TV Competitions

For many years now I have been entering competitions,  prize draws, raffles, lotteries,  – if there is a prize to be won I’m there!!!  I am one of a group of people called ‘compers’ and my hobby is ‘Comping’ (the expression we devotees of consumer competitions use for entering competitions!)and in all honesty I am addicted to it – or rather to the buzz of winning.  ) There is nothing to beat the kick of the arrival of a ‘LWE’ (long white envelope) bearing news of a win… Whether the prize is large or small and how ever many times you are a winner the thrill of the words: ‘Congratulations, you have won…’ never loses its impact.   
 
Competitions are, according to Dictionary.com defined as:-
1. The act of competing, as for profit or a prize; rivalry.
2. A test of skill or ability; a contest

Competition Prizes
The main incentive to enter competitions is the thought of winning the prize. Think of an item and there is a pretty good chance that it can be found as a prize just waiting for someone to put the effort in to win it. (Although you do need to find the competition in the first place)
Entering competitions could be your passport to travel the world, furnish your house, fit out your kitchen or provide you with your next set of wheels or better still the cash to pay for all of those and even clear your debts.  Not forgetting that any cash you do win is tax free – what a fabulous chance to thumb your nose to the establishment!!! . 
Got to be In It to Win It

There are oodles (possibly thousands) of competitions, prize draws and contests available to enter at any one time – in magazines, supermarkets, newspapers, on television, on the radio -  but you need to enter them or sure as eggs are eggs,  you definitely won’t win. Now that may sound obvious but I know plenty of people who call me lucky but they don’t enter even a single competition –they don’t even do the lottery but still dream of the day they will win it!!!! Many say they cannot be bothered because they don’t win – well surprise!! surprise!! You won’t if you don’t enter in the first place. So I think my first piece of advice to you has to be to actually enter competitions in the first place although the more you enter the more likely you are to win. Makes sense doesn’t it?
 
The general consensus of opinion seems to be to try and enter 30 a week but there are no hard and fast rules. At risk of repeating myself the more you enter the better your chances of winning and as I have already pointed out there are plenty out there to take a shot at!!! If you keep on entering, in the end, you will win.

Believe it or not entries to competitions, especially that are harder to enter where there is an element of skill involved, are actually getting less and less nowadays so making the effort to enter and learning a few simple skills anyone can win.  As long as there are people with ‘can’t be bothered’ attitude – those of us who can are immediately at an advantage. Keep on entering and you will win – especially if you follow my tips and advice in this informative book.

‘Harder to enter’ doesn’t necessarily mean much harder.  It could simply mean an entry form is needed from a particular supermarket. (Don’t worry subscribers to my newsletter (clickable link) will be told exactly where to find loads of them!) Typically a simple free to enter prize draw that can be entered on a postcard will attract around 50% more entries – even though, for most people, making the effort to visit a different store to pick up the entry form is in reality not much more effort at all! I will help make this even less effort with my monthly newsletter (clickable link) as I’ll tell you where all the entry forms can be found.

Likewise, a requirement to collect labels or tokens from a particular product to enter a competition will put off a huge number of people, either because they can’t be bothered, they’re not organised enough to see the task through, or they’ve bought Brand X baked beans or newspaper for the last however many years and habit (or misplaced loyalty) stops them buying Brand Z for a couple of weeks to collect the necessary labels!

To be honest, the ‘effort’ required tends to simply be more of a willingness to do things a little differently once in a while. Visit different shops now and then, buy different magazines, alternative brands of products – and sometimes even new products if a prize really takes your fancy. Who knows, you might even discover something new that you like… and this, after all, is why companies usually promote competitions in the first place!

Trust me – a little effort really WILL reap rewards! Going the extra mile will increase your chances!!

A few years ago I was entering competitions using ‘snail mail’ sending off either entry forms, postcards for simple draws or slogan competitions and what, in the industry, are called plain paper entries. Some were just answering questions, (the research for which I had to do in the library), some involved putting specific qualities of a product (for instance) in order or importance, completing a tiebreaker or making as many words, out of the letters in the name of the product being promoted, as possible.  I’d never heard of scratch cards, phone-ins, text to win or the internet.  Nowadays there are multitudes of ways to enter and win competitions and the internet has opened up the most opportunities of all.

I would, however, point out that although these competitions offer superb prizes they get thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of entries as the questions are invariably very easy and it is, effectively, just down to the luck of the draw.  In these cases, if you can enter more than once then that definitely reduces the odds but the best way by far to do this is to enter competitions with less entries – the type of competitions that require an element of skill that many people ‘can’t be bothered’ to enter. It might just be as simple as buying an alternative brand of baked beans!!
It has to be worth entering as many types of competition though because  at the risk of boring you – “You have to be in it to win it’ – spend some time thinking up a witty slogan or carefully researching your answers but a few minutes entering a few internet, phone or text competitions can only increase your chances of winning. Plus if there is the option to either enter a competition for free on the internet or another where you need to make a phone call or text, its worth doing that as well as many people will not make that call because of the cost implications. As far as I’m concerned as long as I don’t run up a huge phone bill that I cannot afford to pay, the prize to be won makes it worth it.  A car or holiday for the price of a phone call would make me feel pretty smug. 

While we are on the subject of phone call entries – A WORD OF WARNING!!!  If you get a letter or email saying you’ve won a prize but you must ring a premium rate line to claim it, throw the letter in the nearest bin. Your prize (for being a prize plonker) will be worth less than the call charge. A request for a ‘claim or administration fee’ is also another con. Bin it!! It is also worth mentioning that I have ‘won’ several holidays that turned out to be timeshares and although I could have had a free holiday I would’ve had to paid for the flights and then be subjected to hours of persuasion to invest.  I have found that if I tell the promoter that I am NOT a home owner it ends there – if it was a genuine competition it wouldn’t matter if I owned my home or not!! You have been warned!!

Having said all of that if you don’t have time or the energy to enter slogan/tie breaker competitions or the money to enter phone-in or text-to-win competitions there is an abundance of online internet competitions that are usually free and sometimes require as little work as entering your email details. Online competitions are quite widespread and mostly quite straightforward and effortless to enter. At the simplest level, you will have to answer a question – the answer to which is actually in the ‘blurb’ that the promoter wants you to read about the product they are advertising. If the answer is not obvious you can’t go far wrong doing a Google search.  This is a great way to try and win some prizes with little investment (other than your time).The booty varies and, of course, results are haphazard. Some competitions have lots of small prizes (free samples for example) that are trivial but save you money. There is the potential to win cash, holidays, cars etc but, in the main, the competitions that offer significant prizes will have a larger amount of entries (reducing your odds of winning) but if you continually enter as many competitions as possible and enter each as many times as possible why not go for it? In this instance, however, it really becomes just a numbers game where you are relying on Lady Luck rather than your skill to win. (Make sure you check the terms and conditions first though as you don’t want to waste your entries by being disqualified because you entered too many times).

To further increase your chance of winning, easy to enter, competitions a good piece of advice is to enter ones in smaller, specific niche markets where there will be less entries such as local competitions or to win prizes that won’t appeal to everyone – such as items for babies, toddlers or small children, motorbike owners, pet owners, hobbyists, to name but a few.  Big prizes are fabulous to win but a constant stream of smaller prizes is just as rewarding and keeps you going. There is nothing like the thrill of receiving a letter, phone call or email telling you that you have won a prize – no matter what it is. If you don’t actually want the prize itself you can always sell it and use the cash to treat yourself
 I have often given unwanted prizes away as presents such as a years supply of nappies (my children are now teenagers) to a friend who had just had a baby, a handbag (that looked like the type the Queen would use) to my Mum and a set of darts to my then dart-playing boyfriend – he was really mad I won that as I’d found it in his magazine but he ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to enter!!!!! I once won tickets to see Atomic Kitten but I didn’t find out until the day of the event and couldn’t go as I had to work – the couple who I gave those tickets to had a fabulous time and now think I’m the bees knees!!! )

Write great slogans/ tiebreaker advice
The type of competition that gets by far the fewest number of entries these days is one that needs a slogan or tie breaker. This means that, if you make the effort to think up a slogan, your chances of winning are statistically the best ever!

Don’t dismiss this option by thinking that you can’t write one. Even veteran ‘compers’ will tell you that they’ve probably won as many prizes with last minute efforts as they have with entries that they’ve spent hours on. The simple fact is that no-one knows what judges might be looking for. They might prefer a charming from the heart ‘amateur’ effort compared to a more professional sounding line – so EVERYBODY really does stand a chance in a slogan competition.

Some slogans – known as ‘chestnuts’ – win prizes over and over again. “Experts perfect them, connoisseurs select them” is probably the most famous chestnut of all, and this continues to win prizes. Don’t be put off if you think that this sounds out of your league. Just try to make your tiebreaker slogans appropriate to the prize, praise the product and/or promoter, to make it ‘apt and original’, and you won’t be going far wrong.
This will help to give them the extra spark that ignites a judge’s interest.

Judges seem to have a preference for rhyming slogans, – a quick tip here is jot down the headings ‘Product’, ‘Promoter’ and ‘Prize’,  under each write down all of the related words you can think, and with a little luck and imagination a rhyme or recurring theme will jump out. It’s easier and much more fun than it sounds to wow any judge and if you can inject a little humour – even better. Promoters love this and it could lift your entry above the rest.  In the words of Del Boy ‘He who dares wins!’

Stick to the rules
The small print (Terms and Conditions) for any competition is very important. Quite often it can even hide a ‘free entry’ route to save you some money, so you should always get into the habit of reading it thoroughly. Never fall into the trap of thinking that, since the writing’s so small then it can’t be important – nothing could be further from the truth! Trust me!!
I’ve been told about competitions where less than a third of entries have made it through to the final judging stage as the rest were disqualified for, in most cases, the most minor rules infringement.

Pay attention to the closing date of the competition, and make sure that your entries arrive on time. If you are only allowed one entry – don’t try and fool the judges and enter more times. You will disqualified and will then lose the one entry that you did make legitimately.
If proof of purchase is needed take special care to attach the correct receipt/label/barcode. Staple it (if possible) to the entry form so it doesn’t get lost when the envelope is opened.  Look out too for any entry restrictions, and whether you must enter the competition in a particular way – using a postcard, or an official entry form for example. If the competition has a skill task, answering a question perhaps, then read the instructions carefully to make sure there’s not a ‘trick’.

If it says write a slogan in 15 words or less – 16 won’t do!!! Don’t use abbreviations trying to twist the rules – it won’t work. 
So if you want to improve your chances of winning, simply read the rules! It couldn’t be easier to give yourself a flying start.

Be organised
Being organised will make your ‘comping’ hobby. For some people, keeping records on what competitions they’ve entered and ticking them off when the prizes come in is all part of the pleasure! (I find that a little sad though!!) But if that’s not your idea of fun, once again there are loads of little things that you can do to improve your chance of winning.

1. Never miss a closing date.
2. If multiple entries are allowed spread them out right up until the closing date.
3. Pick up entry forms as soon as you see them, as they won’t be around for ever.
4. Similarly, if you need a certain number of promotional labels or tokens, buy these as soon as you can – even if it means buying more products at once than you normally would. Don’t be fooled by a long closing date on some on-pack competitions… I’ve known them to sometimes disappear within a week, especially on fresh or seasonal products.
5. At home, always make sure that you never run out of the ‘comping essentials’ – stationery such as pens, plain paper, postcards, stamps etc.
6. Always carry a pen and a couple of stamps, cards and envelopes around with you in case you come across a comp that needs entering urgently. The shorter the closing date, the lower the number of entries there’ll be!
7. Also think about getting yourself some name and address labels made to save having to write out your details on entries over and over again (but always make sure that the rules of a competition allow these to be used).
8. Join a ‘Compers Club’ – there are lots around the country (a comprehensive list comes free as a bonus with the newsletter) Clickable link
9. Keep till receipts safe if they are needed as proof of postageBe in the know
My final tip is to make sure you know about as many competitions that are running at any one time as possible. Every day of the week, well known UK companies are giving gifts away that most of us never even hear about. The average week is a veritable wish list of Cash, VIP tickets, designer handbags, weekend breaks,  home cinema system, spa breaks, digital radios, theatre breaks in London, kitchen appliances, shopping vouchers,  family holidays, luxury holidays,  family trips, games consoles, electronic gadgets – the list goes on and on!!
Claim your share today!! (clickable link)
Even the most dedicated ‘compers’ struggle to find out about these giveaways. Sometimes you only have hours to enter before they’re closed! It can take hours of looking through websites, reading magazines, newspapers, watching hours of television and listening to radio stations to find the competitions that are worth your time to enter. It’d be a full time job, and most of us wouldn’t manage it, especially when you consider the cost.  Due to this, many of these competitions and giveaways only receive a handful of entries so, therefore, those who DO get their entries in are literally able to pick and choose their prizes. And they have expensive tastes, regularly picking up top-of-the-range cars, big cash prizes and luxury holidays all over the world.

So it’s worth being in the know – imagine receiving an email telling you that you have won a brand new car – how good would that feel driving up the High Street knowing that it didn’t cost you a penny??
Just imagine – lying on a sun kissed beach all day before retiring to your luxury spa hotel dining on exquisite food every day for a fortnight for only five minutes effort that could hardly be described as work!
So how can you do it?
This is where ‘Got To Be In It To Win It’  comes in! ‘Got To Be In It To Win It’ has all the information you need to help the prizes start rolling in. Whether your favourite competitions are challenging skill tasks, or it’s simply prizes you’re after with quick and easy postcard draws,  ‘Got To Be In It To Win It’ has got your new hobby covered… it’s the only totally comprehensive package you need!
‘Got To Be In It To Win It’ has bang up to date listings of between 200 – 300 competitions per month currently running including slogans, prize draws, instant wins, questions and puzzle competitions and gives you all the information you need to enter including prizes, entry details, closing dates, questions and suggested answers – What more could you need?

Become a member of ‘Got to be in it to Win It’ – the only UK subscription service that is dedicated to finding competitions and keeping you updated weekly and sometimes even daily by email. We will bring you details of tons of competitions that you can enter online, by phone, text, or good old fashioned snail mail – i.e. postcard and plain paper entries. Most of us are too busy to even notice some of these competitions and some of them are only open for a matter of hours. You could be getting your hands on thousands of pounds worth of amazing goods. And it’s all being given away every day, to the handful of people who know where to look. And because it’s online and not a paper newsletter you can get regular updates including all those tv competitions I know you all love
Join today and start winning!!!

Our team of experienced researchers are continuously looking for the best giveaways including those that are closing soon to give you the chance to get in before everyone else. Simply check your email where you will be updated with all the latest giveaways that most compers will never hear about. Simply fill out a couple of forms, send a couple of text messages, pop a postcard into the post and sit back and wait for the prizes to roll in.
It’s that simple – and while everyone else is saving all year you could be picking up a £5,000 Caribbean cruise completely free!
Every day, we receive amazing feedback from our readers who are beginning to enjoy their luxury lifestyles:

“I have just had a letter from Lighter Life magazine, telling me I have won a luxury spa break for two nights for two people including 4 treatments each.  I wouldn’t have known about this competition if it wasn’t for ‘Got to be in it to win it – so thank you very much!”
Jane, Worcestershire
“I am so excited! I received an email yesterday from The Guardian newspaper asking me for my address so that they could deliver my brand new digital radio. I am now looking forward to the delivery!”
Alison, West Midlands

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Sounds great but how much is this going to cost me?
The good news is that you can try this for a full month totally free of charge.  You can receive all the bonuses for that and see exactly what it is that is on offer. Enter all the competitions and you never know you may even have some beginners luck!! Then each month you simply pay the extremely low cost of £4.77.  This is the only ALL INCLUSIVE service that will bring you all the up to date competitions straight into your email inbox plus stop press details of any competitions closing soon, handed to you on a plate. You can cancel at any time simply by sending an email but I’m sure once you get the winning bug you will be hooked and will stay with me as long as you keep winning!! I take credit/debit card payments through Paypal so click below and start winning….
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Good luck and Happy Comping!
Jane

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