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Prize winning coverage

07-Aug-09 12:34

I'm often asked by clients - is it worth doing competitions? And, depending on the nature of the business and its products of course, my answer is always the same - definitely. At Ascent PR we work with a number of consumer brands targeting mass-consumer markets, in fact we are particularly prominent in the family and children's market as well as the women's fashion arena - and this is a sector where competitions really do work well.

When it comes to editorial coverage, as PR people the very last thing we are likely to recommend is placing an advert (we are PR's after all!) But the beauty of running a competition is the cost to you as a business is minimal - it doesn't command huge advertising rates. The only cost to you is the value of the prize. Now, obviously the value of the prize will be dependent on the magazine you are targeting - don't expect a prize value of £200 if you are hoping to get into Glamour magazine or Hello! It's really about common sense - the higher profile (or more popular) a magazine is, the higher the prize value will be. Having said that, there are hundreds of publications that offer very reasonable prize values and are just as viable, to get in front of your target audience.

If you are particularly keen to get into those higher profile magazines with a competition, it is also worth bearing in mind that the online versions of these magazines can offer vastly lower prize values than their printed counterparts. We all appreciate the power of online PR these days and on that basis, e-zines should never be overlooked in terms of their ability to reach wide-ranging audiences.

The added benefit of running competitions is, you will often get a certain number of words for copy (and you can usually write whatever you like - providing it's within the publication guidelines), it can be a great way to generate further interest in your product and, some magazines will even give you access to information on the number of people that entered, if you're lucky you might even get some contact details for entrants that request ‘further information' on your products.

A final point to bear in mind is, in our experience magazines like tangible, interesting products or offerings. Avoid offering gift vouchers or money-off coupons unless they are part of the overall prize package - few magazines will take vouchers as a sole prize. So, give it a whirl and you could find yourself with some real prize-winning coverage...

Natalie