Business & Tech

Staples Running Contest To Give Small Businesses $50,000 in Advertising

Five small businesses will be chosen for 15 seconds of advertising in a 30 second TV spot. Winners can choose between $50,000 in advertising or $40,000 in advertising plus $10,000 cash.

The sixth annual Staples National Small Business Survey found that seven out of 10 small business owners are optimistic about the future. Fifty-two percent of the small business owners surveyed revealed they would grow their business through advertising and direct marketing if they had a larger marketing budget. 

On Monday, Staples announced the launch of the “Give Your Small Business the Push It Needs” contest in which five small businesses can win up to $50,000 each in free TV advertising in their home market.

“With more than 25 years of experience working with our core small business customers, we know that investing in marketing to grow a small business is essential, yet many do not have the money to do so,” said John Giusti, vice president of small business marketing at Staples.  “Staples wanted to do something unique to support small businesses in their local markets."

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The Staples survey revealed that more small business owners are turning to social media with 35 percent increasing their social media presence in the past year. 

Small businesses can enter to win the “Give Your Small Business the Push It Needs” contest by submitting a 15-second video about their company on Facebook.com/Staples. Of these submissions, five small businesses will be chosen to receive 15-seconds of advertising in a 30-second Staples TV ad to run in their local market. 

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The prize package is valued at up to $50,000 worth of local cable television airtime and includes $500 in Staples Copy and Print or Staples EasyTech™ services. Winners have a choice of either $50,000 in advertising or $40,000 in advertising plus $10,000 in cash.

Additional Survey Results

  • Two-thirds (66%) of small business owners have some type of marketing and advertising budget for 2012.  Among those small business owners, budgets average just over $2,000.
  • Sixty percent of small business owners changed their sales and marketing efforts as a direct result of the U.S. economy.  Results showed small business owners are using less traditional media (29 percent) and more viral marketing and word-of-mouth (33 percent) compared to last year.

About the Survey

The survey was developed by Staples and conducted by Decision Analyst, Inc. in Arlington, Texas.  Decision Analyst surveyed by Internet a nationally-representative random sample of 500 owners and executives of American businesses having no more than 20 employees.  All respondents were members of American Consumer Opinion® online, Decision Analyst’s proprietary Internet based consumer-opinion panel with more than 500,000 members globally.  Interviews were conducted from November 10 to November 24, 2011. Such a sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.0 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.  For more information about American Consumer Opinion® online please visit www.acop.com.

*The above was a media announcement from Staples.


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