Before you host your own photo contest it’s wise to spend a little time planning the details.

Choosing a contest theme that your target audience finds appealing is one very important detail to consider.  The theme of your contest should appeal not only to individuals already passionate about your brand but to potential brand enthusiasts as well.  Let’s say, for example, you own a company called UltraCool that manufactures auto-widgets.  The first contest theme suggested by your marketing team is “UltraCool’s Auto-Widgets on Your Car”, which seems reasonable.  The suggested theme sounds engaging for the large number of customers that love your widgets, while showcasing unique photos of your products in action.  Great, right?  While your marketing team’s suggested contest will probably be quite successful, they have missed an opportunity to include an even larger group of car enthusiasts that do not yet own an UltraCool widget, your target sales market.  A slight theme modification such as “Beautiful Photos of Your Car – Sponsored by UltraCool” should provide a general enough theme to entice both existing and potential customers, without excluding either.  When choosing your photo contest theme, consider which market you wish to reach and create a contest that appeals to a large range of people.

Another important detail to consider when planning a contest is prizes.  The contest prize acts as a draw to involve potential participants in the contest.  It should be as attractive as possible to your target audience.  Going back to our previous example, UltraCool is considering giving away a lifetime supply of auto widgets as their contest prize.  This makes fiscal sense for UltraCool, they manufacture high quality widgets that rarely break and the cost of widget creation has gone down in recent years.  The out of pocket cost for the prize will have a low impact on the company’s bottom line.  What UltraCool needs to consider before factoring in the bottom line is the appeal of the prize to contest participants.  In this scenario it’s probably safe to assume some participants already own UltraCool widgets, and because only one widget can be attached per vehicle we know a portion of potential contestants have little motivation for entering the contest.  UltraCool will be better off considering a prize that can appeal to both existing customers and future customers.  A gift certificate to an auto supply chain that carries UltraCool widgets, for an amount large enough to purchase a widget could work very nicely.

The contest prize is the best tool to motivate people to enter your contest, if possible choose one that everyone can find appealing!