How to Launch a Successful Giveaway with the Canopy Connect QR Code

Are you looking to get even more out of your Canopy Connect QR code? You’ve been posting it on social media and incorporating it on your business cards, but you still want to reach more people. An easy way to do that? A giveaway.

Giveaways are always a good idea—we all love free stuff. They’re a great way to attract new customers, increase brand awareness, and drive engagement. 

Let’s walk through how to use your Canopy Connect QR code to launch a successful giveaway. 

Check out more of our resources on how to get the most out of your Canopy Canopy QR Code.

Canopy Connect QR Code

If you haven’t incorporated your QR code into your insurance agency’s marketing efforts yet, a giveaway is a great way to do so. With our QR code, prospects can scan and easily share their verified insurance information. The Canopy QR code works the same as a link would and offers another option for how people choose to share their information. 

How do you share this code? In your dashboard, under Your Links, you can scroll to the bottom of your link and download the QR code by clicking on it. It'll download as a high-res PNG image. 

From there, you can easily post it across social media, whether it’s posted on Facebook or Instagram stories. People can screenshot or use their phone camera to scan the QR code that takes them to a sign-in page to share their coverage details—allowing you to get a hot lead and give them an unparalleled quote. A link in the post or first comment also helps—chances are they’re already on their phone.

Here’s an example of how that might look: 

How to Plan a Giveaway

Launching a successful giveaway requires careful planning and clearly defined objectives. 

Here's how to get started:

1. Clearly Define Your Target Audience: Identify your ideal customer or target audience and tailor the giveaway to their interests and preferences. This will ensure that your giveaway resonates with the right people and increases the chances of participation and engagement.

2. Set Specific and Measurable Goals: Determine the specific goals you want to achieve with your giveaway. Common objectives include increasing brand awareness, generating leads, driving website traffic, or boosting social media engagement. You know the drill—make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

3. Determine the Budget: Set a budget for your giveaway and set aside resources accordingly. Consider factors such as the cost of the prize, marketing and promotional expenses, and any additional costs associated with running the giveaway.

4. Choose a Timeline: Select a suitable timeline for your giveaway, taking into account factors such as the lead time required to plan and promote the giveaway, the duration of the giveaway period, and the time needed to select and notify the winner. Create a detailed schedule for planning, execution, and follow-up activities.

5. Develop Clear Rules and Guidelines: Establish a clear set of rules and guidelines for participation. This includes specifying eligibility criteria (e.g., age, location, etc.), entry methods (e.g., social media, website form, etc.), and the selection process (e.g., random draw, skill-based competition, etc.). It’s important to note that there should be no purchase necessary as a condition to enter or win the giveaway. Make sure the rules are fair, transparent, and easy to understand.

How to Choose the Giveaway Prize

The key to a successful giveaway is choosing the right prize. It needs to be something people want and that they wouldn’t normally get themselves. Another option to consider is whether you want to do one big prize or a smaller prize for just using the QR code. The limits of the giveaway are up to you. For example, you could offer an exclusive Stanley cup as the main prize or give every unique entry a $10 Starbucks gift card. Either way, make the gift compelling. Remember, you’re asking them to use your Canopy QR code. While the concept is simple, you’d be surprised at how often people feel too lazy to do something as simple as hitting the submit button. 

Relevant to Your Target Audience

The first step is to understand your target audience and what they find valuable. What are their interests? What are their needs? What are their pain points? Once you know this, you can start to brainstorm prizes that appeal to them. 

For example, if you're targeting older men as an audience—maybe offer up a Yeti cooler or a golf voucher. If you're targeting parents, you might offer a prize for a weekend getaway.

Valuable and Appealing

The prize should also be valuable, appealing, or exclusive. This doesn't mean that you have to spend a lot of money, but the prize should be something that people would actually want to win.

For example, a gift card to a local well-loved restaurant is a great prize because it's something that people can use and enjoy. A chance to win a trip to a tropical island is also a great prize because it's something that people dream of. 

Practical and Attainable

The prize should be attainable. This means that you should be able to afford to purchase the prize and that you should be able to ship it to the winner.

For example, if you're a small business, you might not be able to afford to give away a trip to a tropical island. However, you could give away a gift card to a local restaurant or a weekend getaway. Stay within your budget, or the return on interest (ROI) won’t be worth it. 

Logistics of Shipping and Handling

Finally, you need to consider the logistics of shipping and handling the prize. Considering you’re looking for prospects in your local area, you could‌ drop off the prize. The winner could also pick it up at your office, or you could ship it to them. If you’re shipping the item, you’ll need to make sure that the prize is packaged properly so that it doesn't get damaged in transit.

By following these tips, you can choose the right prize for your giveaway and increase your chances of success.

***Pro-tip*** Stay away from offering any sort of alcohol as a giveaway prize. Trying to boost a social post with alcohol mentioned or pictured is nearly impossible with the regulations involved. 

How to Promote Your Giveaway

Social media is a powerful tool that can help you reach a large audience quickly and easily. Create engaging posts about your giveaway and share them across all your social media platforms. Use relevant hashtags and visuals to make your posts more discoverable. You can also run paid social media ads to target a specific audience and increase your reach. Here's a few tips from Charles McDade, of McDade Insurance Brokerage Group, who's used giveaways consistently to bring in more leads to his business.

Email marketing is another simple way to promote your giveaway. Send out an email blast to your existing customers or subscribers and let them know about the giveaway.

Influencer marketing is a great way to reach a new audience and generate excitement about your giveaway. Partner with influencers who are relevant to your target audience and have them promote your giveaway on their social media channels. You get the added benefit of combining your audience with theirs—doubling the reach of your giveaway.

Remember to promote your giveaway across multiple channels to reach the widest possible audience. The more people who know about your giveaway, the more entries you'll receive.

Using the Canopy link in our giveaway entry, our agency broke even 100% of the time during the first week of the contest.
Charles McDade, McDade Insurance Brokerage Group

Where to Host Your Giveaway 

To guarantee the successful execution of your giveaway, careful planning and preparation are essential. Consider creating a dedicated event page specifically for the giveaway. This allows you to provide all relevant information, rules, and guidelines in a centralized location, enhancing the user experience and simplifying participation. Additionally, ensure that the rules and guidelines are clear, concise, and easily understandable to avoid any confusion or disputes.

Selecting a reliable platform to manage the giveaway is crucial. Numerous platforms are available, each offering different features and capabilities. Hosting the giveaway on Instagram or Facebook is a low-effort place to start. Most social platforms allow you to “pin” posts to the top of the page, allowing it to stay visible for the remainder of the giveaway. Even if you’re going the more casual route for the giveaway, everything still needs to be trackable, clear, and fair to those who enter. For instance, if your giveaway only requires someone to leave a comment on a post, you’ll need a fair way to pick the winner. 

One easy way to do that is to use a tool like Wask to choose the winner. If this tool doesn’t work for you, there are many out there. We suggest searching for something like “giveaway winner picker” or “giveaway winner generator”. 

How to Measure Your Giveaway’s Success

Once your giveaway has ended, it's time to assess its success and analyze the results. Begin by evaluating whether you achieved the objectives you set at the outset. Did you reach your target audience? Did the giveaway generate the desired level of engagement and participation? Did you acquire valuable data or insights about your audience?

Analyze the performance of your giveaway across different channels and platforms. Which channels drove the most traffic and participants? Which social media platforms or marketing strategies proved most effective? This information will help you refine your approach for future giveaways and social media marketing.

Use data analytics tools to measure the impact of the giveaway on your business. Look at website traffic and social media engagement to determine whether the giveaway resulted in increased brand awareness, website visits, or lead generation. This data will help you measure the ROI of the giveaway and demonstrate its contribution to your overall marketing strategy.

By reporting on your giveaway, you can deliver more successful campaigns in the future. The giveaway’s benefit shouldn’t end at getting more engagement through a few posts. It should let you know where to find your audience for all future marketing efforts and how to connect with them in ways that make sense. Use the insights gained from this giveaway to refine your target audience and optimize your marketing strategy.