On episode of Inbox Besties (24) we chatted with the amazing Maria Saracen host the Coaches’ Toolkit Giveaway.

Maria is a  health coach turn business coach who was looking for fast, fun and easier way to flood her email list with qualified email subscribers. Email subscribers who were actually interested in her products and services. And the Coaches’ Tool Kit Giveaway was born.

After this post (or podcast if you listen) you’ll…

• Know what makes Maria’s style of giveaway so special
• How you can use it grow your list
• How much time it takes to pull this all together
• The tech and tools you need
• How to find find top-notch contributors for your giveaway
• How to promote your giveaway and more.

Now we’re covering ALOT today but we’re only really scratching the surface. If you’re really interested in growing your email list quickly and for free you must download Marie’s free Giveaway Masterclass + Checklist. It’s solid gold. 

 

How To Run A Premium Giveaway Experience To Rapidly Grow Your List

? Listen on: Itunes // Google Play // Stitcher // Spotify 

What is a premium list building giveaway experience? Is different then an a raffle? 

Raffling style giveaways (like we talked about here) –  Have a bunch of prizes (usually paid items)  that only 1 person wins.

A Premium-style giveaways are more like a free gift mall.  People give their email addresses to the giveaway host in exchange for the password to the free gift mall.  Then people can pick and choose which amazing free gifts they want by clicking a button that redirect them to landing page (provided by the contributors) where people  can opt-in for that free gift.

Maria’s free gift that will explain everything to you a better >> http://mariasaracen.com/besties/

How to run a premium list building giveaway

Step 1: Nail down the basics

Come up with the “hook” (what makes your giveaway special),  the target audience & it’s name

The target audience being the most important. Remember contributors aren’t going to waste their time if they are’t getting access to people who would actually buy their products.  The more targeted you could get the better!

Set Your Dates

Maria says to start planning about two months out. This way it give plenty of time for contributors to make room in their promotional calendars. And you plenty of time to pull it together.  So pick 5-7 days the freebie mall will be open, create deadlines for contributors as well.

Buy the Url for your Giveaway

While you don’t have to, buying a brand url will go a long way to making your giveaway look legit. You can get them hella cheap from Namecheap.com

Next figure out how many people you want contributing

Maria says to 15-20 contributors who would offer a variety of free gifts you don’t want 3 people all giving away bullet journal tutorials or facebook ads stuff. Since she’s a seasoned giveaway runner (and her contributors get amazing results) Maria only reaches out to about 25 people. However if this is your first time and you’ve never done this before you might want to reach out to 40 to end up with 20.

For the giveaway I plan to run, I have a list of categories and topic my target audience (Probloggers & Soulprenuers) care about.  I’ve been plug in friends and dream collaborators under each category as I think of them.

Decide up with your collaborators requirements

Maria only has collaborators agree to send 2 solo emails about the giveaway. You might want people to email 3 times, and post on social. It’s up to you.

Consider upgrading your host during the actual giveaway (optional)

Well you definitely don’t need to upgrade your hosting right now – You might want to check with your current host provider to see if it will be able to handle the traffic that your giveaway can potentially generate. You might want to see if you can upgrade your service for month. But know, not all hosting services will do this.

Step 2: Branding &  Finding Contributors 

Once you’ve got all the basics down, it’s for the real action to start. To make your life easier I’d grab the checklist Maria has for you then create a Trello Board to keep track of all your moving parts  & to dos.

Create the branding & logo for your giveaway

You guys I know don’t think logos really matter however, if you’re looking to nail down some big time contributors, have a logo specially for your event will go a long way.  You don’t need to create any social media graphics yet.  Just the logo.

Creating a Contributors Invitation Page + Home Page for Your Giveaway

If we want contributors to offer amazing free gifts – we need to look high-end.  This is where creating a  a special contributor invitation page with all the details about your giveaway comes in. (They also work great for summits).  Be sure to include:

• Who this giveaway is targeting
• How / why it will benefit contributors to gift a free gift
• When the giveaway will run
• “Gift requirements”
• Contributor requirements
• Timelines + info dates

Start Officially Reaching Out To Contributors 

Armed with your sweet contributor invite page and summary of the event start emailing people! I say start with your friends first, then work up to “Big Time” people. Give track of everyone in your Trello Board.

Step 3: Organizing Contributors + Prepping Your Giveaway Site + Promotional Materials

Create an Airtable Base For Contributors to submit everything to you

By having everyone submit the necessary stuff  on an Airtable form, you avoid alot of back and forth in the email.  Lanie explains how you can do this here. 

Create swipe files & promo graphics for your contributors

Include pins, square images, social media take and tweek posts, and email copy

Build your “free gift” mall page

Remind people the faster they get stuff back to your the higher they’ll be on the freebie mall page (which is always good).

Set up your email back end

People have to subscribe to your list in order to get the password for the mall. So create a special list for it in your email service provider or start up a new account just for giveaway password people. (Automatically add anyone who signs up for yoru free gift in the freebie mall to your normal list) 

Step 4: Pre-launch Promotion 

Create a VIP waitlist for your giveaway

This will give you somewhere to point people in all your prelaunch social media posts.  Ask contributors to start sharing about the VIP list too.

Develop your “post giveaway” email nurture plan

This should have been in step 1 really. But you need to know what are you going to do with all these new people. I’d create a special funnel or welcome just for new giveaway subscribers you get. The Email Marketing Fairy Template Set will make this super easy.

Step 5: Open the doors

Technically all you need to is change a couple of word on the homepage for your giveaway is open

Make sure contributors are emailing their lists!

Monitor the traffic and make sure the site is working well!

 

There you have it 5 step process for running your very own premium list building giveaway.

 Be sure to download Maria’s free giveaway workshop + checklist   for even more juicy details about running these amazing giveaways