The Top 5 Mistakes Marketers Make When Running a Sweepstakes
By: Carolyn Wilman
Companies are looking for exciting and innovative ways to reach out and engage new prospects and continue to connect with their current customers. A fun and stimulating way to do this is running a sweepstakes.
Let's discuss the Top 5 Mistakes Marketers Make to eliminate the myths and assumptions, vs the reality, when it comes to sweepstakes hobbyists. (Yes, there are people who enter sweepstakes as a hobby. In fact, there are so many sweepstakes hobbyists, aka "sweepers", in the U.S., that they have an annual convention!)
Firstly, where do sweepers come from? Marketers create them. Here's how. Marketers design wonderful, amazing, creative promotions. People enter. Someone wins. The prize winner(s) start off in disbelief. Then, they wonder what else they can win. They are now a sweeper. I call it contest crack, one win and they're hooked. Marketers are, in effect, handing out the crack and are upset when people get hooked.
MISTAKE #1 Marketers not addressing the issues that stop people from entering sweepstakes in the first place.
The four objections marketers must overcome:
No one really wins. Do they?
The company will sell my information and I will get a lot of SPAM.
I am afraid of identity theft.
I never win anything.
What is your company doing to address a potential entrant's objections? If you say nothing, then you will not meet your promotion's marketing objectives.
MISTAKE #2 Trying to stop "professional" sweepers from entering.
This ties into Mistake #1. If the average consumer isn't entering due to their fears and you stop "professional" sweepers from entering, who will enter? Smart marketers utilize sweepers to viral their promotion further and faster, thus maximizing their ROI.
Post your promotion in newsletters such as sweepsheet.com or on websites such as online-sweepstakes.com, sweepsadvantage.com or sweepstakestoday.com to begin your viral marketing campaign. An ever-growing community of 'sweepers' will broadcast your message for you for free!
MISTAKE #3 Only doing Front-End marketing.
The entire company must be involved with the promotion from pre-launch to close.
The entire Marketing Department: The promotion must be handled with as much attention to detail at the end as there was in the creation.
Reception and Customer Service: Many times they are not briefed about a promotion, yet are given as the contact for inquiries.
Most companies feel their job as a marketer is complete once the sweepstakes has started rolling. Your job isn't finished until the last prize has been sent to the winner and everyone is happy. I have seen entire promotions fall apart via social networking and online forums, either during or at the end of the promotion when the sponsor drops the ball not realizing the damage being done to their company's brand, undoing any gains made by holding the sweepstakes in the first place, or worse, ruining their company's reputation entirely. Any problems may also have serious legal implications if the rules are not "air-tight". (http://www.lfirm.com/CM/MarketingLawBasics/Sweepstakes-Law-Basics.asp)
Many companies are very indifferent when enthusiastic sweepers contact them to get clarification on some aspect of the sweepstakes. They are a marketing department's best friend! If the sweeper cannot figure out the promotion or gets frustrated while entering, the average consumer will not bother and the marketing campaign will not achieve its goals.
MISTAKE #4 Thinking that contestors are not customers or consumers.
Assuming someone is not your target market based on a data profile.
Not knowing who your entrants know. Not taking into account the growth in social networking and an entrant's ability to influence your future and potential customers.
Not only am I a marketer, I am a sweeper and guess what? 99% of the items I use on a daily basis, I bought! Yes, I do win 5-15+ prizes every month, but the CD I won isn't going to get me to work and the trip I won isn't going to feed my family. I make car payments and buy groceries just like everyone else. Guess what else? Sweepers change buying habits based on sweepstakes and support the contest sponsors. For example, since we won a trip to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics from Weston Bakeries, we have only purchased Wonder Bread.
MISTAKE #5 Your Marketing Department is not able to handle the success of the promotion.
Can your company handle tens of thousands of letters?
Can your website handle hundreds of thousands of hits?
If you feel your firm cannot handle all aspects of a promotion, hire a judging agency, or at a minimum, if your company chooses to keep it in-house, hire someone like myself to review and trial the promotion before it is launched to spot potential issues in the execution.
Do not let the fear of making a mistake stop you from running a sweepstakes. Companies in the U.S. spent $1.83 billion running promotions and that number is expected to triple by 2012. It is a very viable marketing tool available to you. So, use your imagination, give away prizes and HAVE FUN!!
About the Author:
With tens of thousands of dollars in annual winnings from hundreds of sweepstakes, Carolyn Wilman truly is a Contest Queen. Carolyn's wins include everything from trips to Europe, the United States, the Caribbean and Canada, to a meeting with Sting; a year's supply of pizza, bubble gum and goldfish snacks, to theatre tickets, DVDs and CDs. Carolyn has also worked in sales and marketing for over two decades. She is the founder of ContestQueen.com, a business consulting and promotional marketing firm. Her efforts as a marketing expert landed her on the cover of Marketing Magazine in 2006 and was named by MORE Magazine as one of Canada's Top 40 Women over 40 in 2007.
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