Direct advertising involves promoting a product or service head-on to potential customers through various channels like TV, radio, print, or online platforms. While it can work, it often costs a lot and might not always give the results you want.
Another alternative to these advertising methods is giveaways.
They can get people excited about your brand and make more people aware of it. Giveaways can be a cheaper way to reach lots of people compared to regular advertising.
The good news is you can conduct giveaways using UpViral. Jon Cianciullo of Beauty Ritual was able to collect over 16,000 leads in his UpViral account.
And he did so in a way without overcomplicating things and just keeping it simple.
See the screenshot below:
For every campaign, Jon was able to get approximately 2,500 leads and generate $20,000. Interested in how Jon did it? You can watch the interview or keep on reading to learn more!
Who is Jon Cianciullo and Why Did They Choose Upviral?
Jon Cianciullo is the co-founder of a Canadian-based business called Beauty Ritual. He’s in charge of business development and digital marketing.
Jon and his wife started the business during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a means to pivot their brick-and-mortar day spa. They took their in-spa product offerings and put them online.
However, in Canada, the skincare market is fiercely competitive. Despite the stiff competition, they managed to grow their business and generate over six figures per month within just four or five months.
The key to their success is the effort they put into digital marketing and lead generation. They chose UpViral to boost their lead generation efforts and generate more sales.
Before that, they were already familiar with running giveaway campaigns and contests and would do so a few times. But when they utilized UpViral, they discovered how giveaway campaigns would become a huge part of their lead capture strategy.
They realized that they could generate high-value leads at a low cost that’s not direct marketing.
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Giveaway Campaigns: A Complementary Strategy to Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is effective, but not everyone responds well to it.
This is where UpViral campaigns come in — they’re fun, engaging, and can help you target people who wouldn't necessarily respond to a straightforward 'buy now' ad.
In a giveaway campaign, you build a connection with potential customers and let them learn about your brand, product, and values. Later on, even after the campaign ends, they may decide to purchase because of the relationship you've built with them! 🫱🏻🫲🏼
Results of the Campaign
Beauty Ritual achieves approximately 2,500 leads per campaign. When using UpViral, they estimate $8 worth for every lead they get, which is amazing. That means every campaign generates about $20,000!
The Giveaway Prize
Jon experimented when it came to choosing prizes for the giveaways. This allowed him to find the sweet spot for his audience.
In the beginning, they offered a collection of products that they sold in their shop. But soon realized that it was not the best choice considering their target audience.
So now, they offer two to four prizes. They felt that this increased the chances of winning and encouraged more people to enter the giveaway.
While Beauty Ritual stocks many products, they intentionally chose products with a high perceived value that aren't commonly purchased. These are products that people generally desire but often don't purchase. This way, they’re giving a chance for people to win products that they would not have tried.
For this particular giveaway, Beauty Ritual gave away two prizes — skincare boxes with $300+ worth of products
The Landing Page
On Beauty Ritual’s landing page, you might notice the small note saying “25x Chances To Win.” This means that there are different tasks participants can do that can increase their chances of winning by up to 25 times.
Another interesting thing to note is that all participants got a bonus prize just for signing up. Beauty Ritual gave away a $15 discount to people who joined the giveaway.
This encouraged people who were interested in buying their products to join the giveaway. This answers their 2nd goal for the giveaway — to generate more sales during the campaign!
🤓Related article: 10 Elements That Your Landing Page Should Have
The Share Page
When people share a giveaway, more people get to know about it. This sharing helps the campaign reach a bigger audience, which means more people might enter.
As you can observe, each task below corresponds to a set amount of points. The more points a participant earns, the greater their chances to win.
Jon assigned more points to sharing on Facebook because that is the most important task for them. Facebook is where they get a lot of traction for their business.
However, aside from sharing the campaign on social media, Beauty Ritual also listed down tasks that are focused on rating.
Participants can rate the business on Google, Trustpilot, or Facebook. What this does is generate a positive reputation for Beauty Ritual across different platforms.
On the share page, you will also see the unique invite link. Participants are encouraged to share the giveaway because every friend referred is equal to five additional chances to win.
What Is The Secret To Beauty Ritual’s Success with Using UpViral?
Achieving 2,500 leads every campaign is no easy feat. But simplicity has helped them reach their goals.
Jon kept the landing page design, the prize, the giveaway mechanics, and the lead form simple. This made the giveaway easy to understand and lessened the requirement to enter. Participants were just asked to provide their email, nothing more!
This encourages more people to sign up for the giveaway.
How Jon Maintained Engagement Throughout His Campaign
In shorter campaigns that only last 1-2 weeks, it's easier to keep people interested because they just signed up, they're excited, and they share a lot until the winner is announced.
However, in longer campaigns spanning a month, there's a possibility that people could lose interest or forget they signed up since they have to wait a longer time for the winner to be announced.
Jon’s secret is to boost his communication efforts and engage the participants throughout the giveaway duration.
In the beginning, they'll get reminders to thank them for signing up and to suggest tasks to help them win. As the end of the campaign nears, participants are reminded that time is running out, to finish any remaining tasks and refer more friends.
This is a great strategy because the emails create a sense of urgency that gets people to take action.
🤓Learn more: Email Engagement Tips to Keep People Hooked on Your Contest
Announcing The Winner
Just like the giveaway, Jon kept the announcement very simple — through email. All participants got an email, but what’s notable is they also get an additional special discount code that’s only available for 72 hours.
The reason behind it? To get more people to convert!
This strategy is very effective because the announcement email generally tends to have a high open rate. The addition of the limited-time discount code also creates a sense of urgency to get more people to convert.
Promoting The Giveaway
When it comes to promoting the giveaway, Jon kept it simple. They seed their giveaway with their marketing list and encourage engagement by giving an awesome incentive — a discount code for just signing up!
Other than that, Jon also used Facebook and Instagram advertisements to promote the campaign.
Moreover, Jon also used the same creative assets for their advertisements, landing pages, and emails to keep everything simple. They used straight-to-the-point copy and provided all the necessary details without the frills.
Consistency in promotions is very important. Using the same images and copy across all your marketing initiatives – like ads, websites, and emails – helps keep things consistent.
When people see the same stuff everywhere, they feel more comfortable and understand what you're offering.
For Facebook advertisements, Jon spends between $500 to $1,000 for every campaign, which is a great deal because they earn around $20,000. They also do Instagram advertisements and social media posts, and have a pop-up on their website as shown below:
This strategy maximized traffic conversion by prompting visitors to the website to sign up for the giveaway.
Jon’s Lessons and Key Takeaways
After conducting giveaways for a while, Jon has plenty of learnings that he can share with you:
You don’t have to overcomplicate things
Jon learned that setting up a giveaway doesn't have to be complicated. Initially, they found it challenging to manage different design assets and copywriting. However, they discovered that simplicity works just as well.
By keeping things simple – from design, prizes, and mechanics – they can still achieve fantastic results.
Giveaways don’t have to be a one-time thing
Jon also realized that giveaways don't have to be an occasional event. Instead, they can form a consistent part of your brand's lead generation strategy throughout the year.
For example, in their case, they find running a giveaway every two months to be most effective. They've discovered that running these initiatives continuously leads to a steady stream of inexpensive leads, resulting in high returns.
This realization came as a surprise initially—they hadn't realized that this strategy could be ongoing and serve as a cornerstone of their marketing efforts.
Have more than one goal for the giveaway
While lead generation is the primary goal for most brands, including Jon’s, they've also identified a secondary goal: making sales during the contest period. This realization came later on, but now they offer discounts for sign-ups and encourage purchases throughout the campaign.
🤓Learn more: Running a Contest Will Help You Reach These 8 Marketing Goals
Final Thoughts
In this case study, we have learned the importance of simplicity, consistency, and having more than one goal. Jon showed that it’s possible to generate inexpensive leads in a fun and engaging way, without having to directly advertise your product.
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With UpViral, you can keep your lead generation efforts simple and affordable. Having this tool allowed Jon to discover that he can use giveaways regularly to get more leads while also increasing sales!
If you also want to achieve the same results as Jon of Beauty Ritual, you can get started with UpViral today!
