Download the Photo Contest Tool Kit
WHAT is this?
This is a ready-to-steal idea to run a Dog-Friendly Photo Contest in your online or local community [or both]. The idea is to use an online contest, with juicy prizes, to increase visibility of your brand, your products/services, and to add a bit of fun into your engagement with your audience [ie: build relationships]. It can also be a wonderful source of user-generated content [which means content you can use like social proof on your social media platforms + website].
TOOL KIT includes:
This Tool Kit includes ALL of the resources I used to promote my #summerwithdog contest. You can use them as inspiration, or… go ahead and steal them! Update the files** with your own name***, hashtag, logo & photo and you’re good to go. All these items have matching brand elements so they work well together.
- A5 Brochure [The full pdf so you can see what I did, plus some editable pages so you can steal the layout if you want! Feel free to use the exact copy for the photo tips if you’d like to make that part of your contest]
- Rollup Banner Template
- Postcard Template
- Goodie Bag insert Template
- Facebook Cover Image Template [save your final image as a png for best results on FB]
- Poster Template [I made this into an easel-back poster to sit with the brochures on the counter]
** The files are AI files – so you’ll need to be able to use Illustrator to edit most of them, HOWEVER several of them you can open with Photoshop and just add your text on top. It will import as one layer, so you won’t be able to edit anything in that layer – but you can add layers above + below in Photoshop!
Just be SURE to pay attention to the color space [CMYK / RGB] that whatever you’re creating needs to be in – because there is a mix included here! Also – don’t forget if you’re printing there needs to be a BLEED. Ask your printer about the file type they need to make sure everything turns out the way you want.
** Before you open the AI files in Illustrator [in Photoshop they’ll be flattened] you’ll want to make sure you have or download the fonts: Plantagenet Cherokee, Gill Sans
WHY do this?
Photo contests are especially effective for Petpreneurs, no matter what category you’re in, because people LOVE to share photos of their pets! I am sure you’ve already experienced this when talking to your clients [in person or even via email] people just look for ANY excuse to share a photo of their beloved snookums. One is usually not enough either – they have to keep going to tell you about all the many ways snookums is THE most adorable dog on the planet… ‘aww look at him here sleeping’ ‘oohh and here where’ he’s sitting begging for dinner’ – it goes on and on. This is a POWERFUL urge to tap into for the sake of your business.
The number one most important thing for you to know, however, before you launch a contest is WHY you’re doing it. What do you want to gain from it? Below are a list of possible benefits – there are lots of reasons TO run a contest – but what’ your reason? What do you want to gain from it that will be WORTH the investment of time, money, etc. If you can put a dollar amount on it – even better. Increase in sales? Increase in emails that you can sell to later? Increase in awareness that you’d have to pay more for in other ways?
Before you start, you need to set the Objectives of your contest. What do you want to accomplish and is it worth the investment you’re going to make?
Obviously, I am suggesting this event as a viable option, because when done well, it can be a huge source of powerful relationships, leads and even sales – but you need to know for YOU why you’re doing it, so you can commit and communicate effectively.
WHAT are the benefits?
The benefits of running photo contests are many! I love investing in tactics like this one where there are many ways it can possibly impact your business positively:
- Traffic: More eyeballs on your website or social pages or both
- Email List-Building: Start to fill up that email list which is one of your best assets as a business!
- More ‘likes’ followers & Fans: Which builds your credibility and gives you a chance to convert them later on [rather than never seeing them again]
- Build Relationships: This can give people ‘lurking’ in your audience a chance to interact and a chance to really engage with people already on your list as well as new people coming into your world
- Build Awareness: Contests are great conversation starters – both online & in-person
- Create Buzz: Contests get people talking about you, your brand and your services – it is very sharable content!
- Create Sales: With all this buzz going on, you can often see higher sales volumes
- Partner: Co-hosting a contest can be a great win-win way to build a relationship with a strategic partner
- Focus: Having a longer-term contest can give you focus around your marketing efforts which can translate into more momentum for getting your message out there
- Fun! This is just a really fun way to stir things up and have fun with your customers = surprise + delight!
HOW do I DO it?
When I have done contests in the past – I have done a LOT of research on aps / plugins etc. and in my experience, here are the two best ways to implement:
- Woobox. $30/month or $330 for the year
- Custom WordPress Form. Cost Variable
There are many ways you can just ‘call for entries’ [like asking people to use a hashtag on instagram] but there are two critical elements missing here that you’re not getting:
- Their email
- Their permission to use their content in your marketing
To maximize your investment in this contest, you want to ensure that both of those things are happening – which means you need to have a way to both collect an email [ideally a double opt-in where they have to confirm that they have subscribed] and also make it clear that you intend to you this media in the future – these are the ‘Terms & Conditions’ they will agree to as a part of their contest entry. This is the cost of having a chance to win that big prize.
Woobox
When I have created contests recently, I have used woobox. Here’s what I like about it:
- Email Capture
- Integrate with Facebook to have a contest tab so people don’t have to leave FB to enter
- Social sharing integration so participants can be prompted to ‘share’
- Customizable / Branded YOUR way
- Simple & easy to implement
- Affordable compared to other options which can cost thousands of dollars
Basically, this is a ‘done for you’ option to just the contest going without worrying about all the details and all the techy stuff.
Custom Website Form
You can also just create a custom form on your website that allows people to submit an image. Below are a couple examples of this. In my experience this can be less expensive [although not always if you hire someone to help you do it] but also much less dynamic and more time-consuming. You really need to have a pretty large audience I think to make this work, since you will be solely responsible for promoting it, getting participants to ‘share’ and for managing the photos as they come in.
Examples of contests built into websites:
Positively: #petresolutions | #poopandtell
Dog is Good: ‘Where’s Bolo’?
HOW do I promote it?
Now, I am not going to sugar-coat it, photo contests are not necessarily ‘easy wins’… It can take a lot of effort to get people to actually participate. You need to have a solid plan and commitment to making a contest really catch on. It is ONLY good to you if you get a high-volume of participants… the more people who give you their email, the lest your investment per email.
In my experience, these are the 5 most important factors in getting your audience to engage:
- Give them a compelling reason: Usually this means SUPER awesome prizes. There has got to be enough of a reason for them to spend an hour going through all their photos, giving you their email etc. When I saw SUPER awesome prizes, I mean like a camera, big sums of cash, weekend getaways… Have a look back at this blog where I talk about ‘going big or going home’ in your promotions – same rules apply with prizes here. Consider spending at least $500-$1,000 on your Grand Prize in order to really maximize participation. Or, if you KNOW prizes that your audience really wants [something money can’t buy? something not expensive but very VALUABLE to them – use that!]
- Give them time: Don’t run this contest for a month – run it for 90 days [at least! depending on how prepared you are when you launch] You need time for the momentum to build. If you’re running a longer contest you can always run something for a longer period [a year, 6 months] but also award monthly prizes as well to keep excitement high.
- Integrate the Contest into everything you do: This means the contest is your #1 marketing priority for the time you run it. You mention it in your email signature, you regularly promote it on ALL your social channels,
- Make it interesting: If you’re going to be shouting about this contest all the time, you need to make sure that the content is entertaining and engaging to your audience. Themes are discussed below, but basically you’ll want to pick something super cute, super funny or ridiculous/surprising in some way so that when you share the photos, people look forward to seeing them.
- Get A Partner: It is a really good idea to get strategic partners involved [ideally ones with big audiences they can also promote to!] This can be a joint-venture that benefits both of you – you can split costs, prizes, momentum etc. JUST REMEMBER ideally you want that partner to have/want the same audience as you – so partnering with a national brand is tricky if you’re a local service business that can only work with local clients – you won’t benefit in the same way. So if you’re local, partner local, if your national, partner national.
When I ran the #summerwithdog campaign I created the following assets:
- Hashtag for Contest [try to make it unique so it’s yours]
- Online Contest [with Woobox]
- Facebook Cover Image
- Email: [Promotion to list]
- Brochure [‘tips for taking better photos of your dog’ – with both camera + phone]
- Postcard [to hand out at dog park etc.]
- Easel-back posters to go with brochures at my location + others’
- Kit for VIP Goodie Bags at a Dog Event [brochure, postcard, squeaker + treats w/ note about how treats + squeaker are a pet photographer’s secret weapons – since the brochure included ‘tips for taking better photos of their dog’ these were very handy little tools!]
- Rollup Banner: Event Booth
Let me be clear you do NOT need to do this much stuff. You can pick and choose what works for you based on your skills, budget and audience. But keep in mind you’ll probably have to do more than you think! Obviously if you’re a local business or a national business your options are going to be very different – my businesses was local.
Contest Subject or Theme:
The key here is to make the THEME of your Photo Contest [mine was ‘capturing summer with your dog’] FIT with what gets people excited, what people like to see photos of [since you’ll be sharing them all the time they need to be interest] AND with the ethos of your business – so that there is a connection between this campaign and what you stand for. Obviously you want to be attracting people who believe in what you believe in, and who might one day be customers.
If you have a product business – avoid the temptation to simply do a contest featuring your PRODUCT because you’ll alienate everyone who has never bought from you [although if you’re very established this can work to re-engage your existing clients – or can be a good incentive to create a purchase if it’s handled JUST right] aim for a contest featuring the LIFESTYLE your product promotes [and many times, especially if you’re promoting to your audience, they will include your product anyway]
Ideas:
Leashes/ Harnesses: walking, hiking, attaching your dog to random objects, adventuring
Treats: healthy living, cool ingredients, meal time, overweight dogs, fit dogs, dogs begging / doing tricks for treats [this would be a great VIDEO contest!]
Shampoo: Getting clean, getting dirty!, dog shaming [making the dog wear a sign that says what they rolled in]
Beds: Sleepy dogs, lazy dogs, worst bed-head, dog sleeping in awkward places, best sleep face, sleeping duos, ‘dog tired’ or more ‘place’ based – like getting people to share photos of their living room where they would want their bed to go – or their gross old bed [great before + after potential there!]
If you have a service business – the choices are WIDE open! Try to make use of your local spaces, landmarks or culture to make it the most relevent to your biz.
Photographer: dog smiles, relationship-based stuff [to win a photo shoot capturing your relationship], seasonal stuff, situational like ‘dogs in cars’, food, tricks – the list goes on!
Dog Walker: You’re wide open here – dogs running, jumping, swimming, playing – snoozing after their long walks, dog feet could be cute… showing off their recall skills or how excited they get when the owner gets the leash ready for a walk [another great video opportunity!]
Dog Trainer: We want dogs most in need of your services – so naughty dogs are a great place to start! Leash pulling, general naughtiness, or something like tricks if you’re trying to fill more advanced classes, puppies if you’re trying to fill puppy classes
Groomer: Obvious potential here could include ‘worst haircut’, dirty dogs, ‘give me a makeover’, longest hair, ‘give my summer cut’ ‘cut my toenails’ etc.
Hashtag
Use a custom hashtag to ‘sum up’ your theme and also as a way to connect you to your participants, and group the images together across different media. You want your hashtag to be unique enough that no one else is using it, but also memorable and easy to spell so that people do ACTUALLY use it! Everywhere you promote the contest, be sure to mention that hashtag!
Definitely promote the contest to your existing audience. As the contest goes on – use entries from previous participants to build excitement / entertain. Remember the people in your email list who have not yet purchased from you are going to be easier to convert than total strangers, so don’t neglect them! Keep them engaged! This is a great way to get in touch with them more often for a while, and to build that relationship [remind them who you are, what you do, how fun you are and why they need you!]
Website
Make sure your contest is front-and-center on the website so people see it right away when they arrive. This is like an ‘opt-in’ – so you don’t want it hidden away. This could be the thing that sucks a casual visitor into your world!
In Person
Talking to people in person is not high-volume, it can be the most effective way to get people excited about participating. Better yet, getting other people to talk to people 1:1 for you [like engaging a partner who HAS volume – like a Doggy Daycare or Vet] Also, contests can be a great way to get emails at events – people are much more open to info about ‘what they can win’ then they are about what you’d like to sell to them. No matter where you or someone else is talking people into entering the photo contest, you are going to need something tangible to hand to them so they remember and have all the info they need… Which leads us to…
In Print
Anything from a postcard to a brochure, a sticker, a packet, a newsletter, a poster… whatever it is you will probably need at least one tangible element to your contest so that you can give it to people in person, mail it out, have someone else distribute it, include it in goodie bags or send out with your fulfilled orders. A postcard is an obvious option – cheap and simple – but use your imagination about how you can catch people’s attention and excite them about participating!
Contests can be a great way to utilize twitter. You can actually search twitter for people with ‘dog dad’ or ‘dog mom’ or ‘dog parent’ in their bio – and a contest is a great chance to tap them on the shoulder and say ‘hey – your dog is super cute – check out this contest, we’d love you to enter!’ or similar. Check out this article for more info about really succeeding with lead acquisition on Twitter.
Contests can be one of the most powerful ways to use instagram! This is your chance to get those fans from the instaworld to your email list! If they’ve been following you there – they like what you have to say – they like what you’re about – so try to leverage that to get them to hop on over to your website, or facebook, or simply use your hashtag so you can engage them further. This is not a hard sell – you’re literally GIVING something away – so don’t be shy about shouting about it. Instragram is also a wonderful place to ‘regram’ or share your users’ content [contest entries as they come in] to show them the type of images you’re looking for / engage them on the topic. Definitely make sure you include intstagram in your contest strategy!!
Facebook is likely to be at the core of your contest strategy. You may host your contest here, definitely share images from the contest here – and ideally you’ll promote the contest through ads from your Facebook page [promoted posts are a great opportunity here!] Facebook will allow you to really target the exact people you’d like to participate – it will also be a wonderful way for your participants to share that they’ve entered – so try to make sure that the last step of entering your contest includes the option to share it with their friends [some contests even incentivize them for doing this!] Don’t forget to change your Facebook Cover image to match the contest while it’s going – be sure to include the link in the caption of that photo so if they click on it they have somewhere to go!
WHAT else?
Also, if you use Facebook as a part of your contest [which is a must] you need to ensure you’re not breaking the rules. Make sure you read Facebook’s page guidelines [pay special attention to ‘promotions’ and Contest Guidelines so you don’t get your page shut down [this is another reason to use Woobox as it generally complies – but you need to make sure you’ve set up your rules within the laws of your state/country and the almighty Facebook]
Here are some great examples of photo contests to get your imagination going: