Customer Blog

Garrett Sussman (Customer Advocate) and Ashley King (Support Manager) from 99designs discuss some best practice tips for running a successful contest on 99designs.

How to Run a Successful Contest on 99designs from 99designs on Vimeo.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Garrett: My name is Garrett Sussman and I am the customer advocate for 99designs, here today with Ashley King, the customer support manager. How are you Ash?

Ashley: I’m good.  How are you Garrett?

 Garrett: I’m doing well.  Today we’re going to talk about how to run a successful contest on 99designs.  So right off the bat Ashley,  what would you say, at the beginning of the contest, are a couple of important factors for a contest holder to make the contest successful?

Ashley:  Great question.  Right off the bat, you want to have a clear and concise brief, use bullet points and numbering to clearly list out what you’re looking for.  From there, keep an eye on your watch list and invite designers from your watch list.  You’re able to click and view their portfolios and see if you feel like they’re going to be able to suit your needs. And also, browse other projects that we have running on the site.  There will be a lot of designers that are participating and you can invite those designers as well.  That’s going to give you a good jumping off point for the beginning of the contest.

 Garrett: Great!  Okay Ashley, over the course of the contest, what would you say is the most important factor for a contest holder to manage it properly?

Ashley: You want to leave feedback, and you can leave feedback in three different ways. You can leave star ratings for the designers. That’s going to let them know on a scale rating basis how well they’re doing.  Leave private comments to the designers on their design entries, and this will allow them to create specific revisions for you, and also engage with them a little bit more on a personal level.  And then from there, you want to also make sure you are eliminating those designs that really aren’t going to work for you. This is still a proactive process.  It lets the designers know their entry didn’t quite cut it this time, but they can come back with a revised copy if they’d like.

Garrett:  Okay, so to recap Ashley’s key tips for running a successful contest, right at the beginning, make sure that you write a concise brief that says exactly what you are looking for.  Engage designers early, whether it’s from your watch list or check out currently running contests and invite them to participate in yours.  And then make sure you’re providing feedback over the course of the contest, whether it’s through star ratings, private feedback, or eliminating designers.  Either way, make sure you keep it positive, have fun, show your personality, and really embrace the contest. And by the end you’ll find a design that you really like.  That sounds right, right?

Ashley:  That sounds right and perfect.

Garrett: Okay, this is Garrett Sussman and Ashley King signing off on behalf of 99designs.

Edward has a depth of experience within the world of marketing at both large and small companies having worked for Microsoft all the way through to currently working for 99designs, and has also spoken at several Australian Universities around online marketing and the role it can play in our current global market. In his spare time outside of his laptop, you'll find him training for a triathlon, or daydreaming about ways he could chase Winter around the globe with his snowboard.

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