UKNM: Marketing Sherpa/Your Auto Choice

[jason]

I've just read an article in Marketing Sherpa's regarding Your Auto 

Choice's prize draw 


There are a few points that have slightly riled me. "Competition 

Hunters" do have money, they do buy things, they may, just like 

anyone else use your service and spend cash! (Indeed I was 

looking at buying a car from Your Auto yesterday)


Can I also say if people want to know whether their competition 

entrants are from a competition service that they put an opt in on 

their pull down boxes that says "Competition Service" - that way 

you'll be able to distinguish which of your paid for campaigns 

worked properly. Just as a comparison - The article states Your 

Auto... had 9000 entries in the first week of launch - over 3500 

people were sent to one site with a car comp that started last 

Saturday from Loquax alone. We'd expect that to double by the 

end of this week.


A pop up box will not discourage people from finding your prize 

draw because...


And a lot of people watch for new URL's simply because they may 

have a competition (new site, low entry, more chance to win) - so 

whether you publicise your prize draw or not is pretty much 

irrelevant. And once people know there's a car to be won - they will 

visit and tell their friends (newsgroups and websites will relay this 

information)


Oh and if you're giving away car - most people will not be 

discouraged about signing up for your newsletter. And one big 

value prize does not actually discourage entries either (except in 

the case of lottery sites) - as the article suggests.


I can fully understand that some marketing managers wish to try 

and get "genuine customers" and don't like the idea of "freebie 

hunters" - but surely getting people to your site is not bad way 

towards making those people into customers or even aware you 

and your service exist?


Or is it that it looks bad when you say that the marketing 

campaigns you've ran (and paid for) haven't been quite as 

successful when the "competition hunters" (which you don't pay 

for) are removed from the other options "search engines" 

"newspaper ads" that they've selected etc. 


Basically if people are going to distinguish between their ad 

campaigns by being less than polite about "competition hunters" - 

then at least set in place realistic comparisons.


Jason

--

Loquax - http://www.loquax.co.uk - The UK's Competition Portal

Tel. 0191 270 0255 Mobile. 0777 376 8548

http://www.winontheweb.co.uk - want traffic? sponsor a competition!


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