5 events result in leads and brand awareness for advertisers

Matt Coen

Events are powerful for many reasons. They are big revenue drivers, they help you engage your target audience and they generate leads. For vendors and sponsors, events can provide fantastic opportunities for increasing brand awareness and generating qualified leads.

By coupling engagement campaigns and events, you'll be able to create an even more powerful avenue to deliver results for your clients.

Below you'll find five unique examples of where media companies have combined an event with, or created an event from an engagement campaign to deliver fantastic results for their advertisers.

1. Prep Football Fans' Choice Awards Ballot

When Providence Medical Institute opened its brand new facility, the staff was looking for a way to stand out amongst the competition and solidify themselves with the high school athlete community.

The Signal worked with the sponsor to develop a high school football ballot to achieve their goals. The ballot culminated with an event honoring the winners held at the medical institute. The event had great attendance from the winners, their parents, the local football community and the facility staff. This became a phenomenal opportunity for Providence Medical Institute to interact with the local community families and begin new relationships with future patients. Read the full case study here.

2. Hear Clearly Sweepstakes

WPSD-TV worked with a local audiology center that was anxious to find people interested in purchasing hearing aids. The center wanted to host an event to educate potential customers, and WPSD helped it cultivate a list of qualified users to invite.

The station created the "Hear Clearly" Giveaway which offered the prize of a pair of high-end hearing aids. This specific prize ensured people entering the contest would also be interested in the company's products. In addition, WPSD included survey questions asking about the user's interest in hearing aids and if they would be interested in attending an event to learn more – 96 answered yes to attending the event. With the high price point of a hearing aid, these were very valuable leads. Read the full case study here.

3. #OdinMugShot Hashtag Photo Sweepstakes

A local brewery, Odin Brewing Company, had just rebranded and repackaged its drinks. The company was looking for a way to spread awareness about the new creative designs, and KNDD-FM thought it could help.

KNDD worked with Odin Brewing Company to create an Instagram hashtag photo sweepstakes featuring the new can design. To kickoff the contest, the station hosted a viewing party for a big Sunday night football game. At the event, users could snap photos to post to the contest. The event also ran a dinner offer that came with an exclusive mug featuring the new design. The advertiser was thrilled with the results. Read the full case study here.

4. Lake Lanier Islands Dream Wedding

Lake Lanier Islands Resort was looking to double the number of weddings booked from the previous year and teamed up with WSB-FM to help achieve the goal through the Dream Wedding Contest.

The contest had multiple stages of voting and narrowed the field down to three lucky couples who were interviewed on the station's morning show. While the winning couple received a dream wedding, the top 50 couples were invited to an event at Lake Laniers Island Resorts that showcased wedding packages. At least 10 weddings were booked as a direct result of the event. Read the full case study here.

5. Best of Prep's Best Mascot Contest

The Best of Preps contest is a premier event hosted by the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Brown and Brown Insurance, a local business, was looking for increased branding and exposure within the community and hoped that being the exclusive sponsor would help achieve those goals.

Brown and Brown's branding was featured on all promotional materials for the contest including the contest page and print ads. The company also had a table set up at the event to draw in new clients and customers and was frequently announced during the event itself. The event was a huge success and even brought in football superstar Tim Tebow to speak to attendees and those watching at home through a live video stream. Find this and other award-winning advertiser ideas here.

Events present a unique opportunity for you and your advertisers to get involved with the community. Make sure you're leveraging events to achieve goals and drive results that will bring your advertisers back time and time again.

Matt Coen is the president and co-founder of Second Street, a leading provider of private-label online promotions platforms and partner success services for media companies based in St. Louis, Mo. He can be reached at (314) 880-4902 or matt@secondstreet.com.