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View Full Version : Less than sizzling end to promotion...



Patrysha
09-02-2009, 10:03 PM
I am still very excited...because I live in a small town and this sort of thing is not the end of the world...but the draw had to be delayed...

Because the participation was over 3 times what I expected to be dealing with, the original draw date I chose just did not jive with the amount of work that is involved in getting the entries prepared.

Oops!

Everyone that did show up for the draw was cool with it...so all is good.

But it didn't exactly end sizzling...

vangogh
09-02-2009, 11:19 PM
Maybe not quite the end you expected, but still sounds like it was a very successful promotion.

Patrysha
09-02-2009, 11:52 PM
Absolutely...everyone gets that it's a timing issue and that as a single person it just wasn't possible to do it on the original timeline. There will still be a draw and it will still be sort of public (once I get the last of the work done I'll send the word out and do it live via online streaming...I always wanted to try that out anyway :-))

vangogh
09-03-2009, 12:35 AM
Is there a way you can publicize the draw more and gain a little extra promotion out of this?

Steve B
09-03-2009, 06:30 AM
I'm guessing everyone wasn't as cool with it as you suspect. I'm sure they were polite, but I'd guess some were a bit disappointed and even suspicious. A lot of people suspect most contests are a scam. I would make the new draw VERY public and publicize it quite a bit. Perhaps give something extra away - especially to the people that showed up the first time.

Patrysha
09-03-2009, 08:59 AM
It will be as public as I can make it without paid advertising (the budget is gone...) it will be done live and the video will be available afterwards...best I can do under the circumstances.

This certainly helped me learn a valuable lesson about the timing of draws after this type of promotion. Had I put the draw date a week after the official close and scheduled for it...oh well...live and learn.

Spider
09-03-2009, 10:19 AM
Personally, I view a postponement of a public drawing as a catastrophe. Bad for the merchants, bad for the public and especially bad for the organizer. And to have the announcement made - as it apears to have been - on the occasion of the planned drawing, only makes matters worse.

When I turn to your website - as local residents may well do - and see no mention of the drawing and the postponement and only ...

If your small business serves a primarily local client base, you want affordable, effective marketing solutions that are easy on your time.
Nothing could be easier or more cost effective than the co-operative marketing strategies you'll find with PK Marketing Solutions, all designed for the small business owner who wants to eliminate waste and increase results from their marketing budget without a whole lot of hassle.... I am left to wonder! I also notice an empty calendar, and mutter to myself, "I'm not surprised!"

In such an event, I would have ---

1. Noticed the over-participation earlier and made arrangements for the additional work that entailed. You posted here a week before the event ended how well it was going, you stated the number of transactions at that time, and should have known how much in excess of expectation that amounted to.

2. If this was selling tickets, you could have stopped selling tickets. However, this appears to have been a promotion that could not be stopped so easily. In that case, preparations should have been set in motion then - a week ago - to bring in extra help to have everything ready for the draw date.

3. I find it inexcusable to say, "I am only one person." In my opinion, it is encumbent upon the organizer to have as many people helping as it takes. The moment it was clear that you couldn't do it alone, additional people should have been brought on board. I don't care if one has to work without sleep for days, the announced draw date should have been maintained.


Okay. The damage is done. What is the best way to mitigate it?

1. The new drawing should be absolutely and hugely advertised. It must be public to the nth-degree! I don't care if the budget is gone. I'm sorry if that is the case, but this is a matter of survival and honor. Take a second mortgage on your house, but the delayed drawing should be as hugely public as humanly possible.

2. Gifts, awards, prizes should be hugely increased. Again, the extra money must be found somewhere and somehow. I don't mean increased by 5% or 10% - I mean doubled or tripled.

Sure, these solutions will be expensive. That's the lesson. Feeling uncomfortable in front of a few people is not going to be a lesson. Getting hit badly in the pocket will be a major lesson, and one you will learn for all time.

To have a "not-so-public" drawing with a video "available afterwards" if asked for, I suppose, is not the way ahead. I see it as a total loss of credibility and terribly damaging to your business.

Costly though it may be, what I propose could turn the whole episode around and make you a hero in everyone's eyes. That will not only save you, I think it will be good for business.

Patrysha
09-03-2009, 10:48 AM
I agree - this is going to damage my credibility and make me look bad...but it is what it is. If I have to go back to ghostwriting - then maybe that is where I should be. I was the one who messed up and miscalculated after all.

I didn't put the announcement on my main website, but on the promotion website Win Cash with Shopping, Dining and Entertainment in Whitecourt Alberta (http://www.whitecourtbusiness.com)

There was no cost to the participants, the tickets/entries were not sold but given away through purchases and other ways to gather extra entries.

Spider
09-03-2009, 11:11 AM
Patrysha,

I didn't know of the promotion site. I'm sure local residents did, though, and that was a more appropriate place to make the announcement. I especially liked the target with off-center arrow. Nice metaphor!

I do think you have a greeat opportunity here to not only redeem yourself but to score a big hit. If you can do the things I suggested, plus some good ideas of your own, you *can* turn this around and be the hero.

KristineS
09-03-2009, 02:43 PM
Things happen and in this case you've learned a lesson you can use in the future. Since you're in a small town and people know who you are, you may get a bit more leeway than you would in a larger market.

I'd say that you can just do the best you can with this one and remember to allow yourself a bit more extra time in the future.

Dan Furman
09-04-2009, 03:43 PM
Not to pile on, but ouch... yea, this is a disaster. I would be pretty mad as a merchant, as this hurts their credibility - because, essentially, they said "shop here and win!!", and then, regardless of the reason, nobody won. An online drawing "after the fact" is, no matter how you slice it, somewhat anticlimatic and dare I say, a little shady looking (NOT saying this is true - I believe you are 100% honest in this - just saying how it could look.)

Now you might have another disaster just waiting to happen - what if the winner shows "online" at the new drawing, but now won't get the extra $500 - they technically have a beef, regardless of what was said/done/etc. They could always say "I was there in person that day, but left before I could give my name, etc etc". And maybe that did really happen. And your merchant clients are the ones who will bear the anger. Don't underestimate how touchy people can get regarding this kind of thing. I really, really think the winner needs to get the extra $500, regardless if they were there that day. And the people who did show up - they should get their 5 $100 prizes that were promised, too. If this means it costs you an extra $500, that's what it means. Just my .02, but you have to step up and fix this. It's what a business does.

I know Spider touched on this, but to me, the big problem here is the solution was a really simple thing: hire someone - anyone - to help you do the work so it got out on time. I guarantee some of your merchants are thinking that very thing - i.e.: "why didn't she just get a kid at $10 an hour to help her?" And anyone saying that has a very valid point. The budget isn't their concern.

Again, I don't mean to pile on, but if a stranger were asking my advice/thoughts on this very issue, I'd be pretty stern and blunt and say "that type of thing CANNOT happen."

I hope it works out for you, Patrysha

Patrysha
09-04-2009, 04:18 PM
No worries Dan, I am beating myself up pretty good about it myself. Though all the merchants have been very good about it and none of them are upset...

Although, it really is not that nobody won. Someone will still win...just not on the date originally advertised.

I did mention that only 17 people showed up for the original draw, right? There wasn't much of an opportunity to miss anyone there.

The draw won't just be just online, it will be in public too...I am just finalizing the arrangements for location.

Dan Furman
09-05-2009, 01:30 AM
What you are going through reminds me of my first business. I sold direct mail coupons... 30 merchants, 10,000 mailers.

That's 300,000 coupons. 30 to a pack, 10,000 packs. I figured it'd take a few days to stuff/address all the envelopes. It ended up taking weeks (and that's with help). They went out VERY late. I really underestimated the work involved. Plus, do you know how much room 10,000 mailers takes up? And what happens if you cat jumps to the top of the pile and...

oooh, this is painful.

painperdu
09-05-2009, 07:16 AM
I don't understand. Why is the draw dependent upon entering info into a computer? Is it not just a matter of picking a name out of a hat?

Patrysha
09-05-2009, 10:27 AM
No it wasn't quite that simple.

There were a few ways to gather entries. The primary way was for every $10 spent, they got one entry into the draw.

Secondary ways included taking polls and surveys, shopping at more than one store through the promotion, shopping at spotlight sponsors for double points...

So I had to get all those numbers into the computer so I could tell how many slips for the printer to make for each registered shopper.

Patrysha
09-05-2009, 05:21 PM
Thanks to your advice I am planning to make a public announcement about (this is tentative because I don't know if it will infringe on Trademarks so I need to check first) the "Big Rock Ending to the Sizzling Summer Shop & Win"

I tentatively have more than $3000 in prizing which is over twice was originally scheduled. It will tie in at least one (and potentially more) charity/non-profit and include an impromptu entertainment aspect to the event...

The entertainment being a Rock Band Competition (entry is a donation to a local soup kitchen which is the one non-profit tie in),

I have a group of kids who are promoting an anti-bullying campaign through another local business. It's not quite non-profit, in that the kids aren't doing this through any approved charity.

I'm hoping, but haven't confirmed that I can get some help from the local radio media. I do think I have a couple of great angles to use publicity wise and I think I have a good enough rapport at at least one station to getting at least one radio personality to donate their time to MC'ing.

So more prizes...bigger celebration...more community tie-ins and I think overall much more than the public (who paid nothing) and the merchants (who each paid only $297 for this whole campaign) could have bargained for when I first proposed the promotion

All timed for just after the September Equinox...the official end of summer...

What do you think??

Spider
09-05-2009, 06:43 PM
I LIKE IT!

That is a wonderful turnaround, Patrysha.

Make the most of "More prizes" and "More contribution to the community" in announcement and MCing.

Don't apologize for the delay - make it seem like the delay was to allow these extra goodies to come about and benefit the community.

Sounds to me like MASSIVE ACTION on your part. Well done!

See! You will be everyone's hero! Fantastic!

Patrysha
09-05-2009, 07:28 PM
Well Rock Band is out...too many potential liability issues that I have no hope of understanding in time to pull this off in a timely fashion...

So...I'm switching it over to my Gym client who is looking at an extreme push as October approaches. Same deal with the prizes and radio personalities...but I'll have to find some other sort of entertainment attraction...She already has a sale that is ending around then...

Steve B
09-05-2009, 09:50 PM
Awesome ideas. It will be worth it! You really turned a negative into a positive.