Why I love to enter competitions and have I ever won?
Almost 2017 years ago I came across a video on YouTube from a lady called Di Coke. It was a prize unboxing video. Intrigued, I continued to watch the video and was amazed by the number of prizes she was winning from her hobby of entering competitions.
I’d entered the odd competition in the past but as a pessimist, I always thought they were a bit of a con and only a small percentage of competitions were genuine and had legitimate winners. In particular ever since OFCOM fined both ITV and BBC for unfair conduct when running competitions. I generally thought that if they were cheating people out of winning at competitions, anyone could.
I found Di’s book on Amazon and ordered it. As soon as it arrived, I read through, marked the pages I knew I would need to refer back to. In particular how to google search for specific competitions.
I felt totally motivated and started to enter competitions again.
I quickly found my feet again and started to enjoy it. I can now happily say that it’s become one of my beloved hobbies again. I realised that negativity wouldn’t help me when entering competitions, so with a change in my attitude, I started to succeed. With my better attitude, I was on a roll.
Firstly, you have to be in it to win it so, with my stubbornness in not entering any competitions in the past because of my assumptions that they were all fixed – that wasn’t going to get me anywhere because you have to be in them to win them right?. Secondly, you need to BELIEVE you can win and why shouldn’t you? You have as much chance as anyone else entering the competition (providing the competition is legit!)
Don’t get me wrong. I have seen my fair share of dodgy competitions, Particularly Facebook competitions from small businesses. By this, I mean not announcing winners and hoping no-one notices or selecting family members/friends as competition winners. I have also seen a lot of competitions being run incorrectly. For example, Facebook competitions. Did you know, is against Facebook rules for a person running a competition to ask the entrees to share any of their content? Most people do not know this and will oblige to try and win the prize on offer.
When running a competition myself. I will always make it clear that sharing is not compulsory and not required for entry but will always explain that it does help my business to reach out and is much appreciated.
Personally. I will ALWAYS share a competition if the host is upfront about this. Ultimately the reason why the company is hosting a competition in the first place is to try and reach out to more potential new clients or followers.
Have I Ever Won?
Yes!
I have won local competitions and received small prizes, which I really love. I enjoy helping out small local businesses, and even though I have the advantage of winning a free item, I still appreciate the opportunity to support them.
I will always publicly thank them on my personal and business accounts. I will also leave a review about their products if I am able to, and if I find their products/services to be of good quality, I will recommend them.
My biggest win to date is probably a pair of Premier League football tickets which I won in 2019 with Cadburys.
Comping is now a hardcore hobby of mine and i’ve created a competition wishlist on Pinterest which only I can see.I then spend about an hour a night focusing on searching for competitions with the prizes I want and will enter them. After that, I head over to Facebook and search for local competitions and if I still have any willpower left I’ll head to Competition Database and see what’s ending soon over there.
I’m still trying to find out the most strategic way of doing it so that I am making the most use of my time. I struggle with remembering which competitions I’ve entered but I don’t want to write them down as this is the time that could be better spent entering the competitions.
Keeping Track of Competitions
This is where Competition Database is useful as I can mark a competition as Entered. It will also give me all the statistics for competitions I’ve entered.
I enjoy entering social media competitions the most and for me, they are the easiest to keep track of too. I’ve created a folder in my bookmarks section of my browser and within that folder, I have more relevant sections including ‘Comps entered’ and for every social media competition I enter, I will save it here. I rename the competition starting with the end date. They are the easiest to keep track of too. I’ve created a folder in my bookmarks section of my browser and within that folder, I have more relevant
Once a week I can go through the ones that have ended and see if a winner has been announced. This is also a good way of making sure that they follow through with announcing a winner.
I’m also a member of many comping Facebook groups which offer so much encouragement, support and competitions details.
What's my dream prize?
My dream prize is a trip to Florida for my family. Simple.
If I were to win this prize and had to forfeit ever entering any competitions again I would do it in a heartbeat as my dream would be totally fulfilled. I even have Florida as a screen saver on my laptop because it encourages me to keep going.
Thankfully I was extremely lucky to visit Florida 3 times as a child and I know how magical it is. It wasn’t until I was older and became a parent myself that I appreciate how lucky I was to have that opportunity and thankful to my parents for making it happen.
My kids are now older and would loved to have taken them when they were children but you’re never too old for a trip to Florida so i do still try and win that dream.
In February 2019, we entered the Faces For Florida competition that was being hosted by Heart FM. This was a very popular competition. We worked so hard on our entry that we entered too late. Taking on board that Heart was looking for creative entries relevant to the competition we decided to go with a racing theme. Daytona Raceway in Orlando – We we had SO much fun making it.
Here is our entry, albeit late.
Here are my top tips for entering competitions.
- Make a wishlist list of what you want. Search for competitions relating to those things and enter them as a priority.
- Low Entry competitions are great and you have a higher chance of winning. Low entry competitions are harder to find because these are usually ones not advertised on comping groups or websites. Usually, you will stumble upon them when a friend has entered and shared a competition or if you already like a certain page and notice that they are hosting a competition.
- Time is comps! The quicker you can enter a competition the more you can enter. Autofill is your friend here. Your browser will have autofill settings so that as soon as you start to type your name it will automatically complete all the relevant details such as your email address, home address and phone number.
- Create a separate Email address. There’s every chance that you will get copious amounts of spam emails once you start entering competitions. In order to manage this and also to not miss out on a winning Email, I’d highly recommend creating a new email address purely for comping and manage it daily. Delete your spam emails as soon as possible. Use the search bar and enter keywords such as ‘Congratulations’ ‘Winner’ or ‘Runner Up’ and most importantly CHECK YOUR SPAM!
Resources
Here is a list of some of the resourses that will be helpful in your comping venture.
Websites
- Competition Database
- Loquax
- Prize Finder
- Super Lucky – Di’s Blog
- Di also has a fantastic forum which you can sign up to. There is a cost but you have everything you need. Join Lucky legends Here
Books
Are you a comper? Have you thought about entering competitions as a hobby? What are your thoughts on competitions? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your views.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no extra additional cost to you I will earn a very small commission if you click through and proceed to make a purchase
11 Comments
Tracy McLaughlin
Love entering competitions and have had a few wins. Autofill is your friend and shortcuts if you’re entering on your phone. So 6 for first line of adress, po shortcut for postcode. My blog on comps is here if you want to link T? https://mindovermoneymatters.co.uk/2018/12/11/winning/
SavvyMumUK
Yes, auto fill makes a world of difference and saves so much time. I will have a read, thank you 🙂
Emily
Great post! Never really thought about doing it strategically, but some great tips! Thanks!
SavvyMumUK
Thanks Emily, I’m so glad you enjoyed the post. Good Luck in your future competitions 🙂
Tiffany
These are great tips. I haven’t been to competition yet, but I am willing to try! Thanks for sharing ♥️ ♥️ Let me know if you are interested in doing collabs! xx
Amy Butler
I have been entering competition for around 18 months and won some great prizes, the best prizes I have won were tickets to see the Rolling Stones at the Ricoh Arena and £40 to spend at Zizzi which I used for my daughters birthday
Amy Butler
I have been comping for just over 18 months now and I love it. I have won some fantastic prizes including trips to Stratford Butterfly Farm, The Mad Mueseum, £40 to spend at Zizzi and the best prize has to be tickets to the see the Rolling Stones at Ricoh Arena
Shamina
I spend too much time comping but not won much. I’ve yet to win a Facebook competition but I don’t give up hope!
SavvyMumUK
It is extremely time consuming but I truely believe in thinking positive. It’s something I still enjoy. The day I stop enjoying it; It’s no longer a hobby. Wishing you all the best of luck for 2020. Do let me know if you have and big wins. Donna xx
Domzy
I have done so many, won a few. But love the fun of it.
Liz davey
I have won a few prizes the best being a trip to Ireland and a holiday to Las Vegas which was amazing