Friday, August 31, 2012

Pondering giveaways

August 2012 is the month of giveaways here in my little corner of the Ozarks.

First, Shawn had the idea to give away an item each day in the Craft Village at the Ozark Folk Center State Park as a way to thank our visitors for coming to see us. Every craftsperson was very generous. Some created unique items just to give away. Others donated several items to give to visitors on their featured day.

Almost every item went to someone who appreciated and loved it. There was one 13-year-old-girl who was visiting for her birthday. When she won the turquoise earrings designed and created by Linda Widmer she was ecstatic. Her parents agreed to let her get her ears pierced that day as a birthday present.
Nita Reuter of Hot Springs, Arkansas, loved the broom made by Shawn
Hoefer that she won in the August Craft Village Giveaway.

Or Nita Reuter of Hot Springs who just glowed with happiness when she won the Tom Turkey Wing broom made by Shawn. "I've been praying so hard that I'd win," she said. "I've never won anything in my whole life." She hugged her broom around the whole craft village for the rest of the day.

These little presents have added a bright spot to our quiet August days.

Then along came the Arkansas Women Blogger's Unplugged (#AWBU). There were giveaways on top of giveaways. Every session started off with drawings for items donated by sponsors. Every attendee received a bag of gifts from sponsors. Every woman there got a free pair of boots from Country Outfitter and is getting another free pair of boots to give away on her blog. (sneak peak - I'll be giving mine away in October). Obviously, free giveaways are a good way to promote your business, product, web site or blog.

With this experience in mind, I am working on creating a giveaway to promote the Off The Beaten Path Studio Tour.  The tour is coming up Sept. 14-16, and I want to get as many people as possible to come to as many studios as possible - including ours. I want to get people to pick up the tabloid publication that talks about the tour and has each artisan's contact information. I want to encourage people to visit and get to know these talented artists. I'm just not quite sure how to put it together, yet.

If you have ideas for a giveaway that would work to promote the tour, let me know. I think I'll go weave a bit before bed. My brain gets its best ideas when I let it go off to play while I weave.

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