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For quite some time now, we’ve been preaching that contests are the fastest way to grow your email list. FloridaGoGo Giveaway from The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, FL) is a prime example of that. By entering this sweepstakes for a chance to win a weekend getaway, users are opted in to receive the paper’s FloridaGoGo travel email. This simple sweepstakes contest grew the Post’s email list by 333%!

If you have a list-building contest to show off, let us know by leaving a comment.

Are you running a deals program? Check out our “How to Build Your Deals List” webinar for insights on how to power your deals program to the next level.

With summer vacations in full swing, July is a great month to run a vacation contest like the one from our friends at The San Diego Union-Tribune. Whether its a photo contest or a simple sweepstakes, summertime is a great time to reach out to advertisers looking to attract new customers before the summer comes to a close and school starts. Here are some great summer travel contests to get you excited!

- JackFM’s Family Summer Vacation Photo Contest
- The Day‘s Summer Days Giveaway
- WTVC-TV’s Design Your Own Dream Vacation

Contest of the Month July 2011: Carefree Vacations from The San Diego Union-Tribune

The San Diego Union-Tribune has teamed up with multiple sponsors (Apple Vacations, Pleasant Holidays, Princess Cruises and many more) to giveaway four exciting vacation packages! Not only will three professional photographers vote on the winners, but one winner with the most votes will also get a vacation package!

Kansas City Parent (Kansas City, KS) hosts this adorable “duckorating” contest for local businesses and organizations. Each business decorates a rubber duck and the top 3 will be displayed at the Children’s TLC Duck Derby – what a fun contest idea! (Check out how they promote the contest on their home page. Hint: look at the duck in the corner!)

Schools out for summer! With the arrival of June comes summer vacations, hot weather and outings with the family! Take advantage of all the fun activities your community has to offer by having a sweepstakes for tickets to baseball games and summer concerts. Don’t forget about all the awesome pictures people take on vacation! How about a “Memorable Moments” or “Beach Baby” contest?

Talk to your local advertisers about “Staycation” giveaways that can run in conjunction with your Daily Deal offers! Example: “Enter to win a summer pass to White Waters! Like us on Facebook and Sign up for our Daily Deal emails and be entered five more times!”

For more great summer contest ideas, check out our June, July and August archives.

WROC-TV (Rochester, NY) is running UPICKEM’s national golf challenge contest. To get viewers tee’d up for the challenge, the station ran this promotional video (check it out on Facebook here!) featuring Scott Hetsko from their weather team and John Kucko from their sports team. Thanks for sharing!