BEING THE HOST

Hosting a giveaway is a ton of work, especially when I have to deal with companies who don’t fulfill their obligations at all or in a timely manner.  Or when I have the winners emailing me withing 3 days asking when they’ll receive their prize.  It’s time that I have to take out of my life to reply to those winners or to pinpoint the reasoning a winner hasn’t received their prize.  It’s extremely frustrating to say the least.  Even when a giveaway goes smoothly, I still have to create it, manage entries, pick a winner, email the winner & wait for them to claim, then email the company with the info…if all goes well, they get their prize quickly.

CCC or Custom Creative Campaigns
I recommend custom creative campaigns.  It’s when a company seeks you out to promote their brand/product but tailors the program around you, usually choosing 5 or less bloggers of quality & relevance.  A few PR companies do this very well like Edelman, Malone Advertising, and Weber-Shandwick.  The goal is to find bloggers with a loyal readership, who love that brand/product, and can authentically dedicate their time online and offline for them, all with compensation.  All the companies I mentioned are great at this. They take the time to get to know the bloggers so when a “gig” comes up, they know exactly who to approach.  It’s so nice to see companies like these realizing that we are worth being compensated for out time & efforts because many of us do work very very hard.

Just an example of how they might do it—So if you’re looking for 2 bloggers to promote your very expensive DSLR camera, then you want to find 2 socially active, quality bloggers in different niches.  Perhaps a food blogger who can use that camera for food photography and the other a travel blogger who can snap photos of places they visit or a mom blogger who can capture the sweet moments of her family.  You take those two bloggers and give them a CCC consisting of 2 posts and/or videos a month for 3 months for $xxxx.xx, the click thru & purchase rate will almost always be higher than a giveaway.  Yes, I’ve tested it.  I use affiliate links in any post promoting a product and have measured (which is in my disclosure). Only one time has a giveaway done better and that’s because it was coupled with a MEGA discount.

Why does it work?  Because those bloggers have readers that trust them.  Relationships that have been built over time that it almost feels like family.  Those readers can tell through the blogger’s writing style that the blogger truly likes it.  Those are the ones that will know and will click thru to learn more about the product and possibly even buy.

SPOKESBLOGGER

Much like the CCC’s but you are hiring one blogger to represent your brand/company.  This is usually longer term and it’s with a blogger who genuinely loves the product and who has a very loyal following.

LAST THOUGHTS

Of course with both the Spokesblogger and CCC positions, the PR firm handling must do the job right by picking relevant bloggers and the bloggers need to think through whether they want to represent that brand/company.   I feel like PR should thoroughly investigate the bloggers before approaching so that they know beforehand if that blogger cares a flying flick about that brand.  This helps keep the blogger authentic as well.  By approaching someone who already has a love for the product, their readers will not even notice because it’s something they already talk about anyways on their blog, which keeps the situation real even with money being exchanged.

I’m not saying don’t ever offer giveaways, I like to host a few every so often, especially if they are of significant value or something that we love love love, but if you are really wanting to get the word out about a product, then I recommend one of the alternatives above.  I’m sure there will be a difference of opinion on this post and look forward to hearing what you think, both from a blogger’s perspective and a pr’s as well.

In honor of the Lunchbox Builder, they are giving me a prize pack to give to you with the Back to School theme and it’s worth about $150!

What’s inside??  Here’s a list of the goodies and there’s something in there for everyone.

• *iPod Shuffle
• *Insulated lunchbox
• *Smuckers Strawberry
• *Pencils
• *Coupons
• *Sharpie pens in lots of colors!
• *Colored Pencils
• *Smuckers Uncrustables Container
• *Motts Reusable Shopping Bag
• *Walmart Gift Card
• *Pedometer
• *An Optical Mouse
• *Smuckers Belt Pack

Note: The winner will also receive 5 labels for Education worth 10,000 points each. WOW!! That could do something really great for your child’s school!

HOW TO ENTER

Leave a comment here sharing your a lunchbox story. Either what you used to pack, something you do special for you child, what kind of lunchbox you had and what you wish you had, etc. You get the idea.  Can’t wait to hear them!

This giveaway ends on August 28th!

PLEASE NOTE…THIS IS A CONTEST, NOT A GIVEAWAY WHICH MEANS YOU WILL HAVE TO PUT SOME THOUGHT INTO YOUR ANSWER.

Not only is Nickelodeon famous for Nicktoons, Nick Jr., and Nick at Nite—They also have a sister site called Noggin that I am a HUGE fan of.  My little guy watches Noggin because the show is aimed at preschool-aged and early elementary-school-aged children.  Their website is very toddler friendly and I let my little guy on their frequently and I highly recommend both website and channel.

HOW TO ENTER:

Leave a comment telling me your BEST HOLIDAY MONEY SAVING TIP.  Best HOLIDAY money saving tip!!!  Please put some thought into your answer folks.

ONLY 2 TIPS PER PERSON PLEASE!!!

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How the winner will be chosen:

After all entries are carefully read, the judges will pick their favorite top 20 Holiday Money Saving Tips.  Those 20 entries will be put into a draw, where one winner will be randomly chosen.

In the event that there are identical tips given by different entrants that make the 20, it is at the judge’s discretion to choose which one gets thrown on the hopper.

This contest ends on December 15th and the winner will have 24hrs to contact me with their shipping address at lori at thecowboyshack dot com.

Contest and rules are subject to change if needed.

Other moms are giving away a $500 Walmart Gift Card too!  Go check them out and enter for more chances to win one!

They really were good cookies and easy to make.  Try them and give them to your cookie monster!