Ideas and Inspiration:
Meet your marketing goals using our most popular templates.
Instagram Photo Contest
An Instagram contest is an easy way to capitalize on the user-generated content (UGC) trend. Instagram contests require minimal effort from participants, which is one reason they’re so popular. To host an Instagram contest using this template, just ask people to post a photo to Instagram, include your unique hashtag in the caption, and fill out a simple form.
Tip: Spell out in your contest rules exactly how the winner will be chosen. To reduce fraud, consider having a two-step process for choosing a winner: votes determine the finalists and then a panel of judges selects the winner.
Photo Contest
People like to share their photos, and photo contests are an easy way to collect user-generated content and create buzz around your brand. Add an email autoresponder so you can instantly contact people who enter your photo contest and offer them a coupon or a link, or just say “Thanks for entering!”
Tip: Use a moderation tool so you can approve submissions.
Landing Page
Branded landing pages let you highlight specific elements of your business. They also serve as transition pages for people who have learned about your business from an ad or other promotional content. Once people visit your landing pages, you can collect their contact information and then market to them right away using email autoresponders.
Tip: Keep the content on each landing page relevant to the information that brought people to it in the first place. Make their experience as seamless as possible.
Giveaway
Giveaways are a low-cost way to build brand awareness and collect leads to use for future marketing efforts.
Tip: Use an email autoresponder to contact everyone who enters your giveaway, and consider giving all entrants a “prize,” such as a discount on your products or services.
I use and love ShortStack. It’s made my life easier and has helped me create Facebook Campaigns that look much better than anything I could have created with another tool.”
– Jon Loomer, Jon Loomer Digital
Contact Us
Make it easy for people to get in touch with you, and collect their contact information at the same time. Use the information you collect to tailor your responses.
Tip: Limit fields to name and email address so people don’t bail out before completing your form. If you must add additional fields, make sure you’re asking for information you really need.
Newsletter Signup
A “newsletter” is really any piece of content you email to your customers. It could be a blog post or an announcement about your company. It could even be a notification about an upcoming sale, a new product or a special event. Once people have filled out your newsletter signup form, ShortStack stores all the data for you which you can use for future marketing.
Tip: Use ShortStack’s email autoresponders to instantly contact people who sign up for your newsletter.
Product Gallery
A Product Gallery is a place where you can showcase your products and services. You can also use a gallery to promote “limited time” sale products. Real estate agents could use this template to show off listings; restaurants could use it to focus on certain menu items; photographers/artists could use it to bring attention to new work.
Tip: Include a PayPal or other code snippet to embed a buy button in your Product Gallery.
Coupon
Motivate people to purchase your product or service by giving them a discount, a free gift with purchase or a code for free shipping. Collect valuable marketing data while you’re at it.
Tip: Include an expiration date on your offer to add a sense of urgency.
I like the variety of templates available and the fact that you can easily customize them and the entry forms to fit your particular needs.”
– Carolyn S., Ryan PR for Perky-Pet
Refer-a-Friend
With Refer-a-Friend contests, people who enter are motivated to help spread the word about your contest (and your company) by getting their friends to enter as well. How does it work? Contest entrants are rewarded with bonus entries (or votes) every time their friends enter using a unique referral link.
Tip: Include a strong call-to-action in your share text. For example, “Want more chances to win? Just share this link!”
Guess the Score
Whether it’s the Super Bowl or March Madness, the World Cup or the World Series, people love to follow their favorite teams. Grab some of their attention and enthusiasm by hosting a “guess the score” contest and giving your customers some glory – in the form of a gift card from your business.
Tip: Use ShortStack’s visibility settings feature to set the date and time – including time zone – that your contest will begin and end.
Gated Personality Quiz
Quizzes asking “Which Oscar-winning actress are you?” or “What animal were you in your past life?” are irresistible because they help people make sense of their lives. (Seriously, this is what the science says!) When you design a quiz that also asks participants to share their email address before you reveal the results, you can use a quiz to collect leads.
Tip: If personality quizzes aren’t appropriate for your brand, try our Trivia, Survey and Poll Templates. Quizzes, surveys and polls can all be designed to give you insights about the kinds of products and services your customers prefer.
