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Tessa Canaday

In the business world marketing and promotion are two key components to success. Without use of proper marketing techniques, even the best company could fail due to little customer loyalty or profit loss. A splendid marketing technique that is not taken advantage of by as many companies as it could be is the utilization of a raffle in their marketing efforts. A raffle competition is an amazing marketing strategy because it keeps all odds of winning at random, thus resulting in fair results with little or no complaints at the end result, and if a distinguished enough prize is offered clientele could sky rocket and customer loyalty could potentially grow just as rapidly.

            A business that could most definitely benefit from the use of a raffle in their marketing labors is the coffee franchise of Scooter’s Coffee. Founded in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooter’s Coffee is the fastest growing coffee franchise in the nation and rapidly on its way to becoming the second largest coffee company in the nation, only second to international Starbuck’s Coffee. Each Scooter’s location focuses on different target markets depending on direct location, city, state, and demographics. For instance, majority of Scooter’s Coffees attempt to locate near high schools and colleges in order to appeal to the students at schools, who are always interested in coffee and can benefit from Scooter’s promos when offered. Also, some Scooter’s Coffees locate near “soccer mom” locations, where moms who fall under the categories of busy, always on the move, and in need of a pick-me-up can quickly stop by a local drive-through Scooter’s Coffee and be merrily on their way, coffee in hand.

            As new locations pop up around the nation, stores are always searching for new ways to build customer loyalty and promote their store/business, and what better way to do so than using a full-proof raffle marketing strategy. Very few key components would need to be thought out before advertising the raffle to the public, including prize, time span of raffle, advertising, participation, and how the winner would be announced. A quality length of time to run a raffle would be approximately a month, after sending out notice to current or potential customers. In order to reach customers, a company such as Scooter’s, would benefit most from sending out mail advertisements, e-mails to current customers, posting constant reminders on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and rely on word of mouth from employees, which nearly never fails. After the proper promotion of the raffle is in place, stores should line up with new and old customers, as long as the prize is desirable enough. A great time to use a raffle system is during the summer because more people would be able to go to the store and there are more options for prizes. If Scooter’s Coffee were to run the raffle prize promotion in the summer they could offer would be tickets to an amusement/ water park or to a baseball game, because it appeals to high school and college students, and to all the “soccer moms” out there who need are seeking a new form of entertainment for their kids. A desirable prize such as those would most certainly draw customers in through-out the entire span of the raffle promotion and increase sales and knowledge of the business. Also, to ensure customer loyalty is correspondingly a result of the marketing strategy, the business could implement a rule that in order to receive a raffle ticket the customer must purchase an object from the business. For example, at Scooter’s, a customer must purchase a drink and upon the purchase would receive a raffle ticket with a code or number that they could enter online to track their raffle until the winner was announced. And, every time a customer comes through they could be given the option to participate in the raffle or not, so each time a person comes through they could receive a ticket, thus resulting in increased customer loyalty. If someone becomes accustomed to going to a Scooter’s Coffee regularly over the span of a month, even if just to receive a raffle ticket, they will subconsciously fall into a habit of going to Scooter’s and continue to visit the business, even after the raffle is complete.

            Scooter’s Coffee is just one example of an expanding business that could benefit from the use of a raffle in their marketing efforts. Any and all businesses can profit in more ways than one by using a raffle, as long as the business uses strategies and prizes that reach specifically to their target market. Customer loyalty is the main thing that keeps a store, company, and business thriving, and the use of a raffle can increase customer loyalty quickly in a short period of time. Also, by word of mouth the business will be promoted even quicker than clientele would be growing. I believe that any and all businesses can benefit from the use of a raffle and should take full advantage of the opportunity if they desire to increase loyalty and become a better known business by name.