Read the small print
Winning a competition can be a great feeling, but businesses don’t give away prizes out of generosity.
They want as much data as possible, and not just from the lucky winners. You’ll have to give contact details, of course, to receive any prize, but you might be asked for other information.
The amount of data you provide should be minimal, and should not be used for any purpose without your consent.
For example, a supermarket cannot pass your details to a holiday company without your explicit authorisation.
Under the General Data Protection Regulations, an organisation can only request information that is necessary. For example, if it requests your date of birth, that would need to have some relevance to the competition.
The only exception to handing over data would be at an in-person event where you may only need to give your details if you win.
Know child-entry rules
Marketers must not knowingly collect personal data from children under 12 without first obtaining the verifiable consent of their parent or guardian.
Makers of HFSS food products (those high in fat, salt or sugar) should not be targeting anyone aged under 16 in any way.
Children are not allowed to enter competitions to win alcohol, and age verification will be required before prizes with age restrictions on them are handed over.
Companies are also banned from targeting children with promotions that involve having to make a purchase.
Generally, companies and organisations will ask for a parent or guardian to give consent for any child who wants to take part in a competition.
Create a new email address
Most, if not all, competition providers will acknowledge your entry by email and, if applicable, send you the newsletters and marketing you have signed up for.
Set up an email account dedicated to your entries, that way messages won’t clog up your inbox. Regularly check your junk folder and social media notifications as many prizes go unclaimed.
Enter lots
You need to be in it to win it. Think of this as a cheap and fun hobby where prizes are bonuses, and don’t lose heart if you don’t start winning immediately.
Look for competitions with lots of prizes. You may have less chance of winning something if there is just one big prize.
But try to avoid addictive competitions that use raffle-type promotions and premium rate text entry.
Make an effort
Look out for those that involve a bit of work as this should increase your chances of winning.
Fifteen years ago, money blogger Emma Bradley started entering competitions and in that first year won £10,000 in money and products. She advises entering those asking for a video submission as these have fewer entrants.
Di Coke, who writes the SuperLucky blog, has won about £350,000-worth of prizes and helps others to win big. She suggests competitions that involve sharing a selfie on Instagram, taking part in an on-air radio quiz, buying a specific product in a supermarket, playing on apps or creating a TikTok.
Use your skills
If, for example, you are good at writing, select a competition covering something you know and are practised in writing about.
Cyber and security expert James Bore won $750 (£587) utilising his knowledge of the Luddites and the film WarGames.
He advises looking up the people involved in judging, and tailor and promote your work appropriately. He says: “You don’t need to be a writing master but do spend some time writing related pieces to keep your skills sharp,” he says.
Use listing websites
These sites help you quickly and easily find lots of competitions to enter. They provide links to prize draws and information about giveaways that involve social media posts. TravelScoop links to numerous holiday competitions, while Prize Finder lists contests to win just about anything.
Consider the prize
Most prizes are non-transferable, so concentrate your efforts on the best ones for you. Think also of prizes for presents.
Kimba Cooper-Martin helps businesses to use games in their marketing. She says: “Look for businesses that sell something you want, and see if they’ve run competitions on their socials. If the prizes offered are the kinds of things you’d like to win, sign up for their email list, or to get notified of their posts on that social media channel.”
Share the fun
Coke advises joining forces with friends. “They will help you win more, as they will tag you in giveaways and even share prizes.”
You can join groups for advice, support and collaboration. Her free Facebook group, Lucky Learners, has more than 22,000 members.
Be scam aware
“You have won” emails are commonplace. Never click on any links in emails or texts where you do not know the sender.
Scammers create fake profiles on social media, fake websites and will often ask you to enter your credit card details to pay for delivery of your prize. Do not respond.
Abide by the rules
Jeremy Stern, founder of PromoVeritas, which runs promotions for major brands across the world, refers to people who try to win by breaking the rules as “scampers”.
On one occasion, his company received 385 entries with different names from the same address trying to get round the rule of “one entry per household”. Also, he says, be mindful of copyright and permissions. PromoVeritas was once caught up in a row over who should win a prize for a photograph of a horse – the owner of the horse argued it should be them, rather than the person who took the picture and entered the competition.
Stern warns that while AI is becoming more widely used for entries, his company uses software that can strip images down and if it looks like a cheat it is deleted.