Everybody loves the iPad – except for only those who have denounced its fruit-themed manufacturer in favour of Google, the other giant in the industry. Such is the popularity of this iOS powered tablet device that it has become a hot-favourite sms marketing giveaway for marketing teams from many small to large scale companies all over the world. Harsh it may sound however, giving away an iPad for each and every type of contest is simply a short-sighted decision that does more harm than good in the long run.

But to understand how, we must have a look at why these companies are so keen on giving away the iPad to contest winners. 

Apparently, when a company starts a text-messaging giveaway program, the aim is to gather the personal details such as names, phone numbers, email addresses and address of as many people as they can, so as to store those details for future marketing purposes. And since it is one of the most popular gadgets around in the market today, by announcing the iPad as a free giveaway, these companies expect to have a larger number of participants for their later sms marketing campaign.

But giving away an iPad for each and every type of contest is really not the best option in the long run. For example, if you are running a travel company with the call-to-action stating “text in for your chance to win a free trip to Hawaii!”, that would certainly make a lot more business sense than giving away the i-Device. This way, you will be getting a whole list of travel enthusiasts who mean something to your business. Now, compare this to the iPad scheme we have been talking about — an iPad lover does not necessarily have to be a travel enthusiast — who knows, perhaps he or she even hates travelling.

However, giving away an Apple device can be a good decision at times—- especially at events like an industry tradeshow where you know that the crowd will mostly comprise of your target audience. Because, their presence at the trade show already qualified them as your potential future customers, giving away an iPad under such a circumstance will perhaps give you an edge over your rivals present in the show— after all, not too many of us really can resist the temptation of a free iPad.