We’ve just updated our top tips for winning and wanted you to be the first to see it! We hope it will inspire you and provide you with a few tips that will help you enjoy your comping more and help to increase your chances of winning. 

10 Ways to Win More

When it can be far cheaper to give away a holiday for two in the Caribbean than advertise in a Sunday newspaper it’s not hard to see the attraction of running competitions.

For well over 100 years companies have been running competitions to increase sales and let people know about their products, and with the internet and Facebook making it harder and harder for businesses to get their message across, we believe competitions are entering a golden era and ‘comping’ or the hobby of entering competitions is as attractive as it has ever been.

With is in mind we have used our many years of experience to bring together the definitive guide to ‘winning more’

1) In it to Win it

It might seem obvious but if you haven’t entered a competition then you can’t win in. Start entering competitions now and enter as many as you can. The more competitions you enter the better your chances of winning.

Don’t expect too much too soon, many people new to comping give up after a couple of weeks saying ‘they haven’t won anything’. This is wrong; when you first start many of the competitions you enter won’t close for a month or more, so it’s impossible to win these in your first couple of weeks.

Concentrate on building up a ‘pipeline’ of competition entries, keep going even when you think Lady Luck is against you and you’ll come through your ‘dry spell’ and the prizes will start coming.

All compers go through dry spells, read our winning stories to keep your motivation up and remember the only competition you can’t win is the one you didn’t enter.

2) In Your Inbox

When you begin entering competitions, you will find you start to get more emails. This is because you may have to sign up to newsletters or agree to further information from a company before you can enter their promotions.

Many people set up a new email account for their comping. There are many free email providers available, including G Mail, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail.

The emails from companies are not all bad, many can be a great source of new competitions, but, as you will end up getting many more emails than you used to, a comping email address is recommended.

Check your new email address regularly, and try searching for terms like ‘winner’ and ‘congratulations’ in your inbox.

3) The little things mean a lot

Don’t just enter competitions with the big prizes, enter the smaller ones too. Often they have a lower number of entries and more prizes per competition (e.g. 100 x runner-up prizes) thus YOU have more chance of winning. The smaller prizes can be just as rewarding – you still get that fantastic feeling when you have won! The smaller prizes keep your enthusiasm going while you’re waiting to win that dream holiday or brand new car!

4) Always read the terms and conditions!

Every competition has a definite set of rules that your entry must follow, to protect compers and promoters alike. For example, most competitions only allow one entry per person, or per household. Children’s competitions may have an age restriction, and cruises offered by specialist providers like Saga may only be open to older compers. We will always tell you if there are any restrictions on entries to a competition, but you should also check the details of the prize. This is particularly true of holiday competitions. Be aware that you might have to provide your own flights or transfers, and that, unfortunately, a lot of family holidays cannot be taken during standard school holidays.

5) Look locally for prizes

Tune in to your local radio station and grab your local newspaper, you’ll often find great competitions with prizes that are suited to where you live (i.e. tickets to local events, meals out in restaurants in the area or vouchers for local shops). These competitions are great as there will be far fewer entrants than national competitions and thus you’ll have more chance of winning! In fact the local newspaper has provided about half my cinema tickets for the last year!

6) Get social to win!

Social networking services like Facebook and Twitter are a hive of comping action. If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, visit www.facebook.com and www.twitter.com to set up your account. You can join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/justcomps and see what we’re up to on Twitter at twitter.com/just_comps.

Also there are many comp clubs running across the UK. These are a perfect way to meet fellow compers, swap entry forms, chat about your wins and be boosted by others when you are having a lean spell. They can be a great source of support and inspiration – you can find a list of comping clubs nationwide at www.justcomps.co.uk/comp-clubs

7) Avoid the scams…

All of us worry about dodgy competitions, particularly after recent highly publicized debacles from some much respected promoters! 

As a whole the consumer prize industry is well regulated and well respected, and new consumer legislation means that the regulatory board, the Institute of Promotional Marketing, are keeping a close watch on rogue competitions. Thinking about big companies such as Heinz and Nestlé or leading supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, why would they damage their reputation through running an unfair competition or prize draw?

To avoid the scams, remember the simple rule: If you didn’t enter it, you can’t win it! Beware of the letter through your door (often from an overseas address) instructing you to call a premium rate number to gain your prize code before redeeming your prize. Why would you be given a prize when no promotion is running? Why should you have to pay for your prize? By nature a prize is just the opposite – free! Luckily there are hundreds of legitimate competitions out there for you to enter.

8) A bit of effort goes a long way! 

Look out for competitions that require you to put a bit of effort in. Having to pick up an entry form, take a picture, buy a product, make a video or write a few words will often be enough to deter a fair few entrants, increasing your chances of winning straight away!  

You don’t have to be Steven Spielberg or David Bailey to win competitions like this. Start by reading the description of what judges are looking for and come up with something unique that fits the bill. It’s rarely the most technically brilliant entry that wins; more often than not, it’s the one that is closest to what the judges have asked for. Get creative! 

9) Don’t return to sender!

There can be nothing more frustrating than coming home to find that rather than a big pile of prizes, the postman has returned all the postcards you wrote out for competition entries a couple of days ago. The infamous ‘boomerang postcard’ happens to most compers at one time or another, but there is a way to minimize the number of times your entries return home.

Start by putting the promoters address on the right-hand side of the postcard as normal. Then, turn the postcard 90 degrees and write your address diagonally. It can also help to mix up your details slightly to confuse the machine – try putting your county as the last line of the address instead of the postcode. It seems simple, but it works!

10) Keep a record of your entries!

Keeping a record of all the comps you enter can be a simple task, and will allow you to see exactly which comps you have entered. The websites for Simply Prizes, MyComps, Coffee Break Winner, Winner’s Digest and Competition Club all include a competitions tracker, allowing you to tick off which comps you have entered so far.

The more competitions you enter the more likely you are to win prizes, but don’t just enter the odd one or two, enter as many as you can find from a range of sources. We recommend entering at least 70 competitions a week to ensure a steady flow of wins.

I’ve also get to thank Jenny at Coffee Break Winner for today’s competitions. The tips above are really relevant when you have the time to treat comping as a hobby and dedicate some serious time to it, but if you would like the rewards comping brings but don’t seem to have the time click here to give Coffee Break Winner a go.

Win a Blackberry Curve – Just “like” the EBC groups page and complete the form here: www.facebook.com/EBCGroupUK

Win a holiday for two in Thailand with the Daily Telegraph, just complete the form on their Facebook page: www.telegraph.co.uk

Please let me know if any tips that I’ve missed.

Good luck and keep comping!

Dave – Just Comps