Key Takeaways:
- Digital Giveaways Drive Business Growth: Incorporating digital incentives, like downloadable resources, digital gift codes, or social media contests, is a powerful way to boost brand awareness, grow your follower base, and capture new leads.
- Accessibility and Value Are Essential: Whether you are sharing downloadable checklists, PDFs, or software, files must be formatted in universally accessible file types (like PDFs or standard Office formats) and clearly include your brand information.
- Balance Digital and Physical Marketing: Digital giveaways shouldn’t completely replace physical promotional items. Because not all prospects consume media the same way, finding a healthy balance between online and offline strategies ensures you reach your entire audience.
Everyone loves giveaways–who doesn’t love receiving something useful, informative, or fun for free? Many businesses distribute free promotional items, prizes, instructional or how-to documents, and marketing materials to prospective clients, often at trade shows and other promotional events. You already know how important it is to promote your brand and business online, so why not incorporate digital giveaways into your marketing and sales strategies, including digital prize giveaways or even an iOS and Android app specifically designed for your business?
Popular Digital Giveaways Include:
1) Digital Documents, Files, and Presentations: Your business can distribute instructional and marketing materials to prospective clients through digital downloads. When doing so, it is important to ensure that you are distributing files in file formats that are universally accessible, including PDF files and industry-standard Office file formats for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Be sure to include the name of your business, branding elements, and contact information with each file. Additional giveaway ideas to promote your business include:
- Memberships for an online course, event, workshop, or community
- A discount on your subscription packages, services, or digital products
- eBooks or downloadable guides with information regarding your industry
- A free consultation or initial video appointment
- Free templates, checklists, or access to limited resources
- Limited edition digital goods, products, and services
2) Digital Giveaways and Prizes: With so much great content now being distributed digitally, including music, movies, apps, games, and books, many of your prospective clients would love a digital prize, such as codes for popular online stores like Apple’s iTunes, Google Play and Amazon’s digital services. As with any other contest or giveaway, you cannot require that an applicant completes a purchase or signs an agreement in order to be eligible for the contest.
Digital giveaways that include content codes redeemable through an online storefront provide a new and novel way to conduct a giveaway – simply post the code to your blog or social media account and the first reader or follower to discover and submit it can redeem it! Not only is this a fun and exciting experience, but it encourages readers and followers to pay attention to your posts in the future.S ome other digital giveaway ideas include:
- Digital gift cards or coupon codes
- Digital event tickets or QR codes
- Digital movie tickets
3) Your Own App: Since the introduction of the first iPhone, smartphone users have fallen in love with apps, or applications, for portable digital devices such as smartphones and tablets. Billions of apps have been downloaded by users of devices made and supported by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems, and your business can submit your own app! However, as exciting as having your own app may sound, there are caveats. An app requires both an initial and ongoing investment of money and resources. The app must be designed, coded, and tested for bugs and errors, and once the app is launched, it has to be continually updated to fix newly-discovered bugs, add and remove features and content, and ensure that it is compatible with newer versions of each operating system. As of 2015, most apps are only released for Apple and Android devices due to the dominant market share of those two platforms.
Social Media Giveaway Examples
Social media giveaways are a great way to help grow your business quickly.
Running a quick social media giveaway can help you attract potential customers and gather new leads. Growing your social media presence is also an amazing way to speak to your customers directly, answer questions, and get them excited about upcoming events or promotions. Some examples include:
- Share a photo contest
- Submit a video
- Comment to win content
- Refer a friend to win contest
- Hashtag challenge contest
- Holiday-themed contest
- Contest to celebrate reaching a milestone or goal
- Randomly chosen winners selected from a pool of subscribers, followers, or other customer loyalty programs
Benefits of Giveaways
Not only can digital giveaways lead to increased conversions, sales, or revenue for your business in the long term, but they can also help with:
- Attracting new social media followers
- Boosting brand awareness and visibility
- Building customer and brand loyalty
- Expanding your email, subscription, or contact lists
- Generating more conversions and traffic to your site
Strike A Balance Between Physical And Digital
Digital giveaways shouldn’t replace physical giveaways at trade shows and other events. All of your prospective and existing customers are not equally “plugged in” – some may not have smartphones, while others may not feel comfortable or simply choose not to consume digital media. Continually tweak your sales and marketing strategies in order to find a good balance that works for your specific industry and client base.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main benefits of running a digital giveaway for my business?
Short Answer: They build brand awareness, increase social media followers, and generate qualified leads.
Explanation: Digital giveaways are a fast way to grow your online presence and engage directly with potential customers. Beyond driving website traffic and boosting overall brand visibility, running contests or offering free resources helps expand your email lists, build long-term customer loyalty, and ultimately lead to higher sales conversions.
What types of digital products or files make good giveaways?
Short Answer: Universally accessible documents, educational resources, discounts, and digital prize codes.
Explanation: You can distribute instructional materials like eBooks, guides, checklists, templates, and PDFs, as well as offer free consultations or course memberships. Additionally, popular prizes like digital gift cards, coupon codes, event tickets, or redeemable storefront codes (like Apple, Google Play, or Amazon) make exciting incentives for your audience.
Should my business build its own custom mobile app as a digital giveaway?
Short Answer: Only if you have the resources for both the initial development and continuous maintenance.
Explanation: While launching an app for iOS and Android is an exciting way to engage users, it requires a significant ongoing investment. Apps must be designed, coded, and tested for bugs, and they require regular updates to add features and remain compatible with new operating system versions.
Donna Galassi is the founder, CEO, and Marketing Director of Blue Zenith Design + Strategy, a full-service marketing and SEO firm she established in February 2009. Her journey to entrepreneurship was forged by a major life shift and the economic upheaval of the Great Recession. After more than 15 years as a software engineer, the loss of her job in 2007 spurred her to create her own path.
Blue Zenith was founded on the promise of giving voice to the entrepreneur. The company specializes in guiding small businesses through the dynamic landscape of marketing and SEO, helping them achieve high findability and brand recognition. Her goal is simple: to help businesses get found, get noticed, and stand out from the competition.