Discussions
Are blog giveaways a good idea?
Posted by sugarluxe • 1/27/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: art, celebration, contests, freebies, giveaways, winners
On February 14th...my company will be celebrating our 4th anniversary. I want to do something we've never done before to say thank you to all the wonderful customers and fans who have supported my work, my art and my business.
AND - I don't get to do as much blogging as I'd like because it seems I'm always on a project...so I could really use your input.
I was thinking about doing little weekly giveaways during the month of February. Have you offered giveaways on your blog?
Was it worth it? What are the potential pitfalls? Do people ever get mad if they don't win? How do you select winners randomly?
Thank you in advance for sharing your experience and opinion!
Cheers to you,
Sugarluxe
www.sugarluxe.com
User Comments
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Fantastic. Thanks!
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been trying to give mine away - no one will take it
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I offer give-aways, they haven't really had much success yet, but I know they will.
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thanks for the input powerkor! I like to see positive thinking in progress. what are your giveaways?
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I give away paypal cash mostly... haven't really had time to think up anything better... but who doesn't like cash?
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oh wow! I'd not heard of that. yeah - who wouldn't like cash mon-ay!
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I did pretty well with one related to a caption contest.
Folks got into it, and it was overall nicely-received.-
Hi TSR - I see that you are always so helpful on the discussions. I really appreciate hearing your experience.
Would you do it again? -
I would, yes. I had considered advertising it here through BC but then decided to keep it low-key for my blog readers only.
I was actually rather glad about that, because my winners ended up being people who really were regular readers. It got a bit of buzz going, though, and I think helped reward folks who visited all the time.
I let it run for a week. -
That is great guidance. I believe your proven path is much more in line with what I want to accomplish. It sounds like a positive experience and one that helps to reinforce my decision to move forward.
Thank you. Thank you! -
You're more than welcome! Good luck with it.
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Benny...maybe I'm slow? What are you trying to give away?
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Our thought is that we want to do weekly giveaways of Sugarluxe products, accessories, etc...and then at the end of the month one big prize of a 40x40 canvas.
I have a pretty nice database for our regular site...which I could email the weekly contest/giveaways directly to previous customers. But I'd like to do it to reach out to new people via the blog...but I just haven't been able to ascertain if its a productive use of time.-
Bloggers on here like blogger stuff best. I gave away a few header designs here:
www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/im-designing-blog-headers-for-free
And as you can see people went stark mad over it I think it's all about finding what your audience wants. Sine most of my traffic is from BC, I haven't been able to find the 'golden receipe' for participation yet. -
I love your header on your blog. Did you also illustrate the character on the header?
You haven't been on BC very long, but it sure seems you've made huge progress. Impressive.
My traffic (which is mostly just a little trickle down effect from my regular ecom site) is mostly made up of people who already know my stuff - my blog seems more like an extended about us section.
Not very interactive. I have the hardest time trying to blog with the demands of the production, projects, managing staff, etc.
I don't know how everyone on here does it. But I guess that's an entirely different question.
I am super appreciative of your insight. -
Anytime, I love when I can actually get into a conversation on BC that isn't so pointless (in terms of my interests). It's nice to be able to share ideas with people like yourself.
Yeah, I haven't been on BC that long, but I've been into web design and graphic design forever... since I was in highschool... Now I'm married and have a job and all that good stuff... and yes, I did draw the character on my site.
But I think the best thing is to keep trying different angles, if something doesn't work, move on and think up the next crazy idea
If you need me to help you ever with web design, I can give your blog a quick review if you want.
-Cheers,
Eric -
I see you bought a template (right?) if you didn't I thought I've seen that one for sale before... and I have to say you definitely made a good choice... great header too! One of the best blogs I have found yet and too top it off, I like your style.
Good job.
BTW what is that plugin called for the featured picture section that fades in and out. I want it -
Eric - as an illustrator/painter myself, I, of course, love your character design. It's awesome.
You have really got it together with what you're doing and I applaud that so much.
I'm rather conflicted with the blogging thing myself. I initially did it because I receive so many PMs every day on MySpace with artists asking for help, tips, seeing if I can get them hooked up on deals, etc. People ask for a lot of hand outs there.
Instead of having interns trying to answer all these questions each day...I decided to start a blog to try to share some of the hard earned wisdom that most artists/designers guard with their lives.
Perhaps that's my issue...I am trying to teach eager newbies...while the main purpose of Sugarluxe as a brand is to license and sell art.
Anyway...the giveaways are where I started, but you helped me to think about other things that require further consideration too.
I deeply appreciate that and I'm going to be keeping up with what you do. You seem to be a very savvy entrepreneur...and I have much respect for that! -
Aw man Eric! THANKS SO MUCH!!
After a long drawn out and expensive web overhaul, I decided over the holiday to do a new blog site too just to keep everything consistent with our branding.
The blog is indeed a template that I modified. It is for sale, but what you buy is the service to help with mods, not the actual template. The template is free. And since I spent my past life (before I launched Sugarluxe) as a web developer/designer...I like to get in and get my hands messy with html/css and other fun codey stuff.
I really thank you for such great feedback.
And...YES - isn't that gallery feature awesome?!
I got it here - www.featuredcontentgallery.com/
ENJOY! I think you'll love it like I do.
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Promo products are great and do wonderful at keeping your name in front of the people you want to reach-see my blog www.redfishbranding.com-I can send you some gift ideas if you like-
The promo Guy-
fabulous Promo Guy. although our first initiative is to giveaway items from our ecom site that sell the best...we are always open to fresh ideas for the future too.
And I'm totally one of those people who hang onto branded freebies forever...so I do know the marketing power of those items. I will bookmark your site. THANKS!
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Chandra
You have a beautiful site-from a beautiful person!
Would some thing like this work for a giveaway?
www.fotofiles.com/FotofilesFlyer.htm-
Oh my gosh Greg! What a wonderful thing to say. That is truly so nice to hear.
How coincidental that a few months ago I got on this kick about looking into nail files (well-I'm always looking for a good canvas for my work). I hadn't even known files were possible but love the idea and will start to think about how I might tie that in with a future show or in-store signing event.
How VERY astute of you to pick out an item that is so completely on target with my demographic. That shows just how GREAT you are at what you do.
What a SUPER SUGGESTION. And...I bet the spin off benefit for fotofiles with this convo is that there will be at least 5-10 other artists who will quickly follow suit.
Is that something people can get through your company since it was your great idea?
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I can remember when people scoured the net looking for contests and giveaways. Now it seems that they are everywhere and nobody gets too excited about them unless they truly need the item being offered as a prize. Which if you think about it; that's the way it should be.-
msbaby - couldn't agree more. And further to your point...giving away Sugarluxe items are only going to excite the people who already want it anyway.
But you answered one of my BIG concerns that I just wasn't sure about...I don't want, nor do I believe we can drive a ton of traffic this way just for eyeballs...I want to interact with the people who are or might one day be fans of the work.
Thank you for taking time to share your experience. It is really helpful for me.
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They're always good.-
Thanks for your comment Dr! I hope you're doing well and surviving final exams. Good luck and thank you for stopping by during what must be a totally crazy, stressful time completing your last year of medical school.
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it is, especially if you want linkbacks... I'v done that...just entrecard credits... -
I do offer the fotofiles and pretty much anything with an imprint-
thanks for asking and i wish you the best and Happy Friday to you, Sugarluxe! -
I just wanted to come back to say THANK YOU to every one who provided help last week when I was trying to make a decision about doing giveaways.
We finally have everything done and it's because you guys were all SO HELPFUL that I think this will be a fun program.
I really appreciate it. And check it out if you want to win something for your sweetie for Valentine's Day or the GRAND PRIZE at the end of the month...
sugarluxeblog.com/2009/02/02/win-weekly-giveaway-1-art-soul-swarovski-cryst...
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