Bad Publicity for a House Raffle
Well, the Land of Enchantment is dripping wet! Our usual dry weather has been blessed with lots of rain, and we’re loving it. It feels like Oregon these days.
Yesterday, I came across an article on the internet about a house raffle run by a high school to raise funds for much-needed renovations. This is a great cause, and the local community will certainly support this type of raffle. However, the article contained information that could hurt ticket sales, and for that reason, I’m not mentioning the name of the raffle or even the state where the raffle is taking place. The writer stated that approximately 3,000 tickets had been sold, and if 6,000 tickets are not sold by the X date, then the raffle will need to be cancelled. Yikes!! That’s a big negative for ticket buyers. That statement will not incentivise people to buy; it will incentivise people to wait and see.
I caution everyone out there working on a house raffle to be careful what they say to the media. Publicity is king, and good publicity is the best way to get tickets sold, but statements like the above will make buyers hold back. Sure, most house raffles have a minimum number of tickets that they must sell to hold their drawing, but don’t emphasise this. Put it in the raffle rules, which ticket buyers should receive a copy of, and let it rest.
I imagine the writer of the article and the person being interviewed thought that by making that statement, it would create a push for people to buy so the raffle would not get cancelled, but that isn’t the way human nature works. People buy a raffle ticket primarily to win, then their second motivation is to help the cause, but they don’t want the bother of buying a ticket,The raffle is cancelled, and now they have to wait and trust that they will get their money back.
If you are asked:
How many tickets do you need to sell to hold a drawing? In this case, the answer is: “We need to sell 6,000 and we’re confident that we will get them all sold. However, anything you can do to pass the word would be appreciated.” You are confident, even if you’re ticket sales are trailing, the marketing plan you have in place should include additional pushes to get tickets sold, and you must be incorporating them to the end. Does the jockey on a horse that is trailing in a race give up? No, because the race is not over, and the horse could still win. Come out of the gate running, and run to the finish line.