If we know a universal truth, it’s that everybody loves a giveaway. Hands down, promotions can be one of the best ways to build momentum and engage new prospects in your business. Just like any other tool in your business, it's important to maximize your giveaway!

If you’re working with an established business model, you may have access to promotions and special incentives as a representative of the business. But this doesn’t mean you’re limited to only these opportunities!

Seize the moment and offer an incentive that works for you - perhaps in the run-up to an event you’re planning, to leverage a local holiday or celebration, or just because you need to infuse some energy into your business.

Here are six ways you can make sure you’re running the right promo. Get ready to maximize your results!

Crunch The Numbers

Think about what you’re offering up as the promo, giveaway, or incentive. It could be anything from a recurring “free shipping” promo to encourage a new order by someone who’s on the fence, to something large like a new product giveaway.

Whatever you choose, make sure it makes sense for your bottom line. Don’t break the bank to give an elaborate prize, when you’re not bringing in enough to cover your expenses.

Look at what you’re hoping to gain from the contest - how many new prospects might sign up? If the contest requires that participants place an order, look at what your anticipated profit is for each participant, and let that guide your decision on what to use as the award.

...But Take The Long View

In a few situations, it pays off to take a short term loss if you are really confident it will pay off in the long run. If you’re confident you’ll be enrolling some new repeating customers, then take the business mindset. Always have a reason to take a temporary loss.

Consider Your Team

Do you have a team that you work with to sell your product? Make sure they’re empowered by the promotion.Make it easy for them to participate, with graphics, suggested language, and details on how they’ll benefit from encouraging their networks to join the contest.

Also, if you earn a percentage based on your team’s activities, be sure you’re factoring this in when you crunch the numbers!

Make Your Product The Prize

It can be tempting to giveaway all kinds of things -- a gift card, a cute tote bag, a mug for coffee or tea. But this giveaway is about your business -- so it should be about your product. It’s a great opportunity to put your product in more hands, and the winner will automatically have a positive association with your product, just because they won!

Here’s another way it helps to giveaway your product: - it gives you an easy opportunity to follow up! Even if you barely know the person who wins, you’ve got an automatic conversation starter when you call to check in and ask how they’re liking the product! Your giveaway is their gateway to becoming a regular customer.

Connect Like A Champ

Don’t let your giveaway be a standalone event. Make sure you’re advertising your promotion in a way that brings your participants further into your business tribe -- and make the contest require the entrants to engage with you on as many platforms as possible. This might look like asking them to follow you on Facebook, so you can send them an invitation to your next event; subscribing to your newsletter or blog so they’ll get regular communications from you; or tagging friends on Instagram so you’ll catch the attention of even more followers.

Close The Loop

By now, we’ve focused a few times on the importance of the follow up. But it’s never more critical than in the aftermath of a successful promotion, when you’ve met or been connected to a whole range of new prospects.

Think about what your post-giveaway strategy looks like. Do you reach out to all of the entrants, offering them a discount if they want to purchase the winning product? Do you add them to your Traktivity dashboard and start reaching out directly? (Hint: Yes, yes you do.) Think about the follow-up during your planning phase, so you don’t miss out on any of the momentum from your giveaway.