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[Lisa Preston]

Is participation in giveaways a viable strategy for list building?
I see many of the people participating in giveaways over and over, so I assume they are getting opt-ins, but are these GOOD lists, or freebie seekers? And how can you differentiate?

[Mike Hill]

Good Question Lisa...

Some marketers will dispute that Giveaway sites are a waste of time because it brings out the freebie seekers but I think it can be done succesfully if you go about it the right way...

For starters, most Giveaway sites lead you to a One Time Offer directly after signup but this has proven not to get many sales at this juncture because the subscriber has only one thing on his mind -- FREE!

What I have done in the past is send the subscriber Limited Time Offers via autoresponder the day after subscribing and this has proven to pull much better...

The reason why you are having a giveaway in the first place is important as well. A normal Giveaway with no unique selling point will most likely fail for the majority of us because we are not as widely known in the maketing community.

That being said, let's look at a Giveaway model that can be adopted in any niche.

1. Find a highly desirable product in your niche (Physical course, electronic tool, etc.)

2. Revolve your FREE giveaway around a chance to win offer.

3. Rally other marketers in your niche and allow them to take avantge of the traffic by offering a quality product of their own.

4. The chance to win is much more appealing than just a simple giveaway.

Take a look at an example of what I have done here: www.trafficsecrets2giveaway.com

To monetize these subscribers you need to filter them through your sales process so you'll know exactly what they want.

EXAMPLE: I setup several different areas within the internet marketing niche from my own giveaway to better target their wants and desires. I offer more FREE information on Product creation; List Building; Affiliate Marketing, via autoresponder.

These subscribers will opt-in to get this FREE information and my one big list is now a set of smaller, more targeted lists. I now know what each of these smaller lists really want, so all I have to do is give it to them.

I offer affiliate products related specifically to each of the sub-lists and see which products in which categories I've mentioned above, sell the best.

This is used as a berometer to indicate to me which products I should create...

Setting this whole thing up, starting with the Chance To Win / Giveaway site is a lot of work but once it is setup you can swap the Chance To Win offers and continue to use the same giveaway area.


If you are participating in a Giveaway someone else is running you MUST giveaway something unique that really targetes the kind of subscriber you want.

I see so many gifts that people offer are worthless, and that will dictate the type of subscriber you get. Giving away something of value that is created by YOU will get you a more targeted and responsive subscriber fo the most part.

There will always be freeloaders but there are also responsive people out there who do subscribe via giveaway sites. I have also participated in many of giveaways and I've always offered something unique and very targeted to the subscriber I am looking for.

My income has increased as a result.

Here are just a few of the Giveaways I offer. I have created them specifically for participating in Giveaway sites...

http://www.optinpagetemplates.com/
http://www.productdomination.com/
http://www.myaffiliateorganizer.com/


Mike Hill

PS. I think one of the bigest hurdles for someone trying to build a list is targeting and dividing their list into smaller more specific lists they can dominate.

A lot of marketers just want to pool everyone together into one big list but then they DO NOT know what they should offer to them...

[Barry Richardson]

Giveaways are great and I think those who discount those subscribers as only "freebie seekers"
are wrong. My list was built primarily through participation in giveaways and makes me a
comfortable living. I think anyone appreciates a good freebie and just because they accept
that freebie today doesn't mean they won't be a buyer in the future.

Barry

[Lisa Preston]

I agree, Barry, that not all those who take part in giveaways are freebie seekers, but how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? I've done it a few times myself, and it entirely depended on the product I gave away... is it the same for you?

[Barry Richardson]

Well, you can always separate your buyers to a different list section.

Barry

[ElevatingYourBusiness]

I've participated in a lot of different ways to get subscribers.  Freebie seekers abound.

What worked is similar to what Mike mentioned.

I work with service business owners and especially financial folks (what I did before the Internet).   Someone on the warrior board liked my free giveaway.  He contacted me and we each did a free something to each others list.  I got 150 new subscribers, of which most were guys -- he got about the same, of which most were women  

Recently he did a giveaway with about 5  businesses who deal in one way or another with financial folks.  I got 82 new subscribers.  Of which 2 have left in 2 months. 

Now that's targeted!

And a way to rebuild my list. 

[Chris Lockwood]

> Giveaways are great and I think those who discount those subscribers as only "freebie seekers"
are wrong.

I agree, since if you're offering gifts and someone accepts, that doesn't necessarily make them a freebie seeker.

A great thing about giveaways is that it costs no money and just a little time to contribute to one, so the risk is minimal.

[John Guanzon]

Giveaways are great, as well as many other 'free' forms of list building.

As Mike mentioned above a related OTO product is an ideal step AFTER they get their freebie.   Also the price of what you offer is based on the niche but I prefer trying lower cost ($7 - $10 range products) when the leads are coming from free sources.   If you want to go with a higher end OTO you could easily add in a second OTO down sell offer.

It really all comes down to testing, and I have found that giveaways at least offer a great way to test the whole flow of your lead capture funnel and sales process. 

 

[Bonnie Gean]

but how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? I've done it a few times myself, and it entirely depended on the product I gave away. . .  is it the same for you?

During the giveaway, obviously all your new sign ups are going into the same list pool.   The idea is to separate them later, by offering another opportunity to raise their hand and qualify their interests.

Either offer another freebie that requires a new sign up form for the download, (Jimmy Brown does this and has managed to get me on more than 7 of his lists). . .  or offer your new list a special OTO deal that requires a purchase and gets them inserted into a buyer list.

I find most will separate themselves automatically by either buying, staying, or unsubscribing.   And, I don't worry about those that remove themselves after getting the freebie -- because they aren't going to buy anything, EVER.  They're only in it for the freebie.  :)

Hope this helps Lisa.

All good things,
Bonnie Gean

[Ron Killian]

I recently signed up as a "surfer" for a give away event and it was pretty shocking to see how so many marketers were losing out on the potential of the event. Very surprising.

[Chris Lockwood]

Losing out in what way? I'm not sure what you mean.


> I find most will separate themselves automatically by either buying, staying, or unsubscribing.   And, I don't worry about those that remove themselves after getting the freebie -- because they aren't going to buy anything, EVER.  They're only in it for the freebie. 

I agree. I'm not sure why the need to separate "wheat from chaff" here, since it's pretty hard to know if someone is a potential buyer until they actually buy from you, and even then there's no guarantee they will buy again.

A high percentage of people who join your list will never buy from you anyway, so I'm not sure why the concern. If it "cost" you something just for one extra person being on your list, that would be different.

[Ron Killian]

Losing out for several reasons. One I saw many marketers offering the same exact gift. Surprised the event host added duplicates anyways.

A big majority of gifts were tired old e-books that have been around for ages. Or using gift graphics that look just terrible.

A number of websites and forms did not work. I mess up all the time, but I make sure to double check my system before I release it.

Several marketers gave up the gift before getting a confirmed opt-in ( guess thats a judgment call really)

Very few original products.

[Chris Lockwood]

> One I saw many marketers offering the same exact gift.

That's largely the fault of the person running the event, since as a contributor, you don't know what others are contributing... just like as a list owner, I don't know what others are sending to their lists, so don't blame me if I tell you about something that other people also wrote about.

Of course it's better to create your own gift, but a lot of people are overwhelmed by that, especially if they are just starting.

Yep, graphics often look bad, but sometimes the giveaway script resizes them out of proportion. I've submitted nice graphics that got mangled... would have been nice if someone had said to make them a specific size.


> Several marketers gave up the gift before getting a confirmed opt-in ( guess thats a judgment call really)

Classic mistake- I always put mine on the confirmation page.


Another real bad one- when people are so eager to get their OTOs in that they forget to include the actual gift!

Or their giveaway link leads to their home page, not an optin form, with no mention of the gift.

Maybe not a true mistake, but annoying to other contributors... when someone feels the need to give a zip of 5000 products, making everyone else look stingy.


Avoid these mistakes and you'll stand out by a mile.

[rockfist]

Hi

Thers only one way to find out and that is to ASK them
Find out what they want from the internet, and once they've
replied you'll know. Of course you have to ask the right question !

rockfist

[Chris Lockwood]

Asking is fine, but imperfect. Giving people what they say they want won't necessarily satisfy them, because we don't always know what we want.

Also, people don't always buy what they say they'll buy, because so many purchases are impulse or emotion-based. Have you ever told yourself you aren't buying any new "whatever", then a week later one comes out and you grab it?