Choose one clear goal before planning your giveaway

Decide what you want people to discover

“Get more entries” is a way to measure participation, but it does not explain why you are running a giveaway. Start with the change you hope it will support. Do you want people to understand a new product, recognise your business, visit an event or choose to hear from you again?

Pick one main goal. You can record other benefits, but a clear priority makes decisions about the prize, entry instructions and follow-up easier. Write a sentence such as: “We want local people to discover our new weekend workshops.” That is more useful than trying to maximise every possible number at once. Online Competition’s five questions before running a competition offer another useful way to test the idea before you commit to a prize.

Match the prize to the audience

Choose a prize that makes sense for the people you want to reach. A workshop place shows what a teaching business offers. A product bundle can introduce a range. A prize with no connection to your work may attract attention without helping people understand the business.

Check the practical details early: availability, delivery, booking dates and who is responsible for fulfilment. A modest prize with clear arrangements is easier to explain than a large promise with unanswered questions.

Choose an entry process you can manage

Write the steps from the entrant’s point of view, then test them yourself. Can someone find the closing date? Is it clear what counts as one entry? Can you reliably collect and check the information you ask for?

Social platforms have their own promotion rules. Before making a follow, share, repost or tagging action a condition of entry, check the current rules for that platform. Our entry instructions tool helps you organise the wording, but the final process still needs your review.

Keep marketing choices clear

If growing an email list is your goal, plan how people can choose to receive future messages and how you will record that choice. Do not hide marketing wording inside an unrelated entry instruction. Check the requirements that apply to your audience and mailing activity before launch.

Think beyond the draw itself: what useful message would a subscriber receive next? A relevant follow-up gives people a reason to stay interested after the prize has been awarded.

Agree how you will judge the result

Choose a small set of measures you can actually collect. For product discovery, this might include visits to the product information page. For an event, it might include relevant enquiries. For an email goal, look at valid subscriptions and subsequent engagement, not just the number of form submissions.

Write down a starting point before launch so you can compare afterwards. Keep expectations realistic: one promotion rarely proves which single action caused a wider change in sales or awareness.

Turn the goal into a working brief

Bring the audience, prize, entry process, dates and fulfilment plan together in the giveaway planner. Use the directory submission guide once your original promotion page is complete and ready for visitors. After the draw, note what worked and what you would simplify next time.