So you want to start a raffle business?
I will share with you a step-by-step action plan to launch a successful competition business, based on 15 years of marketing experience and revised regularly from what I’ve observed as one of the UK’s leading providers of competition sites.
About the checklist
I’ve helped many entrepreneurs launch competition businesses.
While answering their queries and providing advice, I’ve found many other online guides which are mostly surface-level articles written by bots purely for SEO reasons:
“how to create a comp website…step 1, start your competition business.”
Not very useful for human beings and entrepreneurs! 🤦♀️😂
So I decided to write my own launch checklist.
But after launching this checklist I have been overwhelmed by the number of emails requesting further information, which is great! This means I’m providing valuable information! 😊
Unfortunately, I’m no longer able to personally answer them all 1 to 1, so I have also created a more complete guide to launching a raffle business with in-depth guidance for each step in the checklist. I will keep it updated over time.
I will share the checklist with you soon, and after you have read the free checklist further down the page, if you’re truly serious about launching a competition business you can buy my full guide on how to launch a successful competition business the RIGHT way. (if you feel it’s valuable, of course!)
Please note I ONLY offer my free 1 to 1 strategy sessions to those who have purchased the guide. Everything else is covered in the checklist and full guide.
But before you run off at 100mph, there are some things you should think about…
Starting a competition business is a great way to escape the rat race, become your own boss, and earn a profitable side income.
These businesses are attractive because they can be set up with relatively little initial investment, low overheads, and can be run by one-person part time.
BUT….
This niche is highly competitive. You’ll notice these sites are popping up everywhere, because everyone wants to make a quick buck.
And in addition, there are some extra legal loopholes you’ll need to jump through that you won’t face in other ecommerce businesses.
Many competition businesses fail within the first 6 months. My full guide has a chapter about WHY they fail and HOW to avoid failure. I don’t want to put you off, but for now I want you to know, a competition business is a b business like any other. This is not “easy money”. Otherwise, everybody would be running them. 😊
So before we get to the checklist, here are some things I’ve noticed that successful entrepreneurs have in common…
Know your Goals
The first thing I ask my clients enquiring about a competition website:
Why do you want to start a competition business?
If you don’t have a strong sense of WHY you are doing this, you won’t have the motivation to continue when things get tough.
So here are the main reasons to start your own competition business…
Money
In times past, one full-time white collar job was enough to support a small family, buy a house, and do x3 trips a year abroad.
Not any more…
Nowadays people are struggling to make ends meet with a full-time job a sidehustle dropshipping CBD oil, and an OnlyFans account for “foot stuff”. 😂
Competition websites can be a great way to build a source of passive income, and also give a little bit back to your community or audience.
Running your own business is the best way to take control of your life and still earn an honest living.
But money isn’t everything. once you have a certain amount, you’re going to need a larger purpose.
Building your comp business around your community or audience is a good idea.
People like buying from people who have a purpose beyond just “making more money” 🤑
Your purpose will drive you forwards, when the going gets tough, and keep you motivated to improve when money is no longer the goal…
Freedom
A well-automated website and competition business model can be easily run by one person a few days a week.
This gives you incredible personal freedom to focus your time on the big picture, or just on enjoying life.
Stability
But long before you achieve financial freedom, your comp business will likely be a sidehustle which gives you stability in this crazy economy that we now find ourselves in.
Stability means freedom from the stress of worrying about the next paycheck, or when your boss is going to replace you with someone cheaper.
Now that you are clear on your WHY…
Without further ado, let’s dive into the actions and steps you’ll need to take to launch your raffle business.
You may have done some of these already,
You may be just starting and researching.
This checklist will hopefully give you a clear roadmap on what you have yet to do.
The step-by-step Competition business checklist
In my full step-by-step guide to launching a raffle business, I go into each of these steps in detail.
But here is my summary checklist of the correct steps to take.
The order is important. Most people do these ass-backwards.
The correct order is…
- Figure out your WHY
- Set aside time each week to work ON the business and IN the business.
- Budget for all costs
- outline initial investments
- budget for prizes
- budget for overheads
- budget for marketing
- Build a brand for your niche
- Research your niche + audience
- Decide a niche to focus on.
- Source designers to create brand identity for target audience.
- Obtain branded collateral (clothing, banners etc for lives)
- Set up an automated competition website.
- write your scope brief
- plan sitemap
- source web designers
- sketch wireframes
- high fidelity design
- development
- soft launch
- Create marketing strategy to drive traffic to your site.
- Source marketing partner for…
- Organic Social
- Paid Social
- Affiliate
- Email and text for existing customers
- Source marketing partner for…
- Business setup
- Register business with Companies House
- Apply for bank account
- Payment gateway providers setup
- Buy your first prizes
- Legal
- Get T&Cs rubberstamped
- Plan your Launch
- Set up social channels
- Audience jacking
- 3 months
- 1 month
- 1 week
- ongoing
- Drive traffic to website (ongoing, forever!)
- Review, analyze and adjust (ongoing, forever!)
Want the full guide on how to launch a raffle business?
I hope this checklist was useful.
I go into detail on each of these steps in my full guide to launching a competition business.
Each chapter contains a breakdown and guide for each item on the checklist. If you’re serious about taking the next steps you can…
- Save yourself weeks of agonising research
- Avoid all the common mistakes
- & fast-track your 6 figure business
…with my complete guide on how to Launch a successful raffle competition business.
✅ Step by step action plan checklist
✅ In-depth guides to every step from concept to launch
✅ Insider tips on achieving success and avoiding failure.
preview of the full guide below...
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The 3 things you need for a successful raffle business
So now we’ve covered failure, let’s talk about the key to success.
Most people kickstart this process by calling competition web designers looking for a quote for a competition website.
Congratulations…
You’ve just gathered the x3 cheapest quotes from people who only care about selling you a website.
You’ll also need to consider what happens before the website, and after the website.
So there are 3 things you’ll need to start and run a successful competition business:
1 Niched Brand
This is a step most people skip.
The competition niche is highly competitive. Pun intended 😂
The way you will stand out is not fancy competition rules or gizmos. This will only add friction to the buying process and reduce your sales.
The way you will stand out is a highly focused brand which targets a specific niche, and connects with your ideal audience.
I will cover this more later in the guide. But for now here’s a summary…
A powerful brands resonates with your target market, and gets your customer thinking “This is my kind of people, let’s do business”
2 A competition website
the best competition websites should be highly automated so that you can scale your business without needing to put in more of your time or hire staff. This is why running your competitions on Facebook isn’t viable.
Plus Facebook can and will shut down your account if they catch you selling through the page.
Your website must establish a level of ‘social trust’ so that people feel comfortable spending money.
A bodged job, or budget site means you will need to spend more money on ads, as less of your traffic will buy.
A good website will automate your business, and encourage high spend per customer
3 Marketing strategy
You can spend £10k on an amazing brand and website. But a good-looking website with no traffic is like a ferrari with no fuel:
It might look good, but it’s not taking you anywhere!
At launch, you MUST have a plan to drive traffic to the website to make ticket sales.
Here’s what happens when you don’t have all x3 things working…
❌ brand ✅ website ✅ marketing
you are trying to appeal to everyone which means appealing to no-one. You will spend all your money running innefective ads and fail to make profit. Game over.
✅ brand ❌ website ✅ marketing
You might be selling tickets, but you are tied to manual admin and answering messages all day. Eventually, one dark day, Facebook will shut your page down. Game over.
✅ brand ✅ website ❌ marketing
looks great, works great, but there are not enough people buying tickets. Game over.
That’s why you need all x3 parts working together.
This isn’t just for competition businesses. This applies for ANY business….
Step 1 – Picking your niche
What is a niche?
A niche is as simple as your ideal customer. Your prizes will be a set of products that your ideal customer wants.
Here’s how to find your ideal niche…
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