Loquax's Top Tips For Compers!
We all like the idea of winning prizes and with a few minutes effort of sending in an email, sharing a post on social media or getting creative you could anything from cash to cars, holidays to hats and an assortment of gadgets and goodies. Every day there are 100s of new competitions listed on sites like Loquax - you just need to enter them. Comping is also a sociable hobby whether via our own comping community or other groups. Online comping is also fun. Entering competitions is a great way to find and learn new things! Whilst we can't guarantee prizes we think you'll enjoy comping more by using our top tips below.
1. Be Selective With Your Entries
Some comping guides and compers will suggest the best way to win is to "enter everything". In many respects this is true as the more competitions you do the more chance you have of luck coming your way. Our view is that from the get go you should just enter competitions for the prizes you'd like to win. The Loquax Prize Directory lists competitions in prize categories and this enables you to target your efforts. Additionally we have listings based on Type Of Competition which means you can select to do comps by social network or format. With our listing system you can even filter out the competitions you don't want to see by setting your Preferences.
2. Read The Rules - Don't Get Disqualified
Rules are tedious but in comping they're also very important. As is reading the entry requirements! A lot of compers fail at the first hurdle by not reading the rules or getting questions wrong or not doing as the promoter asks (e.g. liking a page, sharing a post, tagging friends). Make sure you don't get disqualified by not paying attention. Read the competition information, check your entry and/or answers, complete your details and make sure you've read the rules. You can't win if your entry is in the bin.
3. Be Positive - PMA Is Key
The number of people entering a particular prize draw depends on various factors (prize, publicity, how to enter) and the number of entries may put some folks off entering competitions. Of course the bigger the prize (e.g. a car) or website (e.g. ITV) the more people will enter. In general the harder the competition to enter (e.g. Video & Creative comps) the lower the number of entries. What ever you do, don't ever think you shouldn't enter a competition because you have no chance of winning. You do. A lot of compers swear by vision boards - prize targets that they hope to achieve. Will PMA guarantee you wins? Unfortunately not but it does make the hobby more enjoyable and avoids the lows of missing out on prizes.
4. Enjoy The Success Of Others
If you don't enter competitions - you can't win - that's a simple fact. So if you do enter then you have a chance of winning. Be positive, perservere, and take encouragement from the fact that people do win competitions. Strange as it may seem you can get enjoyment and encouragement from other people's wins! There are some fantastic stories on Loquax and a lot of inspriration from real people winning real prizes. You can see who's having a good month with our top winners - perhaps you'll be on there next?
5. Don't Try And Do It All!
We've said this a few times but the arrival of social media changed comping dramatically. Not only has it meant 100s of competitions per week but entrants often can gain entries for the same prize across different platforms. But what if you don't use X, Instagram, Tiktok or Facebook? What if you can't do all the competitons listed on Loquax? Don't worry about it. Comping isn't a race to enter as many competitions as humanly possible. Set aside some time to do your hobby, focus on what you can do, and don't worry about what you can't. There will always be new prizes to try and win tomorrow!
6. Find Competitions You Enjoy
Some compers love purchase necessary competitions, others prefer getting creative, some love social media whilst pay to enter sites are the favourite for a new kind of comper. There's no set way to be a comper. What works for one person may not work for you. Our advice is find the kind of competitions that you like to do. Do be mindful that social media competitions may be tougher to win versus a creative competition but that doesn't mean you should try and be creative when you don't have time or it's not your forte.
7. Enjoy Your Comping - It's Meant To Be Fun
The key to comping, in our opinion, is simply to enjoy it! It's a great hobby with the added bonus of the chance of winning some exciting prizes. If you participate on our forums or chat with other compers via social media you can also enjoy friendship and chat too. By sharing opportunities to win as a community, celebrating the highs and supporting each other through the lows, it makes life better and it makes comping better.
8. Sort Out A Dedicated Email Address
When you enter competitions via websites you usually give them your details such as email address. What this means is that the promoter may then want to let you know about other competitions and offers. This isn't spam unless you have said "no" to receiving these emails. If you enter a lot of comps you will get a lot of promo emails so set yourself up with a dedicated comping account. We suggest avoiding including "comps" or other competition terminology in the email address. Promoters shouldn't be swayed by such things but you just never know. Our favourite option for email is Gmail.
9. Join Loquax
Ok we're a little bit biased with this one but why not. We've been listing competitions for 25+ years now and are still regarded as one of the best sites for compers. Our service is totally free, we have a tracking facility, multiple ways that you can list competitions (new today, closing soon, a to z, prize type, competition type etc) and options to hide comps you don't want to see. We also have a community of like minded folk who are happy to share comps and occasionally have a chat. It's not as fast and furious as social media but it's a welcoming home for many.
