“How To Run A Very Cool (And Effective) Lead-Generation Campaign:  A Curious Real-Life Example!”

by Craig Garber

My mind is literally bursting with so many ideas to share with you, I don't even know where to start!

But let me begin with a specific example of something we talked about a few weeks ago.  I think this is a worthwhile idea you should at least explore for your own business.

If you remember, in my article “Finally, An Exciting Way To Generate Qualified Leads... And... Get Your Prospects All Fired-Up About You!”, I showed you how to use sweepstakes to generate leads and sell your goods and services.

Well, last week I ran across a great example of a sweepstakes being used, and I wanted to share it with you.  What was surprising about it, was... a well-known "real" publicly-traded company was running it.

Here's the deal:  If you hop on over to www.delta.com/nyc, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

Delta Airlines is running a contest to win a trip around-the-world, and how they're running it, makes it very effective as a lead generating tool.

It's a trivia game sweepstakes, and it's very well done.

In fact, it makes you wonder, if they can do this... how come they've had an abysmal net loss literally every single year for the last umpteen years? 

But... I digress.  So let's get back to what's important here.

The first thing you notice when you enter their contest web page, is an opportunity to visually check out your winning prize, including watching a video of some of the hotels where you'll be staying if you win.

And believe me, if the sound of a "trip around the world" alone doesn't whet your appetite...

These pictures will!

Next, when you go to the page to actually play the game, you'll see there are 2 separate places to enter: one entrance for Skymiles members, and the other for "non-members".

Notice how they say Skymiles "members" and not Skymiles "account holders"?  See, there's a reason for this:

First, "members" get privileges... but "account holders" usually have legal responsibilities.

The bottom line is, being a "member" is a "feel-good" experience, but being an "account holder" isn't, necessarily.

If you're already a Skymiles "member", you feel good Delta's recognizing you, and you go off on your merry way and enter into the contest.

But if you're not a Skymiles member, you immediately start seeing how "members" are treated differently and you begin thinking things like "What's this membership thing about?" and "How can I become a member?" and "What's behind the member's door that's different to mine?"

Which...

Is Exactly How They Want You To Feel!

See, showing exclusivity for your members is good, because it gets non-members wanting to join.  So right away, you start having good vibes about Delta, because they can offer you a membership to some kind of an exclusive club.

So now Delta starts going from being just another airline to an airline that's willing to give you special treatment if you affiliate yourself with them in some way by joining their Skymiles program.

And right there, at that very instant, a paradigm shift has occurred:  It started off that Delta wanted you to enter their contest...

And now you want to enter Delta's contest!

Which is absolutely great from a marketing standpoint!  What's going on here is a subtle re-positioning of Delta, from "someone else who wants your hard-earned money" to "someone who's got something you want ".

And by-the-way, this subtle difference is the essence of the difference between direct-response marketing, and "traditional" advertising -- "attracting" prospects versus "pursuing" them.

At this point, non-Skymiles members can register to become a Skymile member, and both members and non-members get to register for the contest and sign up for loads of goodies including special travel offers from Delta.

Now remember, this whole premise works in the first place because you don't enter a contest unless you'd want to use the prize they're giving away.  In this case -- if you're willing to fly around the world for free -- it's a fairly safe bet you're willing to pay to fly somewhere else.

And you can bet your bottom dollar, after you enter this contest, Delta's going to consistently send you travel... vacation... and flight offers, like clockwork.

The other thing Delta does is they even have a "tell a friend" box so you can refer your friends straight to this contest as well.

And, even the format of the contest is great -- it's a trivia contest -- and the way your points increase the sooner you answer the question, makes you very competitive.  And,

This gets you involved in the contest!

Then, just like a performance scoreboard in a sales staff room, they post the top scores as well.  This way you can see how well you're doing versus everyone else in the contest, and where you stand (I'm in 82nd place right now - whoopee!)

And this, too...

Gets you involved in the contest.

Plus, one of the contest questions has you scrounging around an entire web page as fast as you can in a race against the clock, looking to find some hidden pictures somewhere inside a big giant mural.

And of course, you know what this does, right?

It gets you involved in Delta’s contest!

And do you remember what happens the more involved you get your prospects in your promotion?

You got it -- the more you get your prospects involved in your promotion, the more successful your promotion is going to be!

(If you need a refresher on getting your prospects involved with you, go check out my article called “What To Never Ever Say To Your Prospects... And... The Secret Weapon You Must Always Use Instead!”)

So now that you've seen another situation where a business is using a sweepstakes as a lead generation tool, you're probably thinking "O.K., great... but how can I use a sweepstakes in my business?"

Right?

Well, the first thing you need to do is, you need to clear your mind about your business.  Stop thinking you're in the "widget" business, and start thinking you're in the "marketing" business, and right now you just happen to be marketing "widgets".

And just like a painter has many different mediums to paint on (like paper... canvas... or poster-board for example), you as a marketer, also have many different forms of media you can use to market in.  For example, you can use newspapers... trade magazines... direct mail... and the internet.

But of course, the best thing to do, is to use a combination of all these media... constantly testing different kinds of promotions against each other, in each one.

So now let's look at some examples here:  Do you not think, if you're selling broadband service for example, you could do the very same thing? 

You know, run a sweepstakes that gives away a few months of free service, so you can collect names and addresses (physical or e-mail) to use for lead generation?

Easy, right?

Or how about if you're selling bathroom accessories... or financial services... or pots and pans?

Wouldn't your prospects want a free bathroom makeover... or a free 5-step retirement audit... or a new set of the latest in kitchenware?

Can't you see how using the Delta sweepstakes model as a template, you could easily run a sweepstakes for your business?

And listen, if you do this right, you'll also look like a superstar, especially compared to your miserable competition -- they're not giving anything away to your prospects, are they?

How about a "basket of books" contest-of-the-month giveaway?  Or maybe a quarterly vacation blast-off giveaway sweepstakes? 

Or maybe... maybe even... a free half-hour consultation from your favorite direct-response copywriter?

Hmmm... that'd be a good one, hey?

Always practice what you preach -- that's what I say anyway.

P.S.  When it comes to running a sweepstakes, there are a lot of legalities involved and you don't want to make a mistake here.  But where do you turn to make sure you're on the straight-and-narrow?

Well, one of my subscribers, Sharon Rush, was talking to me about the company she reps, called "Geiger".  They're a privately-held promotional services company, and apparently they've been in business for 125 years.

And one of the things Geiger does, and they do this nationally, is.. they oversee and run employee incentive programs, golfing tournaments, and...

Sweepstakes!

(In fact, they recently completed a successful national contest for Shasta, a well-known national beverage company.)

So if you need this kind of expertise in running a contest, and you want to make sure you work within the parameters of the law, give Sharon a call -- it may just be one of the most important calls you ever make.

You can reach her at 352-324-3474 -- that's in "Howie-In-The-Hills" in central Florida (yes, that's the real name of the town), or you can e-mail her at slrush@geiger.com.  Just tell her you're a subscriber of mine and she'll take good care of you.

Till next week.

And if you haven 't already done so, go ahead and click here right now to sign up for my FREE Tip Of The Week -- it's the Number One Direct-Response Marketing And Copywriting Newsletter for independent business-owners.

Any comments?

Send them to me by scooting over to the contact form on my "Here's How To Contact Craig" page, and maybe I'll publish them -- I appreciate your feedback!

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