Iain Haywood-Running Promotional Campaigns, The Good, Bad and Ugly

Transcript

1. PROMOTIONAL MARKETING The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Iain Haywood contact@competitionagency.com / @iainhaywood
2. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Competitions, Giveaways
 (Contests, Sweepstakes) u Competition: skill-based participation u Giveaway: non skill-based participation (surrender entry, prize draw) ! ! ! u Good: maximising upside potential u Bad: minimising down side risk exposure u Ugly: what can result if that exposure is unchecked
3. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 What Should all Competition/Giveaway Campaigns Include? u Planning: what you want to achieve, how you’re going to do it u Delivery: build or deployment on a chosen platform, like an app, minisite, social platform u Marketing and outreach: driving entrants, traffic, coverage u Prizes: contra deals, partnerships, sourcing and acquisition, logistics and fulfilment of those prizes u Compliance and legal: national, international u Measurement and data
4. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 3 Golden Rules If you fall asleep, are abducted, or leave after hearing these, you’ll still probably be OK
5. “ ” Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Rule 1:
 There is more than one type of entrant Broadly speaking, there are two. One is interested in winning your competition. They may also be interested in your brand or vertical secondarily. 
 The other is interested in your brand and vertical primarily, and unless you’ve made a major hash of things, they’re very likely to be interested in your competition also.
6. “ ” Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Rule 2:
 Your competition is unlikely to be a panacea It could be, but it’s unlikely. Be realistic. It’s not a silver bullet. Your company’s flagging windscreen wiper sales are unlikely to be turned around by one competition on social media. Don’t get seduced or dazzled by vanity metrics.
7. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014
8. “ ” Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Rule 3: 
 Incentivisation fundamentally changes the nature of intent For the worse. You are, in one way or another, changing why someone wants to do something.
9. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 RT and Follow! Like and Share!
 THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE TO ME:
10. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 So what can you Run a Competition for?
 (What is your Objective) u Email opt-in u Address/telephone opt-in u Social media activity u SEO u Coverage u User acquisition/retention/activity u Basket value increase u Sale of data
11. “ ” Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Rule 2:
 Your competition is unlikely to be a panacea It could be, but it’s unlikely. Be realistic. It’s not a silver bullet. Your company’s flagging windscreen wiper sales are unlikely to be turned around by one competition on social media. Don’t get seduced or dazzled by vanity metrics.
12. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Distribute your ROI over Multiple Objectives Singular benefit Aggregate benefit Spend Opt-ins Spend Opt-ins Social media SEO/Coverage
13. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 SEO URGH. Do I have to?
14. “ ” Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 “...exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link...” …Is definitely bad. Now that disclaimer is out of the way…
15. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 3rd Party Competitions to Secure Coverage u Secure coverage you ordinarily wouldn’t be able to u Appeal directly to your vertical, remembering rule 1 u Your provide prize or prizes u Blog or site runs competition u Incentive for other side is traffic/opt-in yield etc u Given that incentive, expect them to be able to run it successfully u Very straightforward
16. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Some Tips: u Treat it like a PR exercise, not a linkbuilding one u Concentrate on quality, not quantity, do not mechanise u Don’t overly specify terms over which the coverage is agreed (common sense) u Don’t ever use any duplicated marketing copy u We all know the tales of penalised brands who automate this stuff
17. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Singular Objective? u Not if you agree to duplicate the opt-in or social yield u Easily negotiated u Do make sure entrants know what they’re opting in to (Terms and Conditions) u Opt-ins more likely to be the more valuable second vertical-interested entrant (rule 1)
18. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Opt-ins All your email belong to us.
19. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Distribute your ROI over Multiple Objectives Singular benefit Aggregate benefit Spend Opt-ins Spend Opt-ins Social media SEO/Coverage
20. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 1st Party Competition to Gather Opt-in Data (i.e. one you Run Yourself) 
 What you Want from Each Entrant: u Land u Look at your product or brand, watch a video (is the answer to your question in the video?) u Enter via opt-in u Optionally follow you on social media, share it, and invite a friend, all of which are incentivised with extra entries. u You can make a lot of those conditional entries recurring, daily, or unlimited for things like friend referral
21. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Get a bit of a Flywheel Going: Daily repeat entry Primary entry – opt- in Friend invite (unlimited) Social share (daily)
22. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Some Tips: u Host this on a landing page as close to your root domain as possible (domain.com/ competition), not a blog post, if you care about the SEO impact u Microsites are useful if you are taking a risk, or don’t want the competition overly associated with your core brand, if you’re running brand partnerships for example u Think about your barrier to entry. You need to find a balance between quality and quantity of entrant. How best to achieve a quality filter on landing- a question can be answered only by product knowledge? Demographic survey questions? Eligibility? A creative competition perhaps, where users submit creative works, like a video, or an Instagram? (do note that whilst this engages entrants on a very high level, it will decimate the entry count) u Make sure your landing page focusses on the entry, but doesn’t waste an opportunity to promote something! Weave it into your entry - video is a great example, people much prefer watching a Youtube video for a product detail than scanning text for an answer, and they will scan it. u Make sure your entry mechanism is a solid technical entry, not a narrative one!
23. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Don’t do this: To enter our competition, do the following: ! Simply email ipadcomp@windscreenwashers.com Follow us on twitter @windscreenwashers Fan us on FB Leave a comment below Share every day Good luck LOL :) u (Don’t use Comic Sans or emojis either)

24. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Lack of Trust, Questions to Answer, Blowback u Highly unlikely a narrative entry from multiple sources will ever be recorded and weighted properly u Looks amateurish, and you’re inviting query or complaint. u If you’re unable to demonstrate a fair and properly recorded draw, you’re asking for trouble
25. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Technical Entry – Build one!
26. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Technical Entry
27. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Praise be to the Out of the Box Solution
28. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Try and use Technical Entry Wherever Possible e.g. Twitter
29. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Going “Viral” V for Voting competition ends badly
30. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Voting Competitions: Supremely Attractive, Supremely Risky u Often considered a shortcut to virality u Where entrants canvass for votes, and those with the most votes win u Very attractive because they promise leverage of the entrants’ will to win/ narcissism u Canvassing for votes is a multiplier effect applied to the campaign u Major risk it can turn sour

31. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Brand launches expensive and engaging voting
32. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Why Voting Competitions are a Bad Idea u With the exception of you “getting away with it”, which is possible, there’s no situation where the brand comes out of it well u Greatest risk of potential mess up u Even if technical fraud is mitigated, manual/bought fraud is pervasive u A large number of ASA adjudications concern complaints arising from the mishandling of voting competitions u Competition a victim of its own success, the bigger it gets, the more likely it will succumb to exploitation u Harms future campaign prospects, loss of trust u Quite possible that brands themselves “cheat” in order to preference one winner over another
33. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Marketing Build it and they may not necessarily come
34. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Marketing u Best way to sustain “base-level” or background marketing is to build it in u You can even build in coverage as an entry mechanic u Blogging competitions u Track using a tracking pixel/script (may not work on 3rd party hosted blogs like Blogger or Wordpress because of javascript) u Track using inbound referral (not infallible, best to double up with email confirmation)
35. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Marketing u Don’t forget ad spend! u Display advertising can complement below the line activity well
36. “ ” Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Rule 1:
 There is more than one type of entrant Broadly speaking, there are two. One is interested in winning your competition. They may also be interested in your brand or vertical secondarily. 
 The other is interested in your brand and vertical primarily, and unless you’ve made a major hash of things, they’re very likely to be interested in your competition also.
37. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Quick Wins u Competition communities (both sites and social communities) u Examples include Money Saving Expert, HotUKDeals, The Prize Finder, Competition Hunter u Forums in particular may have a “no self promotion” policy so bear this in mind pre-approach u Will provide a consistent battery of entrants, links and signals ! u Competition bloggers u Influencers
38. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 High Value Targets – how do I get X to Write about my Competition? V for vertical
39. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Ticking the Right Boxes Both have: u A “transformative” prize. Both of them offer a large cash prize, and serious career advancement. That’s instantly newsworthy within the vertical. u Both of them have very famous judges, there’s always BAFTA bods and very famous credits. u Niche appeal. There’s a concentration of attention, and less competition for coverage in the vertical itself. A totally mass market consumer competition pitching to a newspaper has everything to compete against.
40. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Some Tips u Transformative/life changing prize - the most extreme example of these in recent years was the Best Job in The World campaign in 2009, run by Tourism Queensland. Still replicated to this day. u Famous judges. Influencers in your vertical with big social media footprints, or who may be journalists, or boost your cred in some way. It’s usually considered as an honour to be selected as a judge, and so you can reasonably expect they’ll be talking about it a lot. u Treat the PR as old school, don’t just pitch them, give journalists something, and make them feel important: 
 Exclusive access or content, an interview? Can they preview or try the prize? Invite them to breakfast/lunch/dinner/a campaign launch - you wouldn’t believe how far this gets you. Journalists still love free food/booze.
41. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 The Insanity Pitch u Sure, go for the stupidest/most insane competition ever u Great for blog coverage and mainstream coverage from free papers (Metro, Evening Standard etc) u Remember that entries will be generally useless
42. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Ticking the Right Boxes (and Getting a Head Start) Both have: u A “transformative” prize. Both of them offer a large cash prize, and serious career advancement. That’s instantly newsworthy within the vertical. u Both of them have very famous judges, there’s always BAFTA bods and very famous credits. u Niche appeal. There’s a concentration of attention, and less competition for coverage in the vertical itself. A totally mass market consumer competition pitching to a newspaper has everything to compete against. u The above + institutional partners = highly credible
43. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Jumpstarting Credibility and Guaranteeing Coverage:
 Getting Yourself a Media Partner But how to woo one?
44. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Remember: ! They’ll likely owe you some coverage, but you will likely owe them some kind of exclusivity (if it’s a newspaper; exclusive newspaper coverage, if a magazine; similar etc), so make sure you punch to or above your weight or you may throttle your potential coverage.
45. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Compliance The really dry bit
46. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 National/International – is it Worth it from a Compliance Point of View? u Consider the burden of compliance against the benefit of running a campaign in a particular country u UK has generally a light touch approach u Contravention can mean fines u If in doubt, explicitly exclude countries/territories (e.g. Quebec in Canada, Rhode Island in America) when drafting terms and conditions, or positively restrict (i.e. competition open only in United Kingdom and Australia)
47. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 International Rules and Regs can Vary Significantly by Country (and by territory) u Want to run something in Italy? Then get familiar with the Ministry of Productive Assets and Economic Development, and the Chamber of Commerce, submitting your rules and details of the competition for review, notifying of the start date, and an official must be involved in the picking of a winner. u France has a similar set of requirements where rules must be publicly registered with a notary and have a bailiff involved with the picking of a winner. Entrants can also claim reimbursement of any entry costs (so don’t have a postal or text option!) u In Brazil, you’re not allowed to give away cash. Other countries have restrictions on the amount of cash you can give away, like Taiwan, which has a formula based on the average wage. Mexico has a ceiling amount before the government must get involved. u Many countries don’t allow giveaways or sweepstakes (that is to say, no-skill participation) at all, including Sweden, Ireland and in Quebec, Canada (if you’re running a sweepstake or giveaway in Canada, make sure it’s void in Quebec for example). This can be nominally circumvented by using an “idiot question”, like “what’s the 5th letter of the alphabet?” u Even in the United States, some states like Rhode Island require registration of a contest u Don’t forget international rules relating to data protection. In Italy, all entrant data needs to be conveniently stored on Italian servers, and in the USA, under COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) you can’t take or retain any details of anyone under the age of 13, for example.
48. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 For the UK, you’ll Need to Know: u Data: Data Protection Act u Competition/promotion: British Code of Advertising, Sale Promotion and Direct Marketing, or “CAP code” u TV: BCAP TV u Radio: Radio Advertising Standards Code u Premium phone lines: Phonepay Plus

49. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 What you need from the CAP Code:
 Section 8 (It’s pretty easily digestible) u S8 is small but perfectly formed, and is very straightforward u Alongside the general requirements that all advertising must be legal, decent, honest, and truthful, Section 8 specifically addresses some requirements for sales promotions - primarily that they need to be fair. u A few notable elements (do consult the doc in full): u how to participate, explain free entry route(s) u the start date/end date u age restrictions if promoting alcohol u any proof of purchase requirements u Nature/number of prizes, if any, cash exchange value u any geographical, personal or technological restrictions eg location, age u how and when winner(s) will be notified, u how and when the results will be announced u winners' names must be published or available on request u criteria for judging, appointment of an independent judge (name must be available on request) u who will own the copyright in the competition entries u intention to use winners in any post promotion publicity 

50. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Terms and Conditions:
 ALWAYS u Participants must be able to retain this information or have easy access to it throughout the promotion. A few additional tips regarding Terms and Conditions: u Don’t ever not have them. If running a competition on Twitter or Facebook, link them! u Don’t give anyone an opportunity to complain about anything, don’t be vague u Don’t ever change them. Don’t change the nature of your entry method, extend your end date to capture more entrants etc u Don’t be afraid of explicitly disclaiming things u Explicitly prohibit cheating, duplicate or 3rd party entries, technical exploitation/ scripting, buying of votes, other types of fraud (people will cheat, and it can bring your campaign down)
51. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Platform Compliance u Social networks have specific Terms of Service to do with promotional activity u Facebook has massively liberalised how users can interact with the platform for competitions, no longer just a “like gate” available u Google+ explicitly prohibits the platform from being used in competitions u Never heard of any infraction resulting in removal (low risk)
52. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Consequences of Unchecked Risks TL;DR – Bad publicity
53. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 The Three Main Consequences Cheating/fraud/ exploitation ASA adjudic ation Bad PR
54. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Cheating/Fraud/Exploitation Automate d Entry Services • Come in two basic flavours Scripting/ exchange /buying (typically for votes) • In voting Cheating (old school) • So many compet itions
55. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 The ASA u Complaints can be made to the ASA regarding competitions, and they regularly are. The ASA is a self-regulatory body for the ad industry, is non-statutory, and cannot enforce legislation. u It is not the same as the office of fair trading, although it can however in extremis refer cases to the Office of Fair Trading. u The biggest practical weapon in its arsenal is public adjudication, upholding a complaint made, which means bad PR. What will its adjudication be? That a promotion was deemed to be unfair, or in breach of the cap code, it may make recommendations as to how future promotions be conducted in a different way.
56. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 It all Adds up to Bad PR u A soured competition can be a reputational grenade, but it’s unlikely to kill you u How does this bad PR manifest itself? 90% is blogging u Ad industry sites regularly cover ASA stuff, that’s important for ASA to carry weight u Also legal blogs, law firms, marketing agencies and of course consumers. u People will make hay out of it, potentially your competitors too. u Could argue it’s an unorthodox linkbuilding strategy, but rather out of the Kamikaze school of SEO
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61. Iain Haywood / contact@competitionagency.com / Searchlove 2014 Any Resources Gladly Provided on Request – contact@competitionagency.com u Competition communities/blogs (like Money Saving Expert, HotUKdeals) u Competition draw apps services (like Twitterdraw and Competwition) u Complete competition SaaS (like Rafflecopter and Punchtab) u Any qs off the record ! u You can follow me on Twitter @iainhaywood (NB: egregiously odd tweeting)