Brought to you by National Sweepstakes Company:
Anyone familiar with the world of digital marketing knows just how much it involves. There’s so much strategy to implement, so many tips to follow, apps to join, and shortcuts to use. There are things you *should* be doing, digital marketing-wise, if you want your business to survive. Then there are things that you would really benefit from if you did them, but they’re time-consuming – and there’s no guarantee you’ll get them right.
If you’ve ever heard of holding a sweepstakes as a marketing initiative, you might have dismissed the idea as being too time-consuming. Chances are, you’ve had someone non-committedly suggest, “Hey, you should host a sweepstake, it worked well for so-and-so,” and you’ve simply shrugged it off as not at the top of your list of priorities. After all, you think, sweepstakes are temporary and relatively small-scale, so they’re not worth your time … aren’t they?
That assumption would be wrong. Actually, when they’re done properly, sweepstakes can be highly influential for businesses. They can win over an entirely new audience with virtually no effort or advertising push on your part – you just need to know how to market your sweepstakes successfully. If you want to understand why sweepstakes can be so effective at influencing customer decisions, read on.
First of all, what is a sweepstake?
In case you’re not familiar with sweepstakes, they’re a form of online competition, free to enter, which are hosted by businesses that use the online attention to promote their products or services to an interested audience.
To enter a sweepstake, applicants usually have to submit a number of personal details, including their name and email address, using an online form. Entrants’ names are then entered into the sweepstake, and they will be notified (usually by email) of the winner at a later date. Sweepstake prizes tend to be fairly high in price, in order to attract the biggest interested audience possible. Prizes may be an expensive product or service, such as a designer bag or a holiday. Cars and money are also popular prizes in sweepstakes.
Let’s consider you’re planning to host your own sweepstake, using one of your most expensive products as a prize. If you know how to implement your sweepstake successfully, and more importantly, legally, you should reap huge rewards for your efforts. Here’s how the influential power of sweepstakes can be beneficial to your business:
To Help Shine a Positive Light on a Business
Whoever said that “all publicity is good publicity” might be right to some extent, but there’s still no denying hard facts: the best publicity is the positive stuff. And there’s no point in waiting for a miracle news story documenting your charity work from the local press when you can create your own positive publicity through your curated marketing campaigns.
Out of all areas of digital marketing, sweepstakes are the most effective at positive promotion – and there’s very little active selling that has to be done on your part. Once you have your sweepstake circulating the internet with its attractive prize on show for all to see, you’ve succeeded in showcasing your business in as delightful a light as possible, no paid PR needed.
To Advertise – Without the Advertorial Content
People hate advertisements, and that’s a fact. According to recent consumer surveys, 88% of online users wish they could filter out the obnoxious ads from the internet, and 91% of people say ads are more intrusive today than they were two to three years ago. There’s so much bad advertorial content online nowadays that businesses need to get clever in the form that their ads are taking, or find a way to banish them completely.
The great thing about sweepstakes is that they’re an indirect method of advertising that enable businesses to showcase their best features in a clever way. If you know what you’re doing, by the time your sweepstake is up and running, you’ve managed to sell your business to hundreds of people as effectively as if you had used a traditional direct advertisement, but your audience doesn’t even know they’re being advertised to.
To Make a Business or a Product Desirable
Sweepstakes are essentially large-scale internet-based competitions, so don’t be surprised if the nature of your sweepstake encourages your applicants to see your business from a competitive eye. The sweepstake’s prize is desirable, which gives it a unique, limited-edition feel (even if it most likely isn’t).
From the eyes of your sweepstake entrants, this gives your entire business a level of desirability that creates the “must have now” feeling when they shop your products. Welcome: lots of new sales.
By Asking Customers to Consider a Purchase They May Not Have Considered Before
Even when all but one of your sweepstake entrants won’t win the prize, a cleverly planned sweepstake will still get them hooked on your products, even if they hadn’t realized they wanted them before. This is the power of presenting something in the enticing form of a competition — it sucks people in without them fully understanding why.
There aren’t many things in life that people truly need, which is why digital marketing is most successful when it appeals to people’s wants. A sweepstake can convince entrants of how much they want to win your product, which is far more impactful than if they were to believe they needed your product.
Hosting Your Own Sweepstakes
Taking marketing into your own hands isn’t easy, but that’s not to say you’re incapable of doing so and seeing much success from it. Still, if you’re uncertain about a particular aspect of sweepstake hosting or you’re worried about making a legal error, you can get in touch with a National Sweepstakes Company for expert support and advice.
A sweepstakes company can help you with as much or as little of your sweepstake hosting as suits you, as well as handle all of the administrative details and paperwork that cover promotional budgets and sweepstake law.
