PMP was launched 15 years ago, by coincidence, and hilarious misfortune, on April Fools’ Day. My sincere expectations were for it to be shut down after a few days, when I could no longer tolerate giving £10 away to strangers every day. We’ve since had ~3.5million signups, roughly 1 in 20 of the UK, given away £3.35 million, and been sued once.
We even have Superfans, like the omnipresent Chocolate Spaniel, and the very lovely and very orange Tango Doll (here she is telling us about her 2nd win), who sends us gifts every year. This year she made a very accurate PMP logo made of felt, and then hand delivered it to our office. She was in reception as I was leaving. She then made this impressive, though way too flattering, video about the whole experience:
It was so nice to meet her properly after all these years.
So how are things at PMP? To be honest, we’re mostly in the same place we were 10 years ago, which is around when we went from being my side hustle to a real business, with employees, and office plants. We have roughly the same number of people visiting daily (~200k), but make a lot less money from ads, but make that money back from the surveys on the Survey Draw. So, if you do want to support us, and you don’t regularly answer those surveys, please consider doing so. True, we used to give away more on the Main Draw, but we now give away more as Bonuses. We’ve had some very big Bonus wins over the last few years, which is both painful, and delightful at the same time, since we know those loyal members really deserve the extra cash.
So, why haven’t we grown. Well, first thing. In this world staying still itself is actually progress. Running a small business is already an uphill struggle, and it only seems to get tougher. The biggest issue though is that a free lottery just doesn’t fit neatly in a box that any of the big tech companies play nicely with. We want to advertise more on Google, but they say they need to see a gambling certificate, which is something we cannot and should not have because…. A free lottery is not gambling. Pretty much the same with Meta, and we’re even banned forever on Tiktok. For ever. They will not tell us why.
We’re often approached by big websites who want to promote us, only to find the Suits Department later say No, without explanation, and “will not correspond further on the matter.”
It sounds like I’m whingeing, and perhaps I am a bit, but I’m also proud. Proud that we’ve survived, have given away nearly £4 million as well as supported our team and their families. I’ll never stop being grateful for your daily visits, let alone birthday presents.
And here comes the Ask. Given all the above it really does help when you share your Referral Link. They can stop us advertising, but they can’t stop you posting (….yet….).
Back to the Tango Doll. In an earlier email she listed some ideas for getting the word out about PMP. They included, outdoor ads with a QR code for signing up (I like this… Will look into it) and a Road Show where I turn up in an area with the most picked postcodes (Not so keen on this one, as I don’t think anyone will recognise me).
One idea we’re considering at the moment is whether to run a paid draw, whether as a one-off or weekly event. We realise this doesn’t really fit the ethos, but given how the tech cos and suits think we’re gambling anyway, and the amount of people who write in suggesting it, is it time to give it a go? Imagine a £1 entry and a chance to win, say £10,000.. Would that work? We’re keen to hear your thoughts about this, and any other suggestions in the comments section below.
Until next time, here’s a photo of the Tango Doll (Sheridan) and me, outside our office.
Love
Chris & Team & Superfans x
