The owner of PewPewTactical.com was looking for ways to scale his business without the use of Facebook or Google ads.

Their products are all gun-related and thus were not compliant with rules on these networks. They needed to get a little bit more creative with their lead generation efforts. Enter viral competitions.  

Contest Case Study Pew Pew

Contest – https://vyper.io/c/914   Below is a short Q&A session we had with the founder Eric about his experience using VYPER to run a viral contest! Pew Pew Tactical is a firearm learning resource blog that focuses on the complete newbie to create a friendly learning environment.  

BONUS Checklist – Top websites to submit your contest to get more participants! DOWNLOAD

Why did PewPewTactical.com decide to run a contest?

We decided to run a contest mainly because we were seeing competitors running them to great success.  Doing some research and asking fellow entrepreneurs led me to try out VYPER as our platform due to their social sharing tools.  

We are also in a niche that is restricted on paid channels such as Facebook and Google ad networks.  This was another organic lead generation option.  

What other marketing campaigns have you tried but didn’t work?

The best comparison would be against our content upgrade run through Sumo popups for a shooting target PDF in return for an email address.  It performed OK at .91% signup percentage.  

How did your contest perform in terms of your other marketing campaigns?

With a much better offer in the content (ability to win a cool rifle handguard and two other prizes), our email signup jumped to 4.92%…a 441% increase.  

contest case study - pewpew

Results from campaign

  • 2,229 new emails
  • 171% increase in Facebook reactions
  • 7.2% increase in website traffic during contents

What are the top 5 things you learned from running a contest?

  1. Having a 2nd & 3rd place prize helped increase signups
  2. Giving additional entries per referral seemed to help (we did 3x)
  3. The image is really important…TEST!
  4. Send it to your list multiple times.
  5. Ok to have a longer time duration (we did 2 weeks but could have done up to 4).

What would you do next time you ran a contest?

  1. Create/use a higher quality header and share images.
  2. Higher budget for prizes.
  3. Integrate a digital bribe along with entries.
  4. Post in Reddit, related forums, etc.
  5. Get influencers and companies involved to share.

How did you promote your contest and what worked the best for you?

FB sharing and hitting our own email list did the best.  But that might be since our other social avenues are a little underdeveloped. I’m definitely looking forward to going much bigger with the next giveaway… bigger prizes and reaching out to our influencer network.  

Now that I know it works and VYPER does the job well… I’m ready to ask for influencer help.  

What is the value of an email lead to you and how are you going to monetize these new leads?

The value of a lead is around $6 (contest generated $13k+ in rev value) and we’re looking to monetize by adding them to our newsletter where we send informative articles with affiliate links and also to our online store with apparel and accessories.  

About The Company

Website – https://www.pewpewtactical.com Contest – https://vyper.io/c/914   Pew Pew Tactical started off as a personal blog but soon grew into one of the top firearm learning resources.  

We focus on the complete newbie with no politics, a friendly gun-buddy tone, and tons of corny/nerdy references.   What marketing challenges do you face at the moment?

Are you also a company that is restricted from paid traffic sources? If so, how did you get around this issue?

Jack Paxton
Jack Paxton

Jack Paxton is the co-founder of VYPER, a marketing tool that helps brands build email lists, social followings, and revenue using viral giveaways, referral, and reward programs. After millions of dollars spent testing different marketing strategies at his marketing agency. He then also co-founded Hyax a fast, conversion & design-focused course and funnel builder for creators.

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