your customers to write a caption for it. The winner is chosen randomly or by votes. By the way, a caption contest is also a terrific way to crowdsource a new slogan for your company and to collect reviews about your products and services.
4. Product/Services Customization Contest
Ask your customers to customize your product in a unique way, or suggest alternative uses for your services, and submit a photo or sketch of their idea. The winner would be chosen by judges (i.e., you). Be sure to request permission to use any submissions you collect in your future marketing efforts, and to let people know how you plan to use their content by posting terms and conditions on a landing page.
TIP: No Matter what kind of contest or giveaway you run, make sure to post and link to the rules that spell out how a winner will be chosen and any limitations or requirements.
5. Trivia Quiz Contest
Build a quiz with questions focuse on your business or your industry. Whoever gets the most answers right wins your prize.
6. Feedback Contest
Ask your customers to leave a comment on a Facebook or Instagram post, or on a testimonials landing page, giving you feedback about their experience with your products and services.
- If you run the contest on Facebook, use a comment-like importer tool to choose a winner.
- If you collect entries from a testimonials page, choose a winner at random.
- Consider rewarding everyone who leaves feedback with a prize -- by sending them an autoresponder that includes a discount on a future purchase.
7. Mad-lib Contest
Like the Feedback Contest, you can run this fill-in-the-blank contest right on Facebook or Instagram, or set up a special landing page to collect entries. You come up with a phrase that’s relevant to your business, like “Acme is my favorite insurance company because _________________.”
8. Check-in Contest
If you have a brick-and-mortar operation -- like a commercial plumbing business, or a restaurant supply store -- ask your customers to check in at your business during a certain time frame (say, the month of October) and then award a prize to one of those people on the last day of the month. Announce the winner via email and/or on your social channels.
9. Partner Contest
Team up with another business, or several, in your industry and offer a prize package relevant to all. Partner contests can be a fantastic way to reach new customers.
What's your Halloween contest idea?
Giveaways and contests make it easier for people to discover your brand. And the holiday season offers all kind of opportunities to have fun with them—yes, even in the B2B arena.My hope is the nine simple Halloween contest ideas offered here (or maybe the ones in this post, based on Halloween trends) got the gears in your head turning. Now brainstorm a bit and make one of these ideas work for your company. Reflect on the challenges people who use your services have faced and build a contest or giveaway around the concept...
- If you’re an executive recruiter, you could build an essay or caption contest around a super scary HR story.
- If you’re a commercial plumber, you could ask people to describe or share a photo of their biggest plumbing nightmare.
Now it's your turn. If the idea of setting up a contest is still scary, ask our design team to help you get started.
About the author
Dana Sullivan Kilroy is a communications professional with more than 20 years of experience delivering compelling content. Her work has appeared in national, award-winning publications and sites, including: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Fast Company, Inc.
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