Category Archives: create a photo contest

Need Holiday Promotions Ideas? Try a Holiday Photo Contest!

Coming up with unique business promotional strategies can be a challenge to say the least.  Add in the hustle & bustle of the holidays and you’re now faced with a time crunch as well.  Most business owners know this scenario well, and they also know these factors are no excuse to let up on marketing efforts; for some, it may be the most important time to market their product in a unique & engaging way. PhotoScramble has the answer for your holiday promotions conundrum!

As we look outside the window from our corporate headquarters in Traverse City, MI, the familiar reds, oranges and yellows of another fall season fill our pupils with delight.  When we step outside, the crisp air reminds us that this stage will pass quickly, leading into another Northern Michigan Winter – unique in so many ways.  Between now and then there are a few themes that can easily be incorporated into any business photo contest promotion.  Taking advantage of these opportunities is key.

A fall photo contest is one way to start, while adding a Halloween photo contest twist could be a great way to increase customer engagement.  As the season progresses, Christmas photo contests are the perfect way to bring in the joy & good tidings that come along with our most popular holiday.  The angles you could approach these contests with are almost unlimited.

Try offering a valuable online gift certificate to your web-store as a way to get people to participate.  This gives the customer a chance to feel involved in your company & have a chance at “winning” some of their Christmas shopping money at the same time.  If they don’t win, who knows, maybe they had their eyes on a great gift from your site and will purchase it anyway.  Find a way to relate the theme of the contest back to your organization.  For example, if you sell camping gear online, try hosting a “Holiday Gear Shots” photo contest.  Show us photos of you & your family using your gear throughout the camping season.  Photo submission with the most votes gets a $250 gift certificate to buy Dad some new gear for Christmas!  You can spin it any way you like; remember to keep it relevant and use the holidays to your advantage…good luck!

Photo Contest = 568% increase in traffic

Photo Contests for Big Business are effective.  Most of those contests are receiving 1000’s of photos, with 100,000’s of  votes.  That’s a lot of customer  interaction for a relatively low investment of a photo contest.

However, my company, “Traverse City Video” isn’t exactly big business.  We shoot about 8-10 weddings per summer and have been averaging 50 visitors per month to our site.  Because photo contests through “PhotoScramble” are currently free, I purchased a $50 gift certificate to a local party store (for the prize)  and created a contest.  I was blown away by the 568% increase in traffic over the last month.  Granted, I wasn’t getting thousands of hits to start with, but 568% is impressive non the less.

Photo Contest with PhotoScramble= 5 times more traffic to my site!

What can you do?

  1. Find a local organization saturated with your target market. (boating club, sports league, playhouse, etc)
  2. Offer a prize that is valuable to them, and inexpensive as possible for you
  3. Create a photo contest on www.PhotoScramble.com, which is free through August.  The theme should be fun and engaging, with photo requirements that are easy.
  4. Push the contest however you can: facebook, newsletter, invoices, etc.
  5. Watch the traffic increase to your site.  For me, a $50 gift certificate meant 5 times more traffic for that month.

Zack Wessels, Traverse City Video