First off, congrats on being nominated for Best of Northern Utah! That means someone out there– a loyal customer, a grateful employee, or maybe even you– nominated your company for one of the biggest celebrations of local businesses this area has ever seen.
I’m excited to share some tips and tricks to help you compete in your category for 2021 BEST OF NORTHERN UTAH. Since every business that got nominated moves on to the voting round, there’s going to be some fierce competition in a lot of categories. We’re anticipating several hundred thousand votes this year, and we’ve got a list of ideas that will help your business stand out.
Think about it like running for a public office, except you’re not a politician, and people actually like you. Your job is to promote the heck out of your business so the people that already know you get excited to help you win, and the new customers you’re getting every day realize just how great you are. One important thing to remember is you don’t have to pay to play in this contest, but we do offer some additional tools to help.
Here are a few ways you can promote yourself:
You’d be surprised at how many business owners forget to use their most loyal resource– their employees. If you have 10 employees and you get them to vote once a day, that’ll come to 150 votes after the 15-day voting period closes! Add it to your company bulletin, announce it in team meetings, and put a sticky note on the desk where employees clock in.
For those businesses that have in-store sales and services, there are lots of ways you can ask customers to vote. You can download our free digital assets (Best of Northern Utah badges that say ‘Vote For Us’) and use them to create posters for the front door, table tents for your restaurant, or flyers / coupons to hand out to customers. This becomes especially useful when you’ve got a Custom Voting Ballot (see below) which includes your own unique QR code and makes it easy for people to vote for you in every single category you’re competing in with a single click.
Using your website is another great way to get your customers to vote for you. Place our free digital assets right on the home page, and link them to www.bestofnorthernutah.com or your Custom Voting Ballot to encourage voting. If you don’t know how to edit your website, our talented web designers are happy to help you with this, free of charge.
Most of us know how important building a social media presence is. Leverage your social media tribe— no matter how small– to help get the word out that you’re campaigning for Best of Northern Utah. Make sure to download our free digital assets (Best of Northern Utah badges that say ‘Vote For Us’) and use them when you create Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, & Twitter posts.
Throughout the voting period, you’ll want to post consistently. The number of followers that happen to be on social media within a few hours of your post is generally around 5-15%, and by the time the rest of them log in, your post is already being drowned out by hundreds of other pages competing for space in their feed. That’s why posting regularly, even daily, will help you increase your chances of reaching more of your followers.
Once the voting opens up, you may start to notice how difficult it can be for a voter to find your business or locate every category that you’re competing in. One solution is to have us create a Custom Voting Ballot for your business, which includes a large display ad and a convenient, one-click way for your customers to vote for you in every category.
Since everyone can cast up to 10 votes each day, you’ll want to make sure it’s easy for your tribe to use their votes on your business. This is a powerful tool to help promote your nomination for Best of Northern Utah, because it also includes a unique link and QR code which you can use in posters, flyers, social media posts, and on your website.
To get started with a Custom Voting Ballot, even if voting has already started, give us a call at (435) 752-1390 or send a quick email to sales@cvradio.com.
Another great way you can campaign for Best of Northern Utah is by using targeted digital display ads. Our skilled graphic designers will create a set of ‘Vote for Us!’ ads for your business, and then we’ll send those ads to people that have visited your website or walked into your store. This is an easy, cost-effective way to follow up with your customers and remind them to vote for you daily.
If you’d like a display ad of your business to be featured above the category your business is listed in, we can help you with that! Our team of designers will create an eye-catching ad that will help remind voters to vote for you.
We can also place your logo on the button where your business is listed, ensuring you stand out from your competitors when voters click on your category.
