At a recent trade show we ran a promotion that asked potential contestants to register via their cell phone. In the booth were signs prompting people to text a code to play one of our themed game shows called “Blackjack Bonanza” that offers a chance to win $250,000.

At a given time, a winner was randomly selected from those registered. That person had to be in the area to participate. We only had to select a couple of people before we had one that was present and ready to play. We’d done it before but this is the first time I was on hand to see it live.

I mention this here because the process was suprisingly easy. If you’re running a promotion at a trade show, festival or sporting event, you may want to consider a “virtual draw” using mobile phones. It eliminates the paper and speeds up the process.

One of our mobile marketing partners provided the engine to make this happen. Comment or shoot me an email though the contact page and I’d be happy to pass along the info.

It’s guaranteed that most people leave home with at least these three things: wallet, keys and cell phone. So it makes sense that the mobile platform is becoming the new screen for interactive marketing and promotions. 

Even consumers not hip on texting their every movement can receiving and view a text message on their phone, which opens up endless opportunities for motivating and incentivizing.

In order to include a mega-prize where the risk is covered by an outside firm, you will need to have a secure and auditable mechanic so a prize result can be determined.

Below are a few ideas for adding a big prize — or lots of small prizes — to your next mobile marketing campaign. Either way, a promotional risk coverage will keep the prize costs fixed.

Instant Win – Crack The Code Number Match

Consumers text a sponsor-specific keyword and receive back an invitation to play “Crack the Code.”

• Once the invitation is received, consumers send another text message with their guess for the winning combination.
• If the guess matches the winning combination, the prize vault opens and the winners are sent instructions on how to claim their prize.

Retail Traffic Builder

Send a test message and drive consumers into retail locations to check the winning number.

• Consumers send a text message and receive a unique code on their mobile phone. They bring their phone to the retail location to see if they are a winner
• If the code matches posted winning code(s), then the consumer wins the Grand Prize.

Online Traffic Builder

Consumers text a promotional code to a specified number. The reply text instructs consumers to go online to play a game or sweepstakes.

KAPP TV, Yakima, WA. offered a chance at $25,000 instantly and a guaranteed free TV every day for 15 days. The promotion increased viewership of the morning newscast, since that was the only place you could get  the daily keyword to play.

Through a product trade for airtime coordinated by Incentives Plus Network, LG provided the guaranteed HDTV’s, which were awarded daily during the evening news broadcast.

Contestants entered a keyword passphrase on a PrizeCode, which was linked off  the station’s website. View a demo:

http://kappkvew.prizecode.com
Enter: PREVIEWvote

Incentive Plus Network manages trade outs between brands and media properties. This may be a good option for some media clients wanting a secondary prize option without additional cost. For more information contact Pat Pattison at 626-429-3296.

A few additional spins . . .

• Set passphrase for use only at specified periods
• Associate specific passphrases to sponsors, and display their content
• Add a viral component. The automatic “thank you for playing” email could include an additional chance to play for each friend that plays.

What’s the fastest, easiest way to reach thousands of prospects and customers instantly for free? Besides email, it’s Twitter. Twitter is fast becoming a staple in marketing tool kits. Companies using it effectively are driving more traffic to their websites, building followers and reducing marketing clutter (and cost!).

Listeners, customers, prospects, clients – they subscribe to your Twitter feed – and become “followers” of your message. You “tweet” short messages and your subscribers get them instantly via their computer or mobile phone.

Imagine driving immediate traffic with a simple tweet! It pays to build a Twitter following.

Give your audience a reason to follow you immediately by offering a chance at a big prize. Use PrizeCode to deliver an instant chance to win $10,000, $25,000, $50,000 or more.

Here are a few simple ways to add big prizes to your promotions, increase your Twitter following and generate immediate traffic.

• Randomly select a follower each day, week or month to receive a chance to win.
• Preselect a follower for their Birthday Tweet – If their birthday matches the preselected birthday they win! For example match the month wins $100; match the month & day wins $1000; match the month day and year wins $100,000!
• Schedule big-prize promotions at your location, and invite people exclusively through Twitter to come into your location and play. For example: Create a special “Money Bags Game Show” that offers one follower the chance to play for big money at your retail location.

Because Twitter is such an easy way to communicate, it’s also a perfect tool for leveraging a sponsorship. For example you could conduct a score prediction contest where fans tweet their score picks. One lucky fan closest to the correct score is selected to play for the big money.

Building your Twitter following — and using Twitter to connect with your target audience — is a key marketing strategy today. Putting big prizes to work to build your Twitter following quickly can help drive more traffic and increase sales far into the future.

Dallas Radio Station 99.5 The Wolf offers up the big money in a first ever $1 million Twitter Song of the Day contest. Through September 4

To qualify, listeners tune in to The Wolf between 8/31/09 and 9/4/09 and listen for the Twitter Song of the Day.  After registering on Twitter and following The Wolf at http://twitter.com/995theWolfDFW, listeners must tweet the appropriate response after hearing the daily Song of the Day.

Each day, The Wolf awards concert tickets to ten contestants.  At the end of the Song of the Day contest, one grand prize finalist is selected to play for $1 million.  To become an instant millionaire, the grand prize finalist must correctly predict the final score of the Dallas – New York football game on September 20. Here’s the promo spot:

Got a big idea but no budget?

Promotional Risk Coverage enables businesses to stretch their promotional dollars by offering a chance-to-win prize vs. a guaranteed prize. Promotional Risk Coverage can also be used to protect businesses from going over budget should a promotion exceed redemption expectations. It’s done by calculating the odds of a contingency prize being awarded or predicting the rate of redemption on a given promotion and then placing the risk with an A+ insurance company.

By incorporating promotional risk coverage, businesses pay a fixed cost for their promotion that often amounts to a fraction of the actual prize value being offered. And should the prize be won or over-redemption occur, the promotional risk coverage kicks in to cover the cost – whatever the value of the prize, rebate, coupon or premium.

With promotional risk coverage, your business can plan promotional expenses to the penny, eliminate budget overruns for higher than expected responses, and stretch promotional dollars for the maximum market impact. Regardless of the size of your budget, Promotional Risk Coverage will make your impact BIGGER.