🎁 Business & freelancing · Guide
A Giveaway Worth Running
Rules, entries and a draw you can stand behind.
A Giveaway Worth Running
Rules, entries and a draw you can stand behind.
Your name
A4 · this is a layout preview in the “Terminal” design. When you generate, the studio writes every chapter in full, paints the cover and chapter art, and composes a downloadable A4 PDF with your name, bio and store link on it.
A giveaway is a small campaign, not a spare-afternoon idea. Done carelessly it collects entrants who will never buy anything and leaves you with a bruised follower count a fortnight later. This guide sets out how to choose the prize, write the rules before you post, and draw a winner you can name in public.
What's inside
- 1Decide What The Giveaway Is ForThe three jobs a giveaway can do and why choosing one makes every other decision easier. After it you can write down the single number you want to move and check it afterwards.
- 2Pick A Prize That FiltersWhy the prize should be something you sell and uninteresting to people who would never buy from you. After it you can choose a prize that costs you little and attracts the right entrants.
- 3Write The Rules Before You PostClosing time, eligibility, shipping limits, age and the platform's own promotion terms, in plain wording. After it you have a rules block you can paste under every giveaway you run.
- 4The Entry MechanicOne step versus many, comments against email sign-up, and how extra hoops shrink entries. After it you can pick a mechanic that matches the job you chose in chapter one.
- 5Drawing A Winner FairlyExporting the entries, using a random number, keeping a record and what to do when the winner never replies. After it you can run a draw that stands up to a public question about it.
- 6After The DrawAnnouncing the winner, posting the prize, thanking the people who did not win, and measuring what it brought in. After it you know whether to run another one.
A sample from chapter one
Decide what the giveaway is for
A giveaway can do one of three jobs. It can bring new people to your page, put an existing product in front of the people already following you, or collect email addresses you have permission to write to. It cannot do all three at once. Choose the job first, because that choice decides the prize, the entry method and how you will know whether it worked.
Write down the number you hope to move before you post, whether that is new subscribers, saves on a particular listing or messages about a made-to-order piece. Look at it again a week after the draw. Without that number a giveaway always feels like a success on the day and leaves nothing behind by the following month.
- Give away something you actually sell, not a gift card and not another maker's work.
- State the closing point with a date, a clock time and a time zone, then stick to it.
- Say who may enter and where you can post, before entries arrive from countries you do not ship to.
- Keep entry to a single step; each extra hoop loses you more entrants than it gains.
Key takeaways
- The prize should be of no interest to someone who would never buy from you.
- Rules written after the first entry arrives are not rules.
- Announce the winner publicly and say plainly how they were drawn.
The studio writes every chapter from this outline, paints the art and hands you a PDF you can sell the same afternoon.
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