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WINNING! FREE STUFF! $$$$$$! ENTER NOW!

In case you’re not an average human, here’s a helpful bit of news: people love to win things and stuff. And money. Now that we all know that, it should come as no surprise that internet promotions and sweepstakes are powerful tools.

Powerful tools, that is, if they are used correctly. You know, because “with great power comes great responsibility” and all that.

As a writer, it’s incredibly exciting to be tasked with developing online sweepstakes. It’s also challenging. As part of a robust program, a single online promotion brings with it point of sale, advertising (sometimes traditional but definitely online), PR, social media, email blasts and more.

So how do you effectively communicate the excitement of a sweeps without losing focus on your brand? I’ve figured out a few things that might help you out.

It has to make sense.

While it seems like I’m Captain ObviousPants, this will be a HUGE factor in any promotion’s success…or failure.

A generic “enter to win” promotion will get you entries, but won’t contribute to building your brand or creating consumer loyalty.

Your sweepstakes has to align with your brand’s core values. The prize needs to be framed up in a way that brings your brand positioning to life.

Create that connection and you’ve hit gold. You’ll still get entries – but you’ll have the added bonus of brand awareness, affinity and possibly even loyalty. Now THAT’S a beautiful thing.

You have to know your market.

You might think it would be super rad to win a robot penguin, but would your target market agree?

And does the prize really have to be big? Plenty of web promotions focus on rewarding consumers with smaller prizes, from coupons and free product to small prize packs.

Get inside the mind of your consumer, poke around and find out what they want.

You have to know your media.

How are you promoting this program? You have to know each medium well in order to maximize each one’s effectiveness.

For example, if you’ve included email marketing in your plan, you have to know what spambots are on the lookout for when they see your message.

While WIN and FREE create instant appeal for print and online ads, spammers figured that out a long time ago and, as punishment to us marketers, we can’t use those words.

Rude, huh?

Well, that just means email content has to be spam-safe but also interesting enough to get that click. Ultimately, you just have to know and follow the rules.

You have to HAVE FUN!

Unless you’re giving away a box of used tissues, winning is SOOOOO FUN! Make sure your program reflects that. Have fun, be excited and people will be amped to get on board.

Go now and create the best internet promotion in the history of history.

Need some inspiration? Check out the case study for our award-winning Start Right End Right Sweepstakes!

PS – If you think a box of used tissues would be a fun prize, maybe don’t look me up on LinkedIn.