Here is a list of our current affiliate partners and how we earn money
These DTC contest ideas will help your D2C brand to profit from social media’s unlimited reach. Personalization is built into the Direct-To-Consumer (DTC or D2C) model which relies on consumer data for actionable insights. With a social media contest, you’ll be able to leverage the zero-party data to build customer loyalty.
DTC Brands Benefit From Sweepstakes and Contests
According to a Yotpo study, 61% of DTC brands report that social media is their top acquisition channel. Furthermore, 63% of D2C brands get equal or greater ROI from referrals than from digital ads, which further supports the marketing case for running a contest or sweepstakes. With direct-to-consumer sales accounting for over $110 billion in sales as of 2020, with the market expected to grow to $174 billion by 2023, DTC brands can profit even more with sweepstakes and contests.
10 DTC Contest Ideas Proven to Boost Social Engagement for D2C Brands
Want to save this article and read it later? Click the button below to Download this post in PDF format. Please allow some time for the file to generate.
Proven D2C Contest Ideas
To help you get started, read on to learn about 10 proven DTC contest ideas and prize ideas that will help you boost social media engagement for your D2C brand.
Article Contents
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- What are some DTC prize ideas?
- What is a good D2C contest prize?
- What makes for a good DTC contest idea?
via GIPHY
D2C Contest Ideas: Proven to Deliver High ROI for DTC Brands
D2C ecommerce is the top business for running social media contests. Not only do your products make great prize ideas, your target audience is already active on social media.
What Is a DTC Brand?
A DTC brand controls all aspects of the selling experience, from the manufacturing of the product to marketing and selling it directly to their target audience. A few examples of DTC brands include Harry’s, Burrow, Glossier, ThirdLove, Dollar Shave Club, Pelaton.
Are DTC Brands Successful?
These are the types of DTC brands that are successful. DTC brands may:
- Sell their products via an ecommerce website or app
- Sell on marketplaces like eBay and Amazon
- Have permanent brick-and-mortar locations or pop-up shops
- Rely on brand partnerships with established retailers
All of these DTC models allow you to leverage sweepstakes and contests. Although, in the case of a brand partnership, you may need to work with the brand as co-Sponsors of the sweepstakes or contest promotion. The net result is that contests help you attract a new audience, increase sales, and gain exposure.
Traditional CPG Retailers Are Acquiring DTC Brands
DTC brands are also trending among traditional CPG retailers. This means that CPG brands who already run sweepstakes and contests will likely jump on the giveaway trend for their D2C brands as well. With subscription-based services being a feature of many DTC brands, contests and sweepstakes are a proven customer retention strategy that they can leverage.
Subscribe Now:
via GIPHY
DTC Contest Ideas: Choose These Prize Ideas for Success
Sweepstakes and contests are the best way to grow your customer base for your D2C brand, and the right contest ideas can dramatically affect how many participants you attract and the ROI of your contest promotion.
What is the secret to DTC contest success? The right D2C prize ideas are why the contest ideas that are proven to generate ROI actually work. These prize ideas and D2C contest ideas generally have the following features:
- Personalization: Hyper-targeted to the DTC brand’s audience
- Consumer-centric: Practical, valuable or useful to consumers
- Appeal to repeat customers: Attracts your most loyal fans and builds your D2C customer loyalty program
- Creates branded, high-quality UGC: Allows your brand to leverage social media in unique ways
Notice all of the above features of these contest ideas and prize ideas for DTC brands are focused on what customers want from your brand. Create the customer experience they expect from a D2C contest from your brand for best results.
via GIPHY
D2C Contest Ideas: Proven Social Media Contest Examples
A contest company can help you brainstorm DTC contest ideas and prize ideas for your promotion with you one-on-one. In the meantime, here are some examples of D2C contest ideas that are proven to deliver high ROI:
1. Holiday DTC Contests
The D2C contest ideas for holiday promotions are virtually endless, given that you can create holiday contests around seasons, popular events, and even retail holidays.
Free Advertisement Maker with Templates
Canva lets you create eye-catching advertisements with their free ad maker. Customize your sweepstakes, contest, or raffle ads with trending images, fonts, and high quality design assets.
ADVERTISEMENT
Prize ideas for holiday contests include vacations, gift cards, large cash prizes, and holiday season help.
2. Shopping Spree Contest
Give your fans a change to win a gift card for your DTC brand. On your contest entry page, show participants exact what your prize can buy from your brand (rather than the image of the gift card).
Prize ideas include a gift card or cash prize. Make sure that your gift card prize is the right amount so that a contest winner can get an item for $0.00 or receive at least a month’s worth of free product or service through their subscription.
3. Co-Sponsor Contest Ideas
If you are doing a brand partnership, co-sponsoring a contest could help make your contest ideas easier to execute. If you are working with a larger brand or a brand with a different audience, then you can work together on a contest promotion.
Prize ideas for a contest featuring a brand collaboration include exclusive collaborative merch, access to a luxury product or service that is normally not available except through the partnership, or a unique in-person customer experience to celebrate the partnership (such as an event at pop-up shop).
via GIPHY
4. Season Themed Contests
If your product or service comes to mind as the seasons change, a season-themed contest idea could help you attract more participants. Give away the product or service for free that they would typically come to buy from you at that time of the year to a lucky winner. You can also use this type of contest to introduce seasonal marketing for your brand to get customers excited about seasonal products you offer.
Prize ideas for a season theme D2C contest include a summer-themed vacation, spring cleaning services, pre-winter necessities contest with your product as the prize.
5. Bundle D2C Contest
Give your fans a chance to win a bundle prize that includes products from both you and the co-sponsor of the sweepstakes. Or simple give away multiple products from your brand in a bundle as a prize.
Bundle prize ideas include gift baskets, swag box featuring branded merch, or a mystery box featuring two co-sponsors products. This prizing strategy improves the chance that someone will be interested in at least one of the products that is being given away as a prize.
6. DTC Contest Ideas: Partner With a Local Business
Partnering with a local business for your DTC contest idea is a great way to show that your brand is established and isn’t just an “Instagram brand.” By partnering with a local business, you can reach customers in a specific area.
Prize ideas including partnering with a salon or barbershop to give a contest winner a makeover, a romantic getaway to a local spa or resort or a tailgating party catered by a local BBQ restaurant.
7. DTC Contest Ideas: Improve Brand Reputation Through Value
These DTC contest ideas are all about reinforcing the value that your D2C brand adds to consumers lives. Satisfy them with practical and useful contest ideas such as win a beach body contest to help the contest lose weight before their wedding, free training or support for 1 year for your product or service contest, free shipping for a year contest.
Prize ideas are giving away your product or service for free or giving access to a discounted version of it.
8. Photography Contest Ideas for DTC Branded UGC
Photography contest ideas are perfect for D2C brands because they allow your audience to see what your product or service looks like in real-life instead of just on your website or in your own marketing. Photo DTC contest ideas include offering a wedding package to a contest winner couple, ask customers to show how they use your DTC product or service in their daily lives with photo contests entries or photo contest where your fans share why they should win with an image. The possibilities are endless for photo contest ideas that you can use to ask your fans to create UGC for your brand.
Prize ideas for photo contests, include a professional photo shoot, a makeover, a home renovation, a year’s supply of your product, a 1-year membership for free, a vacation, a gift card or a new car.
9. Be Prepared DTC Contest Ideas
If your DTC brand involves helping consumers improve their lives through better safety or preparation, consider running DTC contest ideas related to being prepared. Some examples of preparedness DTC contest ideas include getting ready for the winter, road/trip travel help, have participants share how they stay safe online or offline in a specific situation. These contest ideas should be positioned to represent your D2C brand as the solution or the authority brand that is there to help protect them.
Prize ideas for D2C brands include free vehicle servicing, free vehicle winterizing, free vehicle rental, a preppers food pantry kit, a camping or hiking essentials prize pack or free rewards program points.
10. Follow to Win DTC Contest Ideas
DTC brands that rely on trends to make sales can benefit from follow to win contest ideas. These contest ideas involve following your brand and sharing your contest for a chance to win. Having your fans engage with your social media contest in exchange for additional entries drives social engagement and attracts participants.
Prize ideas for follow-to-win contests include limited edition products, a gift card or branded merch. In fact, Funko, the pop culture collectibles company, managed to generate a huge social media following for its D2C site by giving away an Obi-Wan Kenobi™ toy in exchange for following the brand. By including a direct-to-purchase Amazon link, the brand was able to generate instant sales from its contest campaign.
via GIPHY
DTC Contest Ideas: Keep Customers Coming Back for More
The best DTC contest ideas keep your customers coming back for more. That is how you create customer loyalty and a steady stream of sales as customers remain subscribed each month. Work with a sweepstakes or contest company to design your D2C brand contest to ensure that customers get a valuable experience every time, even if they don’t win.
Above all, make sure that your brand provides all of the other aspects that people expect from the DTC customer experience, including immediate support, personalized emails, and exciting unboxing experiences that make your brand stand out as an Instagram brand.
🔥 Boost Sales and Social Engagement With DTC Contest Ideas
As DTC becomes a larger part of the retail ecosystem, more DTC brands will be looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. Sweepstakes and contest marketing provides the solution by delivering unique, seamless customer experiences that build customer loyalty.
Read these articles to learn more about ecommerce contests and sweepstakes:
🌞 Best Hashtags to Use for Sweepstakes or Contests in 2022
🌞 Contest Marketing: What Is It and How Does It Improve Brand Awareness?
🌞 How to Design a Viral Video Contest for Social Media
🌞 How to Create a Contest That Grows Your Email List
Looking for a sweepstakes company to help you with your next promotion? Sweepsify helps you find top sweepstakes and contest companies in seconds. Create your free Premium account now to get started.
