You may not love sauerkraut (we certainly ate our share Memorial Day weekend at Madison’s Brat Fest, on top of the 200,000 bratwurst served).  But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a promotional tip from the contest being sponsored by Frank’s Sauerkraut, inviting its customers to submit photos of themselves to be put on the label of their Sweet Sauerkraut.

Customers enter the contest by submitting a digital photo, together with a short sentence describing what they are doing in the picture. (It as to involve sauerkraut, I assume).  The folks at Frank’s use the digital photo sharing web site Flickr for the uploading of customer entries, which is quite clever, and they have a slideshow on their web site showing the entries to date. Take a look at Frank’s web site to see how they handle the rules, FAQs, and other details.

Chances are good that your store doesn’t even sell sauerkraut — but think of the possibilities for getting your customers involved by sponsoring a photo contest of your own. You could use the old “picture yourself” concept  in which shoppers take a photo of themselves in an exotic locale holding a logo bag from your store.  Posting these on a bulletin board in the store always attracts a lot of interest, and makes a clear statement about the wide reach of your store’s reputation.

Or you could do a contest specifically targeting a line of merchandise that you sell, for example the creative use of Design Idea’s Gel Gems in customers’ homes.  You could hold a cooking contest this way, asking shoppers to submit photos of cupcakes or cakes using the bakeware that you sell.  You could host a “cutest baby” contest at Halloween featuring infant costumes from your store.

The advantage of any contest, as we’ve discovered over the years, is that it gets customers involved, and makes them feel a bond with the store that doesn’t come from a simple sales transaction. And with the advent of social media, a contest gives you lots of material to post about.   You will notice that Frank’s Sauerkraut invites fans to join their Facebook page (and even to become members of Frank’s Sauerkraut Club — you can just imagine what goes on at their meetings!). 

You need not even offer a large prize in order to hold a contest. (Frank’s doesn’t even offer to mail you a can of kraut with your picture on it, so you have to go buy it in your local store.) Customers enjoy being winners, and seeing their name and work in print, even if it’s just online and on a sign in your shop.  You can be sure they’ll bring their friends and family in to see it too, which results in more store traffic and a very low cost. 

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder