Marketing with Sweepstakes

No doubt Gap will receive a large amount of consumer data in its “Gap Casting Call Sweepstakes,” which encouraged parents to submit a photo their children for a chance to win three spectacular prizes. This sweepstakes worked because they targeted potential buyers of their products, the parents.

One of my co-workers actually submitted a photo of her son and asked everyone in the office to vote for him. The child with the most votes increased their chances of winning two-fold. So once friends, family, co-workers and other viewers visited the site and voted, they could then forward the link to their friends and family to do the same or submit their own child’s photo. However, in order to vote participants had to register first allowing Gap to collect your contact information.

Gap found a convenient and easy way to spread the word about their contest. By using sweepstakes as a marketing tool, everyone’s a winner. Sweepstakes can be used not only to collect data, but to increase sales, attract new customers, drive customers to the store or website and increase brand awareness. Here are a few things you should know about sweepstakes marketing.

• Choose Your Audience: Promote your sweepstakes to potential buyers of your products or services.
• State Your Intentions: If you’re collecting your viewers contact information including their email address, you should make it clear that it’s being added to your company’s email file. Gap stated the intentions o f their sweepstakes and offered voters the ability to opt-in or opt-out of future advertisements and offers.
• Confirm Your Relationship: Follow up with a sweepstakes entry confirmation followed by a very clear welcome message. You can use this eblast to highlight another offer related to your sweepstakes to encourage a first purchase.

So while your potential customers are playing to win, you make sure that you win by defining the purpose of your sweepstakes and creating a drawing to suit your audience.

—Tavia 954-523-1957 ext. 25