Have a prize in mind? Open the free giveaway planner and complete your brief as you work through the guide.
1. Decide what the giveaway should achieve
Start with one practical aim: introduce a new product, celebrate an opening or get more people familiar with your business. A prize that relates to your products is more likely to interest the people you want to reach than an unrelated expensive item.
Decide what you will measure. That could be visits to the entry page, valid entries or enquiries about the featured product. An entry is not automatically a customer, and it is not automatic permission to send marketing.
2. Choose the prize and set a budget
Describe the full prize, the number of winners and what each person receives. Secure the items before launch. For a voucher, check its expiry, permitted use and exclusions. For collection, make the location clear.
Include packaging, delivery and the time needed to administer the giveaway. Use the giveaway budget calculator to compare different prize ideas.
3. Choose who can enter and how
Set an age requirement and the eligible area. The UK includes Northern Ireland; Great Britain does not. Make sure your delivery arrangements match your stated area.
Choose a website form, email or an original social post as the entry point. Keep the actions manageable and decide how you will gather every valid entry. If the same giveaway runs on more than one platform, explain how those entries are combined and apply a consistent entry limit.
4. Set the dates and winner arrangements
Choose opening and closing times, a draw date, a notification deadline, a claim window and a delivery plan. Write “UK time” and use the correct seasonal time zone. Avoid an ambiguous “midnight” by stating a date and a precise time such as 23:59. For the planning stage, Online Competition’s article on choosing how long a prize draw runs offers questions to consider before you announce the dates.
For a random draw, arrange a selection process you can evidence. For a judged competition, prepare the criteria and an appropriately independent judging process. Our current draft generator is designed for random draws.
5. Prepare the terms and entry instructions
Use the terms generator to prepare a draft and the instructions generator to list the actual entry steps. Read both together and resolve any differences.
Keep important restrictions in the launch announcement as well as the full terms. Publish the full terms where entrants can access them and keep a dated copy. Do not add surprise conditions once people have entered.
6. Handle entry information carefully
Ask only for the information you need at entry. A winner’s delivery address can usually wait until after the draw. Explain your use of entry data in an accessible privacy notice and choose a justified retention period.
If you want to invite people to receive marketing, make that a separate choice. The ICO explains that permission to use details for a prize draw does not automatically extend to marketing. Use clear, unticked opt-in choices and provide a way to withdraw.
7. Publish and test the giveaway
Publish your original entry page or social post. Open it while logged out and check the links, images, instructions, times and terms on a phone. Test your entry process and ensure test entries will not enter the real draw.
For social promotions, check the platform’s current promotion policy. Facebook’s restrictions on required shares and friend tags are different from Instagram’s rules about inaccurate tagging. Choosing an action in a generator does not override a platform rule.
8. Submit it to suitable competition directories
Prepare the original link, prize description, exact closing time, eligibility and entry method. Search first to avoid a duplicate. Follow our step-by-step directory guide, which explains the route for each site and where organisers must not self-promote. Once your free promotion is live, you can submit its original link to Online Competition for consideration or follow Loquax’s promoter guidance. A submission is a request for review, not a promise of a listing.
9. Close entries and choose the winner
Freeze your entry list when the giveaway closes. Apply only the entry rules you published. Save the final eligible list, the selection result and any reasons for exclusions.
The random winner picker can draw from your prepared list and produce a record. It cannot verify social actions or decide eligibility for you.
10. Contact the winner and deliver the prize
Contact the selected entrant through the official sender named in your terms. Explain what they need to provide and the response deadline. Never ask them to pay to unlock the prize.
Follow the published process for an unclaimed prize, keep delivery evidence and deal with questions promptly. Review the actual costs and results so your next giveaway is easier to run.
Further reading: Gambling Commission: free draws and prize competitions. This guide covers a straightforward free promotion, not the establishment of a paid prize-draw business.
Check the current guidance before launch: CAP promotional marketing rules, Facebook promotion policy, Instagram promotion guidelines and ICO marketing guidance. Sources checked 7 September 2026.