Prize draw marketing is a standard way to bring more attention to a brand, to increase traffic to a website or to start up a dialogue with potential customers via social media. This concept can also function for B2B.
Prize draws are a popular tool in the marketing mix
Whether to generate contact data, to boost your image or to increase sales – prize draws are a popular tool for companies in the marketing mix. A survey by Emirat AG, taken among marketing employees from small and medium-sized enterprises active in various industries, showed that more than one-third of the participants have sporadically leveraged prize draws. Around half saw prize draw activities as an attractive option for increasing awareness.
Indeed, most prize draws are offered by B2C companies, but the format can also work for B2B. After all, in the end, the same persons are reacting to such an offer – on the one hand in a private setting and, on the other hand, in a professional environment.
Special characteristic of B2B: potential conflict of interest
At the same time, B2B companies should pay particular attention to a few special characteristics. For instance, the participant of a B2B prize draw can quickly be entwined in a conflict between his personal prize draw interests and the interests of the company he works for. Especially when the chances for winning are combined with the provision of data or even an order. Therefore, it makes sense to address the B2B entrepreneur personally with the prize draw, not his employees.
A measure you can take to counteract this effect is the careful selection of the prize. Not the employee’s personal chances of winning are the focus; instead, the company’s chances are highlighted. Such prizes can, for instance, be a ping pong table for the break room, frequent fruit deliveries for the company or a massage for all employees in the department.
„Prize draw activities are an attractive option for increasing awareness.“
Prize draws as an incentive for completing surveys
Especially in B2B, where each individual customer has a much higher significance for the company than in B2C, a prize draw is suitable as an incentive for increasing the participation numbers of helpful customer surveys. In this case, too, the prize offered plays a decisive role. After all, when the prize is attractive for the wrong group of persons, those surveyed may only participate for the incentive and run through the survey, giving just arbitrary answers.
Industry-specific prizes or those with a direct connection to the company offering the prize draw are also possible, such as discounts for a purchase, a free service or high-quality tickets for specialist conferences.
Surveys on customer satisfaction should, in contrast, not be combined with a prize draw. Those questioned are perhaps more willing to give positive feedback if they receive an incentive for their answers. This would distort the results.
Implementing a prize draw: these channels can be considered
Prize draws can be implemented across various channels. Those that come into question for B2B:
- Directly on the website
- On a corporate blog
- On social media such as the Facebook wall
- On career networks like LinkedIn
- Via a newsletter
When choosing the channel, it is essential that the purpose of the prize draw is clear. If it is to collect customer data, this can take place via a form on the website. However, if interaction is aimed for, or an increase in awareness, the positioning on a blog or a social network would be better. Of course, the channels can also be combined. For instance, a blog article containing the prize draw can be shared via social media or placed in a newsletter. In this way, the corporate blog is made much more strongly aware of among the network community.
Prize draws and data privacy
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) makes it more difficult to leverage prize draws as an advertising measure. However, despite this regulation, it continues to be permissible to gain advertising consent via prize draws. Under the condition that the prize draw form clearly states that the consent to receive advertising is in return for participation in the prize draw and therefore a part of the product. With the use of the double opt-in procedure, the explicit consent is obtained, such as for the newsletter subscription.
When it comes to developing the terms and conditions for participation and the privacy policy statement for the prize draw, the company’s data protection officer or another expert should be brought on board.
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