Purpose of This Guide

This resource is for:

• Brick & Mortar small business owners called Sponsors who are eager to market smarter, whether flying solo or with a small team.

What you’ll gain:

• Insights into how CliquePrize® drives customer acquisition and loyalty, drawn from peer strategies
• Clarity on what delivers results versus what wastes effort, with CliquePrize®’s advantages in focus
• Actionable ways to use CliquePrize® for big impact, no matter your industry or scale

About the survey:

We collected responses from over 1,000 small business leaders (1-100 employees) across our core small business categories: Questions varied—some required single choices, others allowed ranking—capturing diverse perspectives. Percentages reflect these formats, with ranked answers weighted to highlight priorities.

• Bars & Restaurants: 20%
• Hair Salons/Nails/Beauty: 15%
• Gyms/Sports/Kickboxing/Yoga: 10%
• Party Centers/Event Planning: 8%
• Karate/Swim/Music Schools: 6%
• Dermatology/Skincare: 6%
• Tanning Salons: 4%
• HVAC: 6%
• Bridal Shops: 4%
• Real Estate Open Houses: 5%
• Tourism: 5%
• Interior Designers: 5%
• Others: 6%

Employee Size Distribution

• 1-10 employees: Common for salons, bridal shops, tanning
• 10-20 employees: Event planning, small gyms
• 21-30 employees: Less common but sometimes for bars & restaurants
• 31-40 employees: for mid-sized gyms & HVAC
• 41-50 employees: for larger restaurants
• 51-90 employees: Less common for these categories
• 91-100 employees: for the largest firms (e.g., chain gyms)
• Others: Minimal, as ranges cover 1-100

Estimated Data:

• 1-10 employees: 25%
• 10-20 employees: 20%
• 21-30 employees: 15%
• 31-40 employees: 15%
• 41-50 employees: 13%
• 51-90 employees: 10%
• 91-100 employees: 10%
• Others: 2%

2. Why CliquePrize® Beats Social Media For Brick & Mortar Small Business Growth

We asked small businesses to rank opportunities for expanding reach and gaining customers. CliquePrize®’s giveaway-driven model offers a dynamic alternative to conventional tactics.

Building Brand Visibility

Social media led for awareness, but CliquePrize® amplifies this by turning engagement into lead capture. Its giveaways spark shares and interactions, creating organic buzz that cuts through digital clutter, but more importantly results in actionable local data you can market to (namely email addresses and mobile phones).

Attracting New Customers

Social platforms topped customer acquisition, but CliquePrize® excels at converting leads into repeat paying customers. Giveaways with prizes—are incentives to capture leads. Social media doesn't offer this and the benefits are minimal in comparison.

Budget Priorities

Most plan to increase digital marketing (78%) and social media (73%), with 57% boosting email. Traditional ads face cuts (19%). CliquePrize® aligns with this digital shift, offering high-impact giveaways at low cost, complementing email and social strategies. In essence, more bang for your dollar.

Key Insight: Impact Drives Decisions

Small businesses seek clear returns. CliquePrize® delivers by merging social engagement with measurable outcomes—more social shares of giveaways captures more leads. Unlike algorithm-dependent platforms, CliquePrize® gives you control, ensuring efforts yield growth.

3. Small Business Challenges and Goals: The CliquePrize® Difference

Top Challenges

Customer acquisition dominated (i.e. lead generation), web traffic, social engagement, and brand awareness. Retention, email growth, and algorithm navigation ranked lower.

Top Goals

Acquiring customers was the primary goal, trailed by retention, increasing customer value, and generating buzz. Pipeline growth and email lists were less urgent.

CliquePrize®’s Solution

CliquePrize® addresses these head-on:

• Acquisition & Leads: Giveaways captures leads with rewards, boosting sign-ups and referrals through Refer A Friend
• Engagement & Traffic: Contestants will visit your site to learn about your small business; this results in visits to your site or social media profiles
• Retention & Value: Exclusive offers keep Contestants returning, decreasing acquisition spend
• Buzz & Advocacy: Viral campaigns turn Contestants into promoters and brand advocates

Its simplicity, small businesses focus on connection, not complexity.

Key Insight: Authenticity Wins

Direct engagement builds trust. CliquePrize®’s giveaways create memorable experiences, making customers feel valued and eager to engage—via shares or email opt-ins. Why? Because giveaways signal that you are putting skin in the game to earn their trust. This is the essence of incentive marketing.

4. What Works, What Doesn’t, and What CliquePrize® Already Knows

Popular Channels

Social platforms (69.6%) and email (64.1%) lead, followed by direct mail (52.4%) and select networks (48.3%). Podcasts (18.8%) lag behind.

Difficult Channels

Influencer campaigns and SEO were toughest, followed by digital ads. Email and social were easiest, favoring accessible tools.

What Flopped

Some reported universal success, but others noted failures in social ads, direct mailings, and podcasts due to low engagement or high costs

CliquePrize® avoids these traps:

• User-Friendly: No expertise needed, unlike influencer or SEO hurdles
• Results-Driven: Giveaways outperform static ads or ignored mailings; there's a clear ROI with giveaways in numbers
• Affordable: Delivers better ROI than costly flops like billboards.

Key Insight: Results Matter

CliquePrize® lets you skip ineffective tactics for a proven strategy. Giveaways work because everyone wants to win something for free, turning passive audiences into active fans without draining resources.

5. Budgets and Returns: CliquePrize®’s Value

Biggest Investments

Small businesses prioritized traditional ads, email, and social, with digital ads and content close behind. Niche channels saw minimal spend.

Best Returns

Email led ROI, followed by social and traditional ads. Direct channels consistently outperformed.

CliquePrize® Flips The Model

CliquePrize® maximizes returns by blending email and social:

• Low Cost: Giveaways cost less than ads, with prizes more effective than any other method to capture lead data
• Direct Access: Pair giveaways with email to nurture leads and own your data.
• Trackable: Monitor entries and conversions; which is why CliquePrize® cares about MQLs and SQLs
• Incremental: CliquePrize® is the only digital promotions app that has 3rd party Affiliate Publisher management; this matters because now you can capture incremental, relevant leads by simply exchanging banners and paying nothing for the leads

Key Insight: ROI is King

CliquePrize® turns small budgets into big gains, focusing on controlled, direct channels for measurable growth.

Our survey shows small businesses thrive on direct, impactful connections. CliquePrize® embodies this, offering a fun, affordable app that transforms customer acquisition with modern digital tools.

With giveaways that spark engagement, drive traffic, and capture leads, CliquePrize® levels the playing field—no huge budget needed. From health spas to bridal shops, it transforms growth prospects, letting you focus on building a brand customers love.

Ready to rethink marketing? Try CliquePrize® and discover why it’s the small business growth app of choice.

🚀 Ready to take your marketing to the next level? Download the CliquePrize® app and create a FREE Sponsor Account today!

CliquePrize®*** is the iPhone Giveaways mobile app that helps Small Businesses grow by reaching, nurturing and converting local, high value prospects. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know!***