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Well,
you've decided to run an essay contest to sell your home or business or
vehicle. Now what? A web page certainly will help you publicize it, but
don't count on that alone. You're going to need to plan out and execute
a multi-faceted marketing plan. You need to plan for newspaper, magazine,
radio and tv coverage too. The local publicity won't be all that hard to
arrange in most cases, as long as you make yourself available for interviews.
Getting free national coverage is going to be a lot tougher, if not downright
impossible. Essay contests are so numerous these days, that to the general
media, they have become the proverbial "dog bites man" stories. But you
still need to send some press releases out to the wire services and regional
newspapers. If you have a waterfront property, send a press release to all
the boating and fishing magazines. Mountain cabin? Then mail out to all
the hunting and hiking magazines. A pizza parlor business? Then let the
restaurant and food trade magazines know about it. You get the idea. And
allow 4 months lead time for magazines!
What about
tv and radio? Are you prepared to be a star? Every essay contest needs
a 'face' that folks can identify with. By putting yourself up front
in the public eye, you add a lot more legitimacy to your project - yes,
there are always folks out there that will think that your contest is
some sort of scam. You build legitimacy with personal interviews, your
web page, your easy accessibility to answer questions by telephone or
email, etc. So don't forget to send some press releases to local and
regional television and radio stations. And why not send one to Oprah,
Sally Jesse or Montel while you're at it? Who knows, their producers
are always looking for fresh guest ideas. It was an appearance on the
old Phil Donahue Show that helped a fellow sell his inn in Maine by
essay contest a few years ago. In fact, he received so many entries,
he had to send $200,000 in entry fees back! He had advertised that he
would only accept 5000 entries and he received over 7000! Wouldn't you
like to have THAT problem?
Of course,
you are going to have a web site for your contest. Some folks just use
it as a way to add legitimacy to their contest. They list the web site
address on all of their flyers and in talking with reporters, so that
people that already know about the contest's existence can go to the
web site and get additional info, see more photographs, get updates
and ask questions via your email address. Other folks will use their
web site to attract additional potential entrants by promoting their
contest to folks who would probably never see their flyer or read about
their contest in a local newspaper. To get these folks to the site,
one must take the time to post it on all of the major and not-so-major
Internet search engines or to pay someone else to do it for you. The
goal to to get as many web site hits as you can! You are going to have
to let a LOT of folks know about your contest to reach your goal!
Another
method of advertising is direct mail. No, not direct email. Whatever
you do, DO NOT try bulk email (commonly referred to as "spam"). That
will upset 99% of the recipients, many of whom will see to it that you
lose your web page account, email address and a lot of sleep! No, the
direct mail I'm referring to is via the U.S. Postal service.
You are
going to want to print up some attractive flyers to pass out to folks,
post on bulletin boards (supermarkets, local college campus, VFW hall,
etc.). Printing them is cheaper by the thousand, so get a LOT of them.
If you're selling a home or business via the contest, maybe the local
Chamber of Commerce or tourist board will help in the distribution.
And plan to send some out via the U.S. mail. There are all sorts of
mailing lists that you can rent, but one of the most effective is to
send your contest flyer to folks that have previously paid a fee to
enter an essay contest. That's another area in which I can help.
I currently have a list of 1280 individuals
that have paid a fee ($100 to $250) to enter at least one essay contest
in the past few years. I can provide this list to you on self-adhesive
labels all ready to adhere to an envelope or folded flyer to send out
your contest announcement. What possible better target audience could
you try to reach for your essay contest?
So what
does it cost? I rent the list for your one-time use for 50 cents per
name. As I said, it is supplied on labels all ready for you to stick
and mail. My experience has been that when you use a list like that,
some of your mailings will be returned by the post office due to address
changes (be sure to put "Address Corrections Requested" under the return
address on your mailouts!). In most cases, there will be a yellow sticker
with a forwarding address on the front of the returned flyer. You can
just turn around and mail a new flyer to each new address. However,
if you return those envelopes to me with the address change stickers,
I'll return 34 cents for each one. And should any come back without
forwarding addresses, I'll return the full 50 cents on each of those.
That's how I keep my list fresh, and how you can be sure that you're
only paying for good essay contest prospects. I can't guarantee that
they'll enter your particular contest, but I can guarantee that they
receive your contest flyer. It's up to you to design an attractive flyer
that will entice them into trying to win your prize!
You certainly can run your essay contest without renting my list - many
folks have. But if you'd like to incorporate that target audience in
your marketing plan, then send me a note via email below. If you don't
have email access, send your questions or check/money order to:
Mark
Samwick
P.O. Box 3600
Allentown PA 18106-0600
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