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Contests are a fun and inexpensive way to build buzz for your business.  Everyone loves to win free stuff!  The media loves contests too, and if you do it right, your company can garner thousands of dollars in free publicity just by running a contest!

Secondly, everyone who enters the contest become a prospect for your business!  Make sure you send contestants to your website where they must submit at least a name and email address to enter.    In your rules, make sure you state that by entering, they are agreeing to receive email communication from your company.

The keys to running a successful contest are to make it easy for people to enter, make it newsworthy, have valuable prizes, (you can enlist other business owners to go in with you), spread the word, and make it fun!  And don’t forget to check the laws in your state before running a contest.

Here are 13 creative contest ideas that will build buzz for your business and help you get noticed by prospective customers and the media alike!

1. Ugliest Contest. This is one of my favorites and can be successful for a variety of businesses:    Have contestants submit photos or videos of their ugliest “blank” to win your product or service.  For 21 years the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest has been sponsored by the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California.
2. Makeover Contest: Makeovers are very popular and they can be used in a variety of situations.  Utah’s LogoWorks sponsored a contest like this for business owners to get a total logo makeover and gained tons of media exposure!
3. Top 100 Contest: StartupNation runs the annual Homebased 100 Competition celebrating America’s outstanding home-based businesses and the people behind them.  If 100 is too many, start with the “Top 10.”
4. Mother’s Day Contest: Enter a deserving mother or grandmother to win the prize of her dreams.  The possibilities are endless: vacation, family photo shoot, gift baskets, jewelry, home makeover, Queen for a Day, etc.
5. Man or Woman of the Year. You will see this award sponsored by a Chamber of Commerce, but who says you can’t run your own?  You get to name the criteria for winning.  Makes a person wonder who you are and gets attention!
6. Win a “Free” Giveaway: Everyone loves to get free stuff, so why not sponsor a contest so they can.  This is one you see all the time…  For example, the NBC show “Heroes”sponsored a NBC Heroes’ Nissan Mobile Device Giveaway Sweepstakes for a chance to win a car valued at over $16,000!
7. “Best of” Contest: AZ Central is running the "Reader's Choice, Best Of AZ Contest" and has been doing this for years for the simple fact, it works!  Why do they do it?  Because some of the “winners” buy advertising with them!  This type of contest works great if you own a publication, or are an advertising or marketing company, but just about any company can do it.
8. Food Eating Contests: I’m not a big fan of making a pig out of myself, but some people make a hobby out of entering food eating contests!.   Did you know that Nathans Famous Hot Dogs has been running their world famous contest for over 93 years? Check out Gilbert, Arizona's Flancer's Restaurant's Annual Pizza Eating Contest!
9. Mud Mania Contest: Scottsdale, AZ, has been the host of the mud mania contest every year since 1976.  The original event was a promotion by a cleaning company to feature their cleaning product!   Obviously it worked!
10. Cooking Contest: This could be run in conjunction with a special month such as “National Hotdog Month, or to specifically feature your brand or product such as the Pillsbury Bakeoff which has been a successful event for Pillsbury brand for over 40 years!
11. “Design Your Own” Contest: Threadless Tees, has been hugely successful by encouraging people to create their own designs and have the public vote on them.
12. “Hottest” Contest: Scottsdale Jean Company, in Scottsdale, AZ, recently sponsored the “Hottest Mom” contest.  The winner would represent the company in advertising for a year.  This contest, which was very controversial, garnered them lots of mentions on television, radio, and more.  Exactly what they wanted!
13. "The Amazing" Contest:  The Amazing Race is a popular television show, why not turn it into a contest?  It could be a scavenger hunt of sorts.  Enlist other businesses to come up with prizes.

As you can see, as far as contests go, the possibilities are endless; you are only limited by your imagination.  So now it’s your turn!  What other kind of contest would build buzz for your business?  Submit your contest idea here!