Lucky Door Prizes - Tips To Make Them Legal And Work For Your Business

Many businesses use competitions and lucky door prizes as a way of generating leads or building their data base. But if done incorrectly you will end up losing customers and could even find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

So how do you run lucky door prizes or competitions that are legal and get you brilliant results?

Top 10 Tips for competitions

1. Work out your intent. You need to know why you are running the competition in the first place. Is it to qualify leads, get email addresses for your database, get a new marketing slogan, and get feedback on your product or some other purpose? Start with the end in mind. When you know why you are running the competition you will adjust the prizes, competition form and process to best match your needs.

2. You need an entry box. A lot of people use clear bowls or fishbowls for people to put their cards into. These don't keep the details private so could breach privacy regulations in some locations. The best option is a solid sided cardboard entry box. You can buy a gift box and cut out a hole or buy a blank entry box from a cardboard box manufacturer. You can of course get one purpose designed and built for you. For online competitions I suggest setting up a separate email account just for each competition to keep your entries separate.

3. Somewhere to lean on to complete the forms. People need somewhere to lean on to fill in the forms. If the table you use is too low or you force people to sit down to complete the forms, many people won'T bother entering. Make sure your table is the right height for people to lean on (and no handing out clipboards with forms isn't the solution. Many people are juggling bags and kids so can't juggle a clipboard as well). Being comfortable also works for online competitions. If your form is tricky to complete you can expect people to click away rather than stay.

4. Make it obvious. Your competition needs to be located at the front of your trade stand or your office. It needs to be clearly and obviously signed so people can find it and are encouraged to enter. Put a banner on your website letting passing traffic know about your competition and where they can find you to enter.

5. Tell people about it. Tell your regular clients about your competition as well as your new clients. You could also tell some of the major competition sites ... where the site collates competitions and lets their members know so they can enter them.

6. Make it worth their while. Giving away a low value item is not likely to generate much interest in your competition. Make the offer enticing with high perceived value.

7. Protect their privacy. You need to make it very clear how you will handle their personal details. Will you pass on their information to other people? Will you contact them to send them marketing material? You need to tell people what you will do with their information. Give them an opt-out box for them to tick if they don't want to receive any further information from you (and respect that tick in the box if you don't want to fall foul of Spam Laws and Do Not Call Registers).

8. Sort out your legals. Many locations have strong rules around the operation of gaming including Lucky Door Prizes.

In Queensland the Office of Gaming Regulation Inspectors check every stand of almost every expo or tradeshow for compliance. You need to download the Guidelines for Promotional Games and comply with items such as retention of entries for 5 years, the order of drawing prizes, written terms and conditions which must include things such as:

a. the name of the person running the promotion
b. Eligibility requirements for players
c. Description and retail value of each prize
d. Closing and drawing dates
e. Order the prizes will be drawn
f. How winners will be notified
g. Whether the results will be published and where
h. What will happen if the winner is not present at the draw
i. Any elimination rounds

It almost goes without saying that of you run a competition you must honour your commitments and actually award the prizes (unless you get no entries at all). Running a competition and not awarding the prizes can see you before the courts.

9. Follow up promptly. If you are using the competition to generate leads or create a data base then follow up on all entries within 14 days of close of the competition. You may want to consider hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) to convert the entries or business cards into a database for you. Pre-book your VA so they have time to do your data-entry when it arrives. When following up remind the person where you got their details.

10. Trumpet the winners. If you can get their consent, get photos of the winners that you can use in your marketing and promote the details of the winners to your mailing list and local media. Most people love the spotlight (and other people love to know the inside of other people's lives). Good news stories are great for business.

If you follow these top 10 tips you will improve the response to your competitions and lucky door prizes and get more "bang for your competition buck."

About the Author

Ingrid Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter with her Brisbane Copywriting Business (Heart Harmony). Ingrid writes a free weekly small business newsletter packed full of articles and tips and Small Business Ideas blog for small businesses. www.heartharmony.com.au

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Internet Conference Calls Make Getting New Business Easier

This is not rocket science.To market more of what we have to offer we must get in front of the right people.We must connect with those people who are looking for the solutions we provide, who are ready to buy those services, have the money - and are willing to buy them from us.

If you are already doing that and want to be more successful the next step is simplicity itself.You just have to see more people.The most effective way to do that (the only way in fact) is through group events of one kind or another.

When you get in front of more people, assuming that most of them are the right people and you do so more often, you will make more money.And the most efficient way to do group events was over the phone via traditional conference calls, Teleseminars, teleclasses, etc.

Recently, now that most people has high speed Internet access, Internet conference calls have taken hold and are literally changing the way people do business and communicate with each other around the world.They are used for sales and marketing of course.And as every successful business owner knows, keeping the business you've already got is always more profitable than making new sales - so Internet conference calls are being used for customer service, warranty explanations etc .

They have made communications of all kinds, internal, external, and with the media, easier and cheaper than ever.In fact, today most successful business owners can't imagine running their company at the peak of effectiveness without using Internet conference calls.Let's take a look at the advantages of teleconference services.

The Internet has shrunk the world and has made it a global village.People from different corners of the world are able to get in touch with each other and do business successfully.

Today it's common for companies of all sizes to have affiliate business partners and outsourcing setups in different countries around the world.In case of a meeting or a conference, previously one of the most wasteful expenses a business has, you can't be flying from one country to another to meet everyone.It is expensive in both time and money, not to mention that going to meetings keeps you from doing what need to be done on a daily basis.

Instead, you can use Internet conference calls to communicate effectively with a number of people at the same time.You can have a presence in several cities, or countries for that matter, and still get to your son's ball game.

Internet conference calls can be easily done with the help of your computer.What you need is very simple - a relatively fast and reliable Internet connection and conference call software or service.Once you install the software in your system, it is very easy to use it, since everything is self explanatory.

There are a number of companies that offer Internet teleconference services.The costs do not vary to a large extent - they are more or less the same with all companies, as the competition is really intense.

In general, the more people involved in a conference, the more they charge.It can cost you anywhere from $25 to thousands of dollars, depending on the rental service you choose.A onetime conference call will cost you very little while a long term rental could cost you a lot.

Even then, it is incredibly cheap when compared to the costs of flying to different countries around the world and meeting each other in person for conferences.

Some services offer a more user friendly interface than others, one that is push-button friendly.Some Internet conference call services provide step-by-step tutorials making the set up easy and simple so you will have more of them - it's in their interest as well as yours.

There are two types of web conferencing - audio and video.

Audio web conferencing, as the name suggests, allows you to talk to each other without seeing each other.If the number of people is less, you can do it directly.If there are a large number of people involved in the conference, you can seek the help of an operator.

With video web conferencing, you get to see each other while talking.Using this service, you can network with any number of people you want.In large companies, it is very common to see video conferences with hundreds of people interacting with each other.

And recently services have come along that offer the best of both by adding Power Point to the more traditional looking conference call, will all the Internet related bells and whistles

Internet conference calls are the best way to interact with people for your business needs.

They are simple, inexpensive, and very effective.What more can you ask for?

About the Author

Successful business owners understand that small business Internet marketing is the most cost effective method for connecting with potential customers locally & globally.

Learn more about effective marketing strategies for your small business, visit Internet conference call the direct marketing solution for your small business success.

Relaited Links:

• How to Avoid Costly Mistakes When Building Websites
• How Online Internet Marketing Works
• A Guide To PLR