You’ve probably seen MANY online summits. And you may have heard about giveaways, similar collaborations based on downloadable gifts instead of audio or video interviews. 

There have certainly been A LOT of these types of events marketed to entrepreneurs over the past decade. Summits have waned significantly over the past several years in the business niche because they were overdone for awhile.

Then came giveaways, a quicker, more enticing alternative to hours of summit interviews. And the same thing happened. Giveaways were overdone and people got tired of them. 

See a pattern? Yes, every new business building strategy that proves effective will thrive for a time. When people start copying it and making it more common than unique, it gradually loses its power. 

Then it’s time to innovate again. 

The underlying strategy for summits and giveaways is still incredibly valuable for expanding your reach. Organize a collective of experts in your niche to offer education on a desirable topic. Deliver that education in a realtime virtual event through audio or video interviews (a summit). Or deliver it through on-demand downloadable gifts over a couple of weeks (a giveaway). 

The experts featured all promote the collaboration, while they all benefit from the visibility and list building that results. The audience receives an abundance of free education. Win-win-win!

Summits and giveaways are especially great for entrepreneurs who have smaller email lists and want to grow quickly. When you have a compelling theme and a strong group of experts participating, you can skyrocket your subscriber base by several thousand or more in a couple of weeks. 

This is the right question to ask instead of giving up on a timelessly powerful strategy. How can you innovate? 

Here are some ideas based on my experience hosting 8 summits and giveaways that have reached over 60,000 people…

Summits and especially giveaways haven’t been overdone in most non-business related niches - like health, relationships, career and personal growth. Many multi-expert collaborations are still thriving in these areas, great if you’re aiming to grow an email list with people interested in topics outside of business.

You don’t need to call your event a summit or a giveaway. Come up with a more creative name that conveys the value you’re offering. People tend to be wary of summits, thinking they’ll be too time consuming and the interviews too shallow. Or they think giveaways are a collection of random freebies that aren’t worth the energy of grabbing. These are prejudices formed from some shoddy events that were poor representations of what a great summit or giveaway can be. 

So package your event in a way that tells people how deeply substantial it is, how it provides powerful learning that’s well-organized and helpful. You can call it a Masterclass, an Online Workshop, a Series, an On-Demand Course or any other creative name that resonates with your tribe and represents the experience you’re creating for them. 

You can innovate by mixing up the features of a giveaway and summit. Giveaways are great lead magnets because they offer instant gratification gifts people can download quickly. That’s highly attractive and an easy YES for an opt-in offer. Summits are great at increasing engagement and sales conversion because they build a strong relationship with the audience through the interviews. Try adding very short on-demand interview clips to your giveaway to increase engagement. Or if you’re hosting a summit, invite your speakers to offer free gifts in addition to their interviews so you boost the level of interest in your event. 

Both summits and giveaways are more successful when they have strong engagement from the participants. The more people connect with you and your experts, the stronger the results. I encourage you to incorporate a Facebook group and Facebook live videos into your summit or giveaway to increase the interaction you have with your audience. 

So have fun with these ideas! And even better, brew more of your own through innovation. The world needs more experts with creative ideas. Get out there and expand your reach by hosting your own unique summit or giveaway. 

I teach the complete formula to host wildly successful summits and giveaways in my Lucrative Launch System. Go here to learn more.