Advertisers want to see action. They want hot leads, foot traffic, sales, big email databases and–of course–lots of fans. They spend their marketing budget to achieve these goals and therefore they want a return of investment. The best way to accomplish these goals? That would be sponsoring contests, which serves as an investment with huge ROI potential! It all comes down to making the advertiser realize that.

That said, contests aren’t just about offering sponsorships. They give one the ability to activate potential customers by enticing them to engage with the brand on a deeper level–which is also the best vehicle for getting customer data.

Here Shweiki teams up with expert Matt Coen of Second Street Promotions Lab to present five talking points detailing how contests can benefit an advertiser.

So how does one explain the benefits of sponsoring a contest to their advertiser?

Here are 5 talking points to get started:

1. Contests increase brand awareness and engagement

Advertising can take two forms: branding and activation. Branding is setting customers’ expectations for a product or service and differentiating it from others. Activation is motivating costumers to take a specific action, like entering a contest. Traditional advertising is great for awareness, but promotions like contests make advertising more effective by getting people involved in the site and encouraging social sharing.

2. Contests grow social, email, and mobile databases

Clearly, contests can help in many ways. They are one of the best ways to reach the marketing holy grail: capturing data on customers! Add an email or mobile opt-in (or both!) to the registration page. You can see a great example of an email opt-in in the image below:

3. Contests drive foot traffic

Including a coupon or offer (like the one pictured below) on the contest thank-you page gives advertisers the power to direct foot traffic to their website or physical location. One can get even more foot traffic by incorporating the online contest with an on-site event at location.

4. Contests reach the desired audience

Whatever the advertiser’s target market is, there’s a contest for that. Sweepstakes are easy and appeal to everyone, while a more specific contest like an “Ugliest Yard Makeover” photo submission contest will attract a more targeted audience. The key is to understand the advertiser’s objectives and figure out what contest will help achieve their goals. Here’s an overview of strengths of some of the popular contest types:

5. Contests generate qualified leads

Adding survey questions like the one pictured below to a contest registration page gives one the ability to deliver qualified leads to the advertiser after the contest. For example, when Ford asked on a contest registration page if people were considering a new vehicle purchase, 12% of contest entrants indicated they were planning to buy a new car in the next six months!