Fall officially arrives this Saturday, September 22. Whether you have an upcoming trade show, want to host a social media contest, or long to do something fun at your location, there are a lot of ways to build your business contests around the autumn season.
Fall In Love With These Autumn-Themed Business Contests
Photo Caption Contest:
Social media photo contests are a great, fun way to engage your customers, but everyone always asks their customers to post a photo. Instead, take silly photos around your business and ask people to caption them.
Use traditional fall things like pumpkins, scarecrows, bats, ghosts….whatever you like in the photos. The winner gets to come to the business for a special prize.
Swag Trick or Treat:
Forget candy. It’s time for something that will last longer than five minutes. Host a “Trick or Swag” for any trade shows you are attending in the fall. You could ask fall-themed trivia questions, or play a true or false game about your business. If participants get a certain number correct, you can let them choose some swag as a prize or pull from a bag or bowl of swag treats.
And if they don’t answer correctly….well then I guess they get the “trick” instead!
Community Can Drive:
Fall is also a time to be thankful and give back to the community. Host a can drive for a local food bank. This is a great business contest for your employees – each department can form a team and the team that donates the most wins. You can also ask your customers to donate for a percentage off their sale. It is a great way to engage your customers and help out your community. Everyone feels good about a business giving back.
Host a Fall-Themed Bake Off:
Another great contest for your employees is a food contest or tasting. Pumpkin or chili comes to mind but you could also have a dip contest or tailgating recipe contest. If you have a lot of traffic to your business, let your customers vote on the most delicious item in each category. If your business doesn’t have customers coming in, let the employees (or vendors who come by frequently) vote.
For added fun, take pictures of the dishes and post them to Instagram or Facebook and select a social media winner as well. In addition to a special prize for the winner, give them bragging rights with some swag like a nametag that boasts their accomplishments.
Partner with Traditional Fall Businesses:
Pumpkin patches, haunted houses, apple orchards, and corn mazes – there is just so much to do in the fall. And you can run a contest with all those businesses! Provide your customers with a calendar card of different sorts of fall activities close by. Each time they visit one, they get a special stamp at that place–a Passport to Fall Fun. Then, based on how many stamps they collect, they receive a percentage off at your business It’s a great way to encourage people to explore different venues in town, and bring people back to your business.
Host a Costume Contest:
Chipotle has done a great job bringing people in the door on Halloween with their “dress as a burrito, get a burrito” marketing. Chick-fil-a has their cow days where if you wear anything cow related you get a free menu item. These types of business contests are wildly successful and spread rapidly on social media.
You can do the same thing!
Depending on your business, you can either host a contest where the person who best embodies your business in a costume wins, or you can center it around your town and ask people to dress up in a costume that best describes your area. Either way, ask people to get creative!
Then, post the photos from the contest on social media and ask people to vote by liking the picture they think should win. Or, host it in-person with an entire Halloween-themed party, and announce the winners of the contest at the end of the night.
Not sure if your audience will get dressed up? Host a kids or pets in costume contest instead.
Fall is the perfect time for business contests. It’s a favorite time among many with decent temps and lots to do. Encourage people to get out and support their local community.
Business contests are a fun way to engage your customers, and swag definitely makes an easy and great marketing prize for all the winners!
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