Life is like a boomerang, you get what you give. You can’t expect something of high value if you are not willing to give the same thing in the first place.
This is similar to the concept of give-and-take, a mechanism that is inherent to all personal relationships that can also be applied in advancing our professional and business interests.
If you are wondering why your email marketing strategies are not driving fruitful results, you might first ask yourself if you are giving something valuable to your target market?
Email marketing is undeniably one of the most effective marketing strategies that you can’t afford to miss out. Almost everyone that I know start their day checking emails. In 2018, email users worldwide reached 3.8 billion, and it is expected to grow to 4.4 billion users in 2023 (Statista, 2019). That’s half of the world’s population for crying out loud! And thank goodness you are here to validate the importance of email marketing in any venture.
The catch, though, is that, for you to succeed in using this marketing tactic you first need to grow your email list.
And today is your lucky day because I’m about to share 10 email marketing giveaway ideas and other useful tips that will help you rapidly grow your email list from zero to hero.
Giveaway Ideas – Rafflecopter Giveaways and More!
Run a Rafflecopter Giveaway
Have you always wanted to create an amazing contest, sweepstakes, and other giveaway campaigns but you just don’t know how?
Fret no more, Rafflecopter is here. It’s simply the web’s most trusted giveaway platform with a proven track record of successful campaigns for fortune 500 companies, start-up online stores, blogs, and more.
Are you excited to throw your first giveaway? Tap on Rafflecopter now and you’ll be surprised on how easy it is to run a professional campaign that could drive fruitful results.
Throw a Contest
There’s a competitive spirit in each of us. And you should take that as an opportunity to capture relevant leads, attract more conversions and hit your goals.
But remember, not all contests are created equal and not all can deliver results that count.
Before you jump on this trend, you need to know your target audience and capture only their attention. This way, you won’t end up with dead leads or participants who are just there for the prize.
One way of ensuring that you are targeting the right people is by giving prizes that are relevant to your business or prizes that would capture your market’s interest.
If you are stuck and can’t think of a certain type of contest, to begin with, then you might want to try with a photo contest, essay contest, video contest, or caption contest.
For sure you can get more creative. You might even want to throw a survey or ask ideas from your followers on Facebook or Instagram.
And guess what? You can also ask them what prizes do they want.
Seasonal Giveaways
Holidays are coming! By now, you should be busy thinking of exciting ways to treat your existing customers and attract more sales and conversions.
Never underestimate the power of this season! Check out this article for some cool seasonal marketing ideas that you can try.
Anniversary Giveaway
It only happens once a year, so you’d better make the most of it – for your customers and your business! And no, it doesn’t have to be a one-day giveaway.
You can run it for your entire anniversary month and maybe give a special or bigger treat on the exact day.
Your customers would definitely love some discounts, freebies, and prizes – just make sure that your treats are relevant to your business so you can reduce the participation of freeloaders.
Combine Your Thank You Message and Surveys with a Giveaway
Make your “Thank You” message more meaningful and productive by pairing it with a survey and incentivizing it.
I am sure you’d like to learn some insights from your customers so you can improve their shopping experience, provide them with better deals, and so on.
You might have tried asking them over and over again on Facebook, Instagram stories, or even through emails, but nobody seems to care.
Chances are you are lacking a reward. By positioning your survey as a giveaway, you can increase the rate of completion.
Don’t leave the success of your surveys to chance, try Typeform and get better results.
Tap on Emotion
Valentine’s day is a perfect occasion to capitalize on one’s emotion. It doesn’t mean though, that you can only do it once a year since emotions are present all the time.
You just have to learn how to find the sweet spots of your customers. Perfect captions for this giveaway campaign are, “Tell us who you love,” and ”Share this picture and tag three people you’ll love to share these boxes of chocolates with.” Or if you are selling jewelry, you can run a “heart necklace giveaway” and in the caption of your post you can write:” Tell us who you give your heart by sharing a photo of your Valentine.”
And don’t forget to remind them that you’ll be sending an email to the lucky winner, so they will be encouraged to subscribe to your mailing list.
Ebook Giveaway
Whether you are a fitness coach, social media manager, author, eCommerce guru, or an online coach, you can make use of an eBook giveaway to capture relevant leads.
You can often see this on Facebook and a website’s landing page. This is often used by marketers, so make sure that your offer stands out by creating an amazing sales copy.
Technically, you are not selling anything, but you are selling the idea of giving a free eBook in exchange for your customer’s email address.
Make each word count.
Free Downloads
Do you have a website? Then you can make the most of it by giving an option for your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter.
Of course, it’s easier said than done. But, it’s always better if you give it a shot. If you think an eBook won’t capture your target market’s interest, try offering them a free download.
You might want to give them free cellphone wallpaper or a printable copy of your artwork.
Free Trial Giveaway
Giving a free trial is a great way to capture relevant leads if you are offering services.
Instead of spending money on a physical product or in writing an eBook, you can offer your potential customers a free trial or a package that they can only avail if they enter their email to register.
By doing this, you can be certain that you are only targeting the people who might be interested in what you have to offer.
It is also a perfect chance to let them have a first-hand experience of your services.
If they love their experience, there is a greater chance that you can convert them to paying customers. Hence, you didn’t just get their email address, you also got them to sign-up and pay.
Exposure Giveaway
This promotional giveaway is very popular with businesses or personalities with a high following across different social media channels.
With this giveaway, you are offering someone a chance to be seen or to be part of one of your upcoming launch, event, or another giveaway.
For example, if you are running a pet grooming or pet-related business, you can give your customers’ pet a chance to be featured on your 2020 calendar giveaway. Or if you are a YouTube video creator, you can offer a lucky subscriber a chance to join you in one of your vlogs. And you can even make the most from the offer by pairing the exposure with another giveaway. Let us say you are going to give the lucky subscriber a chance to shop any products from “A to Z” at a local grocery store. You can ask the grocery store if they want to sponsor your content, so you won’t end up paying the bill. Just make sure to set a budget for each product if you don’t want to break the bank.
Tips on How to Build an Email List for Marketing
Sign-up Sheet
We are going off-line with this tactic. Maximize the space in your physical store by having a sign-up sheet where your customers can easily write their email address.
People who visit your booth, store, or your stall are already potential customers. Hence, don’t let the chance of getting them to sign-up.
You can do so by simply asking them so they can be updated with your upcoming promotions or by offering them some sweets, personalized bookmarks, or any little trinkets that are relevant to your business.
Business Cards
Make sure that you always have some business cards handy wherever you go.
You’ll never know who you will meet along the way. If you have a physical store or a booth, you can place a fancy glass bowl where your customers can leave their business cards.
And just like with the sign-up sheet, you can also incentivize the act by offering them something in return – just like a gift card, discount coupon, or a free product.
And when it comes to your business card, you can increase its conversion rate by giving an irresistible offer at the back of the card.
Host an Event
Gather people who are into your niche by staging an event. This is not just a great way to connect with other business owners, but more so with your target market.
It’s also one way of leveling up your perceived value in the eyes of your existing and potential customers.
They will see you more of an authority in this field since you can pull off such a successful gathering.
And have I said that it’s a great way to promote your artwork as an artist?
Optimize Your Website for Opt-ins
Every visitor that comes to your website is already a potential customer.
Hence, you should not miss the opportunity to have them in your email list.
Make sure that you have a sign-up page (or box) on your website or a pop-up for every new visitor asking them to sign-up.
Don’t forget to offer them something in return just like a discount, a free trial, or a free printable artwork.
Blog Posts
Your blog is a perfect platform to deliver your message, to connect with your audience, and to build a relationship with your customers and prospects.
And of course, it’s a perfect way to gather their email addresses. Make it a habit to end your blog post with a call to action asking your readers to sign-up for your email list.
You may also require your readers to sign-up so that they can leave feedback and suggestions in your comment box.
Just make sure to set it up that they can opt-out from your mailing list if they don’t want to receive promotional emails.
Social Media
Being consistent with your social media presence is a great way to engage with your customers and drive in sales and leads.
You can use your Facebook, Instagram, and other social media accounts to encourage people to visit your website or other channels where they can sign up for your mailing list.
And just in case you want to increase your Instagram followers, you might want to check out this article.
Referral/Word of Mouth Incentivize
Don’t underestimate the help that your existing clients can do. This is one of the reasons why it is very important to please them with your products and services.
Doing so will encourage them to refer you to their friends or they can ask their connections to sign up for your email list to get discounts and free trials.
You may also incentivize their act for every valid subscriber or sale that they drive into your business.
Subscriber-only Access
Use exclusivity to keep your existing customers happy and to excite prospects to sign-up.
Give them subscriber-only access to a certain product, service, discount or freebies.
Don’t forget to promote this to convert more prospects to join your email list.
Don’t Delay! Create Email Subscription List for Your Business Today!
It’s a tough world out there – both online and offline. With the ever-growing content, promotions, and offers, it’s so easy to get eaten by bigger brands.
It’s not enough to just have top-notch products and services. After all, you’ve got to let people buy or sign-up first to your services for them to find out.
Because if you won’t, then you’ll end up having a dead inventory or your business might fold up before you knew it.
I hope the giveaways and tips that I shared in this article will help you with your marketing goals not just for this season, but all year-round.
Don’t leave without signing-up on our email list so you’ll be updated with our latest content, news, promotions, and giveaways. I’d also love if you can share your comments and suggestions in the box below.
