I’ve organized many contests at this blog and try to get good prizes for my contest. A good prize is one which is appealing to the audience and which makes it a successful contest. The best prize you can get is cash, like I did in my latest subscribe and tweet contest, because the winners can use it according to their own discretion, but that doesn’t mean that other prizes are not good.  Prizes should be set, keeping your audience in mind.

I get a lot of questions asking how I am able to get so many awesome sponsors to my contest and so, this article will focus on how you can get great sponsors for your contest.

Prepare a Sales Pitch

Once you have you have come up with a good idea for a contest, you need to prepare a sales pitch. A sales pitch in layman terms, is a small piece of text that lists out the benefits to the sponsors. After all, sponsors are willing to advertise at your contest, if they are able to get something in return.

Preparing a sales pitch is similar to making a good CV (curriculum vitae). You have to focus on the good points. You can list out the benefits like exposure, seo benefits. You can also say that you will market it really hard through social media or advertising. There are plenty of points that you can add and you have to think of some good ones in order to attract those awesome sponsors.

Note : Embellishing your points is not bad, but don’t try to fake anything. Sponsors are not dumb people, they will easily figure it out.

Go Advertiser Hunting

As you have your sales pitch ready, it’s time to do some advertiser hunting and it’s the most fun part. Broadly you can classify advertisers into 3 categories:

1. Product Owners – These advertisers have a product that they have created and they want more exposure on blogs to make more sales.
2. Website Owners – These website owners want to advertise in order to improve the traffic that their website gets. They would be interested in websites of same or similar niches.
3. SEO Hunters -  These are people who are more interested in the seo value they get from the contest in the form of backlinks.

Depending on your contest, you can target a specific category of advertisers or the whole group. You can use the following methods to target advertisers:

Contact Via Website

You can do a little bit search on the websites that would interested in advertising in your niche. The best method is to interact with these advertisers would be via email. You can get access to their email contact via the contact page present on their websites.

Forums

Forums usually have contest sections where webmasters can advertise their contests and also look for advertisers. If advertisers see you thread, they might contact and show interest.

Social media Websites

People who are following you on social media are aware of your social media power and they might be interested in sponsoring your contest. If you ask for sponsorship in social media sites, there are chances that you might get some advertisers.

Take a Glance at Other Contests

A sneaky trick is to approach those people who have already sponsored other contests. Take a look at the sponsors of the contest that have been organized recently and try to contact them. The chance of conversion is good, because most of these advertisers are always on the lookout for good sites to sponsor. You just have to direct them to your website .

Keep the Window Open for Advertisers

Even if your contest has started, don’t close the windows for advertisers. Some advertisers might not be aware of the contest before being launched. But, after the contest, they may show interest in sponsoring it. If you close the doors, you will lose out on some good sponsors.

In totality, the contest can get huge sponsors, only if you have worked hard on getting advertisers for it. It is the only mantra to a rocking contest.

Share Your Experiences

Have you organized a blogging contest? What was your experience with it?