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Three Key Moments You Can’t Miss at Hero Conf London 2022

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Have you noticed how your productivity increases when you take a few seconds to read a powerful inspirational quote? Now, imagine how it would be with three 45-minute industry-targeted keynotes led by three renowned industry experts!

Here’s what you’ll take away from the Hero Conf London 2022 Keynotes.

Kirsty Hulse will inspire you to increase confidence, take risks, and get more done with her Keynote “Brave Marketers.” Together you’ll learn…

– How to regulate nerves before pitches, meetings, and calls.

– Practical ways to believe in yourself and your skills.

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– Increase buy-in and engagement when presenting to clients or stakeholders.

Three Key Moments You Cant Miss at Hero Conf London

Frederick Vallaeys‘ Keynote was a successful homerun at Hero Conf Austin 2022! Now it’s your turn to learn “The Anatomy of the Modern Marketer.” You’ll discover the many ways in which today’s marketers have evolved from the ones we networked with at the last Hero Conf London. 

1652795563 28 Three Key Moments You Cant Miss at Hero Conf London1652795563 28 Three Key Moments You Cant Miss at Hero Conf London

You don’t get the nickname “Superhero of PPC” by accident. As a techno-optimist and advocate for the benefits of automation, Daniel Gilbert, Global CEO of Brainlabs, is ready to dive into the nitty-gritty to triumphantly mark his big return to Hero Conf. Hang tight, he’ll reveal the identity of his Hero Keynote soon!

Three Key Moments You Cant Miss at Hero Conf LondonThree Key Moments You Cant Miss at Hero Conf London
1652795563 28 Three Key Moments You Cant Miss at Hero Conf London1652795563 28 Three Key Moments You Cant Miss at Hero Conf London

Be prepared to walk away from Hero Conf London 2022 with new tactics and large doses of motivation, all aimed to awaken your inner Hero. Secure your seat today!

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How to Use Search Audiences in Google Ads to Lower Costs

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How to Use Search Audiences in Google Ads to Lower Costs

Audiences are one of my favorite topics when it comes to paid advertising. I’ve always been a huge fan of how useful they can be when trying to optimize campaigns to reach the right group of folks.

But one thing has always confused me: Most advertisers only pay attention to audiences with strategies like display, YouTube, or social. Meanwhile, search audiences seem to get overlooked.

I’m hoping to remedy that with this post. Below are my favorite ways for leveraging audiences in Google Ads search campaigns to optimize and grow your results.

Table of contents

How can you use search audiences?

Let’s first review your options for using search audiences in your campaigns.

🚨 Could your campaigns benefit from using search audiences? Find out with our free Google Ads Grader!

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1. Observation layering

The first usage of audiences is the least invasive to an existing paid search strategy. Adding audiences as observation layers lets you create a data segmentation in your search campaigns without limiting your end audience.

search audiences - google ads observation audiences

In all search campaigns, you can edit the audiences you have applied by going to the Audiences portion of the navigation on the left and click Edit Audience Segments.

search audiences - observation settings in google adssearch audiences - observation settings in google ads

Here you’ll see that all audiences in search campaigns start on “observation” by default. (We’ll get into strategies for “targeting” in just a minute.) As Google says, observation targeting doesn’t narrow the reach of your campaigns, but it does give you the option to adjust bids for different segments.

search audiences - screenshot of browsing google ads audiencessearch audiences - screenshot of browsing google ads audiences

Let’s talk about targeting first. The audience selections for search campaigns are the same as any other campaign on the Google network. You can choose from in-market or affinity audiences, remarketing, YouTube Engagement, detailed demographics, and more. All you need to do is check the box next to the audiences you want included and they’ll be applied to the campaign.

search audiences - example of extensive search audience observation listsearch audiences - example of extensive search audience observation list

Here’s where my particular kind of usage comes in: I add just about every audience available as an observation layer to my campaigns.

Remember, I’m not limiting my targeting at all, so even if an audience like “financial services” isn’t the right fit for my target audience based on our persona documents, I’m still able to see how it performs in comparison to all other audience segments on Google.

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search audiences - google ads bid adjustments screenshotsearch audiences - google ads bid adjustments screenshot

Then, depending on the bid strategy I’m using, I can adjust the bids for each audience based on its performance. With a Target CPA of around $400 in this account, I might adjust the bids as you see in the image above. Anything with CPAs well below the target may get a bid boost and ones over that mark get a discount.

The only limitation here is the bid strategy you’re using. As you can see in the chart below, only the manual and enhanced CPC strategies will allow for bid modifications of audiences. If you’re using any other strategy, these bid modifiers will be ignored.

search ad audiences - google ads bid modification chart search ad audiences - google ads bid modification chart

But that doesn’t mean bid modification is the only reason we may want to have observation layers. If you notice a particular audience has very high or very low performance, it may be worthwhile for you to think about segmenting that audience to its own campaign for more granular optimization, or excluding it altogether.

search audiences - google ads audience exclusions screenshotsearch audiences - google ads audience exclusions screenshot

While the other bid strategies don’t allow for bid modification, they do allow for exclusion. You would just need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to the Exclusions section, then click Edit Exclusions to add the audiences you want to avoid.

2. Targeting and remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA)

If we want to start getting a little more creative with our audiences, we can switch from the “observation” setting and shift into “targeting.”

search audiences - screenshot of targeting selected in audience section of google adssearch audiences - screenshot of targeting selected in audience section of google ads

This means we’ll be focusing ONLY on the audiences applied to the campaigns. All other users will be excluded. While that might sound restricting, and it is, limiting the audience you’re using opens the door to many other strategies within search that might not be in the best interest of your account without those audience restrictions.

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search audiences - google ads audience segment requirements search audiences - google ads audience segment requirements

The biggest challenge is going to be ensuring you meet the audience minimum of 1,000 active users in the last 30 days. If you’re struggling to meet this minimum, you may need to stick with the observation options above until you’re able to drive higher volumes of users.

💡 Set your search campaigns up for success with our free guide to the perfect Google Ads account structure!

The benefits of targeting vs. observing search audiences

Let’s start to explore the benefits of using the targeting focus and what that means for your options.

Opportunities for highly customized ad copy and keywords

Narrowing your audience to only those users you want, you can now start to customize campaigns more specifically based on what you know about those folks.

Let’s say you’re targeting people who have been to your website before. You likely don’t need to spend as much time telling them who your brand is and what you offer as much as differentiating yourself from the competition.

search audiences - example of a highly targeted adsearch audiences - example of a highly targeted ad

The above image is a good example from Facebook. Forgive the mismatch of platforms, but the customized search ads based on audiences are hard to find. But that means that you’ll stand out from your competition if you’re able to create customized messaging!

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Here, LinkedIn is targeting me on the Facebook platform to come back and make more B2Brilliance, their way of boasting about their great B2B targeting. Since I’m a regular on the advertising platform, they likely want to redirect my attention from Facebook and get back into spending money on their platform. Makes sense!

But think about how you can use this for your potential customers. If they’ve been to your site before and are still searching for services similar to yours, you could use your ad copy to offer a promotion, use specific benefit statements you don’t use for first-time customers, etc.

But this also applies to your keywords. Maybe your regular search campaigns are focused on your core services, but if someone has been to your site before, you may feel comfortable extending to new terms that promote your less popular services or things that are reserved for returning customers.

🔍 Get instant keyword ideas for more targeted and personalized ads using our Free Keyword Tool!

Improved call-to-action strategies for funnel movement

Furthermore, the same theory applies to calls to action. I work with several software companies that have a fairly long sales cycle. For them, we may use our prospecting campaigns to promote video views or content downloads as the call to action, but for Remarketing Lists in Search Ads, we will shift to demo requests or something else a little further down the funnel as that user is already familiar with our offerings and may be ready to take the next step.

sales funnel imagesales funnel image

Remarketing lists can be created based on the actions users have taken on your site. You likely are already creating lists based on those actions for campaign exclusions. What’s to say you can’t recreate the same ones in Google Ads and apply them to search campaigns to promote the next call to action in the buyer cycle? Answer: only the minimum audience size!

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Tighter Dynamic Search Ads

In addition to manual keyword expansion, remarketing lists are also a great way to limit the reach of Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs).

search audiences - google ads dynamic search ads example graphicsearch audiences - google ads dynamic search ads example graphic

Dynamic Search Ads function differently than regular Search campaigns because you provide Google with your website URL or a page feed of your website, then Google will dynamically match to search terms that are relevant based on your site content and craft ad headlines for you.

The benefit of using Remarketing Lists means that you can likely avoid most restrictions on the Dynamic Search Ads themselves as the audience will do most of the qualifying work for you. Any time a relevant search is conducted by someone who has engaged with your brand before, a Dynamic Search Ad will show up with customized headlines and landing pages.

Using more broad match keywords successfully

In an expansion step beyond DSA, you could also start to leverage broad match keywords with remarketing lists as well. All of the same practices apply to the strategies above, but our tool for increased reach will be match type rather than targeting type.

ppc audit tools - keyword match type guideppc audit tools - keyword match type guide

You can learn more about the match types here, but suffice it to say, broad match is indeed, the broadest of the options available. With broad match keywords, you’ll find yourself matching to terms outside of the typical ranges you get with phrase and exact, but assuming Google’s machine learning is as smart as they claim, these terms should still be relevant to your business and with the remarketing list layers included, you’ll have more chance to interact with known users.

In many instances, broad match keywords might not be the right fit for regular prospecting search campaigns, but with audiences layered in, they’re a great way to find additional scale.

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Whether you observe or target, don’t sleep on search audiences for Google Ads campaigns

Audiences might mostly be talked about with sisplay, YouTube, or social advertising strategies, but that doesn’t mean that’s all their good for. Whether it’s observing audience performance to gain insight or adjusting your keywords, targeting strategy, messaging, or call to action, audiences can be a great tool for search campaign improvement as well. For more audience insights, see how our solutions can help you maximize your search campaigns!

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17 Content Distribution Strategies to Try in 2024

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17 Content Distribution Strategies to Try in 2024

Creating content is great, but it’s only the first step in your marketing strategy. When you write articles, put together reports, or record videos, you need to make sure you promote them effectively, too. That means testing out new content distribution strategies whenever you can.

Today, we’re sharing 17 content distribution strategies you can try and test this year. But first, let’s go over what counts as content promotion.

What is content distribution?

Content distribution, or content promotion, is the process of distributing your blogs, articles, infographics, webinars, and more to reach a wider audience than its initial publication.

Here’s a strategy we used as an example. We published a blog post covering the biggest content marketing trends in 2024. The blog is the initial marketing channel for this piece of content, and this initial audience includes website visitors and blog readers. It’s also optimized for on-page SEO, which encourages ranking on organic search. That’s another channel. Posting about the blog on LinkedIn is another channel. That’s coordinated sharing of a single piece of content across multiple channels. That’s content promotion.

Content promotion - WordStream LinkedIn post

By sharing or even repurposing your content in multiple ways throughout your marketing strategy, you can increase its visibility and reach among your target audience. This has benefits beyond a single piece of content, including increased brand awareness, a stronger competitive edge, and even more conversion opportunities.

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If you’re investing the time, effort, and (often) budget to create high-quality content, you want to make it as beneficial to your business as possible.

📣Free guide >>> 25 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website (Fast!)

17 content distribution strategies to start testing now

Here are 17 content promotion strategies that will help you distribute your content, reach a wider audience, and build your brand. Whether you’re working to put a content promotion plan together or already have a solid strategy, take a look and see what you can test out this year.

1. Repurpose in another format

Content repurposing is the first strategy we’re sharing because it’s the most fundamental and presents the most opportunity. If you have a blog post, turn it into a video for YouTube. If you have a longer video, splice that up into shorter, bite-size clips for social content. If you have a data-packed report, pick out the most compelling headlines to make shareable graphics.

Content promotion - screenshot of a drop shipping video.Content promotion - screenshot of a drop shipping video.

Shopify has two versions of this content: a YouTube video and a blog post that explains drop-shipping.

Creating content takes a lot of time—ideating, researching, developing, editing, finalizing, and launching. That’s why content promotion across as many channels as possible is so important. The best way to create even more possibilities for promoting and sharing your content is by repurposing and repackaging it in another medium.

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This extends both the reach and the life of your content. By turning blogs into videos or long-form videos into short clips, you can distribute across different channels and reach new audiences. When you repackage, it takes less time than creating pieces from scratch, but you’re also creating fresh content, which keeps yours new for longer.

This, of course, has its limits. You don’t want to seem like you’re repeating yourself constantly to your community. And it’s not always feasible or effective to repurpose a blog into a video or a guide into podcast episodes. That’s what the rest of the strategies here are for.

2. Brand all of your visuals

If you ensure that all of the visuals in your whitepapers, articles, or blog posts are branded, you can share those graphics elsewhere. You can share these as eye-catching posts on social media to increase brand awareness, use these elements in other pieces to create internal links, and even optimize your image SEO for organic reach with the graphics alone.

Take this example from Semrush. It’s a simple but effective graphic of the elements of a content marketing strategy with the brand’s logo in the corner. It’s also the first result in an image search for content marketing strategy.

Content promotion - Google image search showing branded visuals.Content promotion - Google image search showing branded visuals.

This is something you bake into your content creation process. Like the Semrush example above, it doesn’t have to be extensive. Make sure graphics feature your brand colors. Include your logo at the bottom of any charts or tables. Take the time to optimize for SEO, which leads to our next strategy.

3. Optimize content for SEO

Organic search is an opportunity for content promotion. If you’re writing a blog post, publishing a report, or even releasing a video series, getting your content on the SERP offers you the chance to reach a wider audience through another channel.

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Take advantage of this by improving your SEO strategy this year. Whether it’s spending more time considering long-tail keywords during your ideation phase or focusing on improving your local SEO site-wide, it’s an opportunity to get your content out there.

4. Include links in relevant blogs or guides

Internal linking is important for your SEO, but it’s also a chance to promote your content to interested readers who already trust your brand.

Content promotion - Description on Etsy.Content promotion - Description on Etsy.

This Etsy blog post about using the color black as a wedding theme links to a blog on trending wedding colors. Relevant research for event planning.

But in-context linking is only one way to help promote content with internal links. You can link to high-value content from your company’s educational materials, add call-outs to your blogs, or add clickable links to your whitepapers. To learn more about getting creative, check out this guide to internal linking. (See what we did there?)

🛑 Not getting enough traffic from search engines? Download this free guide and get on the first page of Google.

5. Post on social platforms

Promoting your content on social media is important. Even if you don’t have a large following, posting can broaden your reach and grow your audience. This could be as simple as writing a quick intro and including a link to your post on X (formerly Twitter) or Threads if you’re on there. You can also use major takeaways to record a quick video for Instagram or create a slideshow with major takeaways on LinkedIn.

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Content promotion - social media post promoting content.Content promotion - social media post promoting content.

Example of a LinkedIn slideshow.

The most important thing is to start sharing and pay attention to the responses. Figure out what works for your brand, your audience, and your typical content production.

6. Plug content on a podcast

Podcasts are excellent places for sharing recommendations and plugging content naturally. You’re not dropping a link (except in the show notes), but you can reference thought leadership, share data and findings, or use a case study as an example. The spoken medium feels more authentic, and if your content comes up naturally on your brand’s own podcast or during a guest appearance, that’s another great way to promote it.

You can run podcast ads if you’re not running a podcast or looking to take on guest spots. These still offer the same benefits. In fact, in a study by Acast, 72% of podcast listeners reported that they visit an advertiser’s website after hearing a brand’s spot, and 62% of listeners reported making a purchase after hearing a podcast ad.

7. Syndicate your blogs

Some publications syndicate content, meaning they republish blog posts or articles as excerpts or in their entirety. How this works will depend on the publication. Some will automatically republish all of your content, while others ask you to submit it for syndication.

Content promotion - syndicated blog post.Content promotion - syndicated blog post.

For example, this article in Fast Company includes a “republished with permission” note.

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Here’s how to find sites that might syndicate your content: In a search engine, enter “republished with permission,” plus a keyword related to your brand or content. The results are sites that likely syndicate content in your area of expertise.

8. Share with your email mailing list

Your subscribers have already indicated an interest in your brand and offering. Send them your content, too. This could be a regular newsletter to share links to new releases if you have a full and varied content calendar or a one-off email if your content creation is slow and steady.

Email is an effective content promotion method. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 69% of B2B marketers distribute content through their own newsletters and 67% share content in other emails.

Content promotion - bar graph showing sources of traffic.Content promotion - bar graph showing sources of traffic.

Source

👋 Use these email marketing templates to write better emails faster.

9. Pitch your content to related newsletters

You should definitely send emails to your own audience, but that’s not the only way to get your content into newsletters. There are many regular newsletters that aggregate industry content or share a variety of links with their audience. Pitch your best content—think high-value articles penned by an industry leader or an annual report with compelling data—to include here.

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10. Share on forums

Forums like Quora and Reddit are potential channels for your content distribution, too. If you have a free course or helpful guide, you can share that. Look for people asking questions about your topic, then answer with a helpful explanation and the link.

Content promotion - screenshot of an online forum.Content promotion - screenshot of an online forum.

A link to a tool that seems helpful, not purely self-promo.

Keep in mind that no one wants to be spammed. Make sure you’re sharing relevant content and doing so selectively.

11. Partner with influencers

If you have the budget to promote your content, try working with influencers in your industry to get your content in front of more people. Here’s a great example. In the video below, marketing influencer Laurie Wang breaks down the fundamentals of digital marketing. She also shares templates from HubSpot, which is the sponsor of the video.

Content promotion - screenshot of a youtube video.Content promotion - screenshot of a youtube video.

Source 

It’s also worth noting that this influencer has 15,000 subscribers on YouTube. That’s closer to a micro-influencer, which can be more affordable.

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12. Promote with banners, pop-ups, or sidebar CTAs

Your content promotion doesn’t always need to be focused on reaching a new audience. It can also be a push to engage people who are already visiting your site further, whether they’re warm leads checking out cornerstone content one more time or new contacts who landed on your top-of-funnel blog post for the first time.

In those cases, you can promote your content to your website visitors through pop-ups, banners, and sidebar calls to action. The key is to promote high-value, relevant content in a compelling but non-intrusive way. Take a look at the example banner below from audiobook platform Libro.fm.

Content promotion - lead gen report.Content promotion - lead gen report.

The black-and-white images with the bright background are eye-catching without being overwhelming. Very clickable.

💡 Calls to action are the most important copy on the page. Get this free guide filled with compelling CTA phrases you can swipe today.

13. Credit and tag your sources

If your content contains references to other people’s work, try tagging them in your social posts, especially on LinkedIn or Instagram. Mention found a compelling correlation between tags and engagement for Instagram posts.

Content promotion -bar graph showing number of tags and traffic.Content promotion -bar graph showing number of tags and traffic.

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More engagement will help more social media users find your content. If you quote an expert in your industry or use photographs from someone with a social following, try tagging them.

14. Encourage your employees

Another channel you can tap to promote your content is your employees. Some companies have formal employee advocacy programs, which incentivize sharing content and more online. But even if you don’t have a formal program yet, you can still encourage your team members to post your high-value content.

In its report on employee advocacy programs, Hinge Marketing found that the biggest benefits of these programs include increased visibility and increased inbound traffic.

Content promotion - bar graph showing benefits from employee advocacy.Content promotion - bar graph showing benefits from employee advocacy.

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The key is to make it easy for employees to share content. So post graphics and messaging in your shared channels, send out emails with links to new content when it’s available, and let people know it’s a good thing to post.

15. Let your community know

If your brand runs a community, make sure you’re sharing your content there. Community-led marketing takes a lot of investment to get started and maintain, but once you’ve established a group, it’s incredibly effective. These members are engaged with your brand and with each other. If it’s a community listserv, send a quick email. If it’s a Slack or Discord group, set up a channel for distributing new content.

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Pro tip: If you have a community, this is also a great place to get ideas for content. Check out which threads stay active and which questions keep coming up time and again.

16. Write a guest blog post

Writing a guest post can be a good way to distribute your content—as long as you’re approaching it the right way. This works best if you have a big, in-depth piece of content, like a benchmark report or survey. You can focus on one finding to create an original guest post for the publication’s audience, which will hopefully be new to you. And you’ll be able to include any branded graphics there, too.

It’s worth noting that, in the Content Marketing Institute’s annual survey, only half of B2B marketers reported using guest posts as a distribution strategy this year.

Content promotion - B2B content distribution methods on a bar graph.Content promotion - B2B content distribution methods on a bar graph.

Source

This is only a slight decrease from last year, and it could be because guest posts work to promote specific kinds of content—original reports or data. If you have those, identify some target publications and give it a try.

17. Run paid ads

Most of the content promotion strategies we’ve talked about here are organic. But if you do have the budget to promote your content, run ads this year.

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Here’s a LinkedIn ad that I saw at the top of my feed while I was working on this post.

Content promotion - ad distributing content.Content promotion - ad distributing content.

Braze is a customer engagement platform that offers email marketing, in-app messaging, and more. Marketers are the target customers, so LinkedIn is a great platform, and this is a compelling piece of content.

Figure out where the best place to reach your target audience would be, like LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or maybe TikTok.

Try these content distribution strategies

We covered a lot of methods for getting your blogs, reports, graphics, and more out there, so let’s recap.

Here are 17 worthwhile content distribution and promotion strategies:

  1. Repurpose in another format
  2. Brand all of your visuals
  3. Optimize content for SEO
  4. Include links in relevant blog posts
  5. Post on social platforms
  6. Plug content on a podcast
  7. Syndicate your blogs
  8. Share with your email mailing list
  9. Pitch to related newsletters
  10. Share on forums
  11. Partner with influencers
  12. Promote with banners, pop-ups, or sidebar CTAs
  13. Credit any influences—and make sure to tag them
  14. Encourage your employees
  15. Let your community know
  16. Write a guest blog post
  17. Run paid ads

If you’re creating great content for your brand, then it’s worth spending a little more time promoting it to as many people as possible. So this year, try some of these promotion strategies to get more eyes on your content and grow your business with more customers.

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31 Best Giveaway Ideas (+Tips to Make Them Successful)

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31 Best Giveaway Ideas (+Tips to Make Them Successful)

Here’s a hill I’m dying on: giveaways are one of the most versatile and efficient marketing strategies available. They work on any channel, are easily scalable to your budget, and create their own buzz (we all love free stuff!).

But the best part is they are endlessly variable—there are infinite giveaway ideas.

I want you to get a feel for what a good giveaway can do for your business and find a few versions to try. So I’ve listed over 30 ideas, a handful of examples, and some things you can do to make sure your giveaway delivers what you need it to.

Table of contents

Why should you run giveaways?

Giveaways produce results across your entire sales funnel, from early awareness to customer evangelism. Here are some of the most popular ways I’ve seen giveaways used in marketing:

  • Boost brand awareness: When people don’t know or trust your brand yet, a giveaway will help you break the ice.
  • Support a product launch: Giveaways capture attention fast, which is exactly what you need for a new product.
  • Introduce a new location: A little free gift will build rapport quickly with new neighbors.
  • Grow your social media and email following: It’s crazy how well tag-a-friend giveaways multiply social networks.
  • Clear out seasonal merch: Turn a sunk cost into a wildly effective marketing strategy.
  • Capture UGC: Make sharing user-generated content a sweepstakes entry, and watch the awesome customer images pour in.
  • Get customer referrals: Incentivize customers to become your best salespeople.
  • Recover abandoned cart sales: Put all those “almost-won” sales over the finish line with free shipping or by throwing in a gift card or trial size.

🛑 Free guide >>> 25 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website (FAST!)

How do you make a successful giveaway?

The type and scope of giveaway you manage depends on what you have available, who you’re trying to reach, and what you hope to get out of it. Follow these steps so your giveaway makes a huge splash.

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Set a goal

The goal of your giveaway is the first piece of the puzzle. Everything else snaps in around it.

Say you want to blow up your Instagram follower count. The platform, set of rules, and promotional plan supporting your giveaway should all align to make that happen.

Choose the prize

This is trickier than some people realize. Ideally, you want a prize aligned with your brand and right-sized for your goals.

A brand-aligned giveaway helps you focus on attracting ideal potential customers. If you sell baby monitors, giving away running shoes will attract lots of people who don’t need your products.

Giveaway ideas - giveaway on YouTube

Choose a gift that matches the size and goal of your giveaway.

Likewise, a huge prize for a simple entry method (like tagging a friend on Instagram) is going to bog you down with so many entrants outside of your core audience. Pick a prize just large enough to make it worth the effort to get it.

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Pick your platform

Here, I’m talking about in-person, social media, email marketing, etc. Where can you find the people you want to reach? Which option makes it easy to achieve your specific goal?

If you’re drumming up brand awareness for a new dentist’s office, handing out travel toothcare kits at a health fair is perfect. However, an email campaign would be better if you’re looking for new patient referrals.

Schedule appropriately

Timing matters a lot in giveaways for several reasons. Seasons, competition levels, and your own internal needs all factor in.

For example, a brand awareness giveaway that would triple your TikTok follower count in June might get drowned out by holiday marketers in December.

Create the rules

There are two questions to answer here:

  1. What do people have to do to get the giveaway?
  2. What laws and platform rules do you need to follow?

To set the rules of entry, match the ask’s difficulty to the prize’s value. The better the prize, the more you can ask. It’s fair to ask someone to buy one shirt to get another similar shirt for free. Or to register their email address for a chance to win a weekend trip. But if your giveaway is an inexpensive branded pen, you won’t get many people registering (those are great handouts at conferences, though).

Giveaway ideas - Giveaway on Instagram showing the rules.Giveaway ideas - Giveaway on Instagram showing the rules.

Make sure you’ve listed all giveaway rules clearly.

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Laws and platform rules can vary. Instagram has its own rules, for example. In general, you want to clearly and fairly describe the prize, give a minimum age to participate, list the rules, and give the odds of winning if it pertains to your type of giveaway.

Hype it up

Before and during the big day(s), use social media posts and popups on your website to get more attention. Email your subscribers and offer your loyalty members early or extra entries. Look for influencers or related businesses to partner with. If it’s a really big deal, consider spending on paid search ads or boosted social media posts.

Follow up

After your giveaway is over, there’s plenty of attention and excitement to be had. Announce the winner (if it was a contest) and tag them in the social media posts so their network can see them. Let people who didn’t participate or win know what they missed, and tell them to stay tuned for future events.

You could end up gathering more email addresses with the promise of a future giveaway than the original giveaway itself.

🥇Are you an all-star advertiser? Download the All-Star Advertising Playbook to find out.

Best giveaway ideas for businesses

These are your tried-and-true giveaway ideas that have proven to generate buzz, leads, and sales.

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1. Sweepstakes

You’re probably pretty familiar with this one. You give up your email address or some other information, and you’re entered to win a prize. Unlike a gift-with-purchase, your free gift isn’t guaranteed, which adds a little anticipation to the game.

Sweepstakes are useful for all types of brand awareness and lead-generation campaigns. They’re less often used to generate direct sales since requiring a purchase to enter can be legally tricky.

2. Customer loyalty giveaway

Customer retention is a critical business growth strategy. This giveaway aims to keep your best customers happy and returning for a long time.

Giveaway ideas -Under Armor giveaway.Giveaway ideas -Under Armor giveaway.

Use exclusive giveaways for your loyalty members to keep them active longer.

The actual giveaway can take on many forms. The important part is to talk up the exclusivity of it. Only your best customers get the gift, discount, or entry to win. That’ll help cement the feeling of community, which strengthens brand loyalty.

3. Holiday-themed giveaway

Holiday-themed giveaways come in many variations. Black Friday doorbuster deals are a very popular one, but you can get pretty creative. For example, you could offer a self-care giveaway for singles as part of your Valentine’s Day marketing.

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4. The year’s supply giveaway

There’s some psychology behind our desire for abundance, even for everyday products. Think of having a pantry full of mac and cheese or all the laundry detergent you could use for a year. It’s more exciting than it should be.

That’s the motivation behind giving a year’s supply of a product. The bonus is that you can make this highly relevant to what you sell, attracting future customers.

5. BOGO

Buy one, get one free deals are among the most popular giveaways for both the giver and the receiver.

Giveaway ideas - Cosmetics BOGO giveaway.Giveaway ideas - Cosmetics BOGO giveaway.

Use BOGO deals for a big boost in sales and awareness.

Your customers get double the product for the same price, and you make a sale every time someone takes advantage of your offer.

Giveaways like this can also be great loss-leaders—products that don’t generate much profit on their own but drive lots of new customers to your store to buy additional items.

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6. Free upgrade

This is a nice option if your product or service has pricing tiers and you want to attract more customers to the higher tier.

Say you sell software with entry, pro, and executive plan options. Run a promo where anyone who buys the entry plan gets the pro version for the first month. Some of those users will get hooked on the expanded capability and upgrade at the end of the giveaway period.

You can use this for physical products, too. Offer the premium product at the standard price for a limited time. Then gather as many reviews of the higher-end version and use that social proof to sell it after the promo is over.

7. Free product with purchase

I love these types of giveaways, especially for two specific purposes:

  • You have seasonal or excessive stock you need to turn
  • You’re introducing a new product

Make the free product as relevant to the purchased one as possible. Socks with a pair of shoes is a perfect example. You could also throw in something that often causes friction when forgotten, like batteries with a battery-powered toy.

8. Product bundle giveaway

Grow your add-on sales by bundling several complementary products and running a sales promotion giveaway to demonstrate how they all work together.

Giveaway ideas - Bundle giveaway on Instagram.Giveaway ideas - Bundle giveaway on Instagram.

Bundling products for a giveaway is a great way to promote complimentary products.

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9. Surprise discount or coupon code

Here’s the gist. A customer opens a promotional email with their secret code. They click through to a sales page and enter it to learn they’ve been given a 20% discount. That little bit of intrigue and anticipation makes a much bigger impression than simply getting 20%.

This giveaway works best when you can give away something valuable—you might disappoint people if they go through the motions for 5% off.

10. Branded swag giveaway

This is a standard and useful tactic for in-person events. Hand out pens, t-shirts, ball caps, or fidget spinners (remember those?) to get people to your booth or table.

A slight modification here is to buy fewer, more expensive items and only give them away to people who talk with your team. That shifts the focus from brand awareness to a lead generation campaign.

11. Refer-a-friend giveaway

There is no better salesperson for your business than happy customers. Use a little gift to give your customer referral program a big shot in the arm.

Giveaway ideas - Customer referral giveaway post.Giveaway ideas - Customer referral giveaway post.

Use giveaways to get more customer referrals.

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You’re asking people to discuss your business with their friends, and the leads you get will be very high-value, so make sure the gift is a good one.

12. Influencer giveaway

If you don’t already have a big audience, partner with an influencer to get more eyes on your giveaways.

Pick an influencer with a smaller, niche, engaged audience. So find a holistic health professional with a few thousand dedicated followers over Selina Gomez for your essential oils giveaway. That’ll deliver higher quality traffic which leads to more future sales.

13. Buy a gift, get a gift

This is such a great variation of the holiday giveaway or buy one, get one promo. When someone orders a present, give them something for themselves.

Gift cards work well here, so the buyer can choose what they want. But you can also create a cool version where both people get the same gift, especially if your product is great for friends—like bracelets.

14. Appreciation giveaway

Use this type of giveaway for milestones like business anniversaries or getting your first 100K followers on TikTok.

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You can make this about the individual, too. For example, you could send an extra gift or discount to people one year after their first purchase.

15. Reengagement giveaway

Now, for those customers or prospects who haven’t made a purchase or opened an email in a while, a re-engagement giveaway is just the trick.

Start by segmenting your email list to pull out subscribers who haven’t done what you want them to do (click a link or re-order a product) for a set period. Send them an email with a concise, compelling subject line announcing the giveaway.

If reordering is the goal, an extra discount or BOGO offer is a good giveaway to use here.

Giveaway ideas for small businesses

Every penny counts for small and growing businesses. These giveaway ideas don’t require a lot of money or time to manage but can still net a really nice return.

16. Co-sponsored giveaway

Co-sponsored giveaways are events managed and promoted by two or more businesses. I purposely put them at the top of this list because they’re such a smart way to share the load of running a giveaway while multiplying its effect.

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Giveaway ideas - Cosponsored giveaway post on Instagram. Giveaway ideas - Cosponsored giveaway post on Instagram.

Giveaways work great as co-promotional events.

With multiple businesses involved, you’ll be able to afford a larger prize or gift. But even better, your brand will get exposure to the existing networks those other businesses have built.

Co-sponsored giveaways are a good social media marketing strategy, but they can also be effective in person or even via email.

17. Tag us in your post giveaways

This giveaway is a UGC-gathering powerhouse. Ask followers to tag you in their social media posts using either your handle or a branded hashtag in exchange for entry into a sweepstakes, then share the content on your account.

These events are easy to run. Just make sure you explicitly mention that tagging a post is consent for you to reshare the image. And don’t forget to highlight the winners so everyone knows the contest was legit and to get an extra splash of attention for your brand.

18. Tag-a-friend giveaways

If you scroll Instagram or TikTok for about five minutes, you’re almost guaranteed to stumble on one of these contests. That’s simply because they’re so good at exponentially growing your social network.

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Giveaway ideas - tag a friend giveaway on Instagram.Giveaway ideas - tag a friend giveaway on Instagram.

Use tag-a-friend giveaways to grow your social media following quickly.

Try to keep the instructions simple. If you ask someone to follow three accounts, like two different posts, and share the post to their network, they might keep scrolling (unless you’re offering a monster prize).

Combine this with a co-sponsored giveaway for an extra boost in online presence.

19. Giveaway for feedback

Online reviews do a lot of heavy lifting for your business. Buyers trust reviews, and Google uses them as a local search ranking factor so you show up in more searches.

You can use giveaways to get more reviews in a hurry. Just make giving a review a requirement for entering the giveaway.

Caution is warranted here. You don’t want to come off as buying reviews. And some platforms, like Yelp, don’t allow this tactic. Plus, you need to start with an excellent product and service, or you’ll just get more bad reviews.

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20. Free information giveaway

This one is nice for small businesses because it leverages your valuable expertise instead of a costly product.

To launch this type of giveaway, create an ebook, template, or some other form of content that your target audience would love to have. For example, if you’re a chiropractor, you could create a PDF showing 10 daily habits for a healthy back. Then use a popup, or lead magnat, which asks visitors to enter their email address in exchange for the guide.

Not sure what to create? List out the five questions your customers most frequently ask and start there.

21. Free trial

An old sales trick says that if you can put a product in a prospect’s hands, your chance of making the sale will increase dramatically.

A free trial giveaway does just that. Let people who register on your website try your product without cost. They’ll gladly pay to keep using it when they fall in love.

You’ll see this strategy used for software sales a lot. But you can also send a sample size of a consumable product. Make it a gift with the purchase of another popular item to get it in more hands.

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22. Free quote

This might be the most underrated giveaway on the list. Especially if your competitors regularly charge to price out a job.

Giveaway ideas - free quote promotion on Instagram.Giveaway ideas - free quote promotion on Instagram.

Don’t sleep on the value of a free quote.

Besides attracting new potential customers, you’ll also create a cost barrier that makes it more likely people choose to work for you. Once they have your quote, they’ll be less likely to pay another business for theirs.

Cool giveaway ideas

Here are several fun giveaway ideas your customers and followers will love (and you’ll love to run).

23. Quiz/trivia

Ask your customers to answer a question about your business or industry. Tie it to your unique selling proposition so as people search for the answer, they learn what makes you different.

Here’s an example. Say your long history and wide range of services set you apart. Ask people to reply to a Facebook post with the year your company was founded and the number of services you offer. Then, pick one winner out of the replies and give them a nice giveaway.

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24. Choose your own gift

I used to love it when my mom handed me a little cash and told me to pick out one toy I could take home. I had a blast prowling the isles for my special treat.

Give your audience that same thrill by letting them pick their prize from a list of options.

Giveaway ideas - Choose your own give giveaway on Instagram.Giveaway ideas - Choose your own give giveaway on Instagram.

Let customers pick their prize for an extra exciting giveaway.

Ideally, the prize list will be a curated selection of things you sell. But it could also be from a list of your favorite seasonal products or any other themed group of items.

25. Scavenger hunt

This one is a lot of fun. Create a list of little details from your website pages (or on multiple pages if it’s a co-sponsored event). People who register get questions to answer, each requiring them to visit different pages. Then pick a winner from all of the completed entries.

These are best done over a short time period to limit answer sharing. So, make sure to create a lot of hype before the event so you have as many people playing as possible.

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26. Photo or video contest

Here’s a twist on a UGC giveaway. Instead of simply collecting tagged images, offer a prize for the best one(s)!

By making it a contest, you’ll encourage people to send in their absolute best pics and videos. Plus, you’ll get a double dose of engagement when everyone checks back in to see who won.

27. Nominate a hero

People love to work with businesses that give back. This giveaway lets your audience spotlight their local heroes while you get to give back to people making a difference.

Giveaway ideas - Nominate a hero giveaway.Giveaway ideas - Nominate a hero giveaway.

The hero nomination giveaway requires more work, but it pays off in many ways.

To run a giveaway like this, ask your followers to nominate someone they believe is a true hero and explain why. Then pick one (or more) to receive the prize and promote the event. If possible, get a video of the hero accepting their prize. You could also create a landing page listing all the nominated heroes.

Unique giveaway ideas

One of the defining characteristics of a great giveaway is that it stands out against all the other messages and ads people are exposed to. These interesting and unique giveaway ideas grab attention, even in a crowded space.

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28. Gamified giveaway

A gamified giveaway adds gameplay elements to your offer. If you’ve ever spun a wheel to get a freebie or discount, you’ve seen a gamified giveaway.

Spinning the wheel is one of many ways to add engagement-boosting gameplay to your giveaways.

Giveaway ideas - Scratch to win giveaway from Microsoft.Giveaway ideas - Scratch to win giveaway from Microsoft.

Digital “scratch-off” tickets add a fun element to a standard sweepstakes giveaway.

Try creating digital scratch-off tickets that give customers points for making a purchase that they can spend on future products. Anything that ups the ante by asking people to play in order to win instead of simply getting a freebie is worth consideration.

29. Caption this photo

A photo caption giveaway is great for a quick engagement boost. Post a picture on your social media platform of choice and ask your followers to write a caption for it. You pick the most creative caption and send a prize to the winner.

The game is fun, so you can expect decent participation, even with minimal prizes. Just closely moderate the replies so you don’t accidentally post a caption that isn’t safe for work.

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30. Brand ambassadorship giveaway

Instead of just partnering with a brand ambassador, create a contest where people can win a chance to become one.

Giveaway ideas - rules for the BARK Ranger ambassador giveaway.Giveaway ideas - rules for the BARK Ranger ambassador giveaway.

Who wouldn’t want to be a B.A.R.K Ranger?

Make this as big or as small as you want. You can give away a little gift to everyone who completes a task to become an ambassador. Or sponsor a huge contest where the winner spends a year using what you sell and gets paid (in products or cash) to share their experience with the world.

31. Do a good deed giveaway

This is a play on the pay-it-forward theme. Ask your followers to do something kind for a stranger (or maybe volunteer for a non-profit), document what they’ve done, and submit it for a chance to win a gift for themselves. Double the impact by offering a second gift people can give to a loved one.

This type of giveaway drums up lots of good feelings while also doing something positive for the world.

The best giveaway idea is up to you

There is no one perfect giveaway idea. What works best will be the one that matches your brand, achieves your goals, and you actually enjoy running.

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Remember to be extremely clear on the rules and follow through on your promise. Missed expectations can turn a great giveaway into a public relations hassle.

Here’s a recap of the best giveaway ideas:

  1. Sweepstakes
  2. Customer loyalty giveaway
  3. Holiday-themed giveaway
  4. The year’s supply giveaway
  5. Buy one, get one free
  6. Free upgrade
  7. Free product with purchase
  8. Product bundle giveaway
  9. Surprise discount or coupon code
  10. Branded swag giveaway
  11. Refer-a-friend giveaway
  12. Influencer giveaway
  13. Buy a gift, get a gift
  14. Appreciation giveaway
  15. Reengagement giveaway
  16. Co-sponsored giveaway
  17. Tag us in your post
  18. Tag-a-friend
  19. Giveaway for feedback
  20. Free information giveaway
  21. Free trial
  22. Free quote
  23. Quiz/trivia
  24. Choose your own gift
  25. Scavenger hunt
  26. Photo or video contest
  27. Nominate a hero
  28. Gamified giveaway
  29. Caption this photo
  30. Brand ambassadorship giveaway
  31. Do a good dead giveaway



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