How to Sponsor an
Online Sweepstakes: Have You Planned Your Promotion Carefully?
By Susan Donahue Erler
Winning Ways Sweepstakes Newsletter
With the
overwhelming number of new Web sites being added to the Internet
on a daily basis, how do you distinguish yours from the rest?
More and more companies are using sweepstakes promotions
as a way to attract people to their Web sites. Holding a legitimate
sweepstakes is an excellent way to attract attention to your company
and its products. It's also a way to reward customer loyalty to
your established client base.
Major companies such as Kellogg’s, Proctor
& Gamble, Clairol, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, M&M Mars, Taco Bell,
Johnson & Johnson, Better Homes & Gardens, Visa, and Disney
have used sweepstakes successfully for decades to attract new customers
and to reward their loyal customers. Typically, sweepstakes have
been used with more traditional printed media methods, but with
the explosion of the Internet, many companies now enjoy the ability
to promote their sweepstakes online. Whether you choose to establish
your sweepstakes online, through more traditional print methods,
or a combination of both, there are things you need to consider
before you begin. This article focuses on those things you need
to consider before creating and promoting an online sweepstakes.
Planning Your Promotion
As with any good marketing promotion, you need
to plan the event carefully. To have a successful sweepstakes promotion,
you need to:
- Consider your goals
- Target your audience
- Determine the structure
- Promote your event
Considering Your Goals
First, consider your goals for having a sweepstakes.
That's easy--you want to generate traffic to your Web site, correct?
Sponsoring a legitimate sweepstakes is one way to do that. If one
of your goals is to get feedback for a new product, instead of sponsoring
a sweepstakes, you might want to consider offering a small gift
or sample to those who would try your product in return for giving
you feedback. If one of your goals is to get feedback about your
Web site, then you can build questions into a sweepstakes entry
form that will accomplish that. If you want to expose consumers
to a new product, offering a sample as a sweepstakes prize is an
excellent way to generate interest. If one of your goals is to increase
your hit counter to maximize advertising potential for your Web
site, then sponsoring a sweepstakes will accomplish that, too.
Targeting Your Audience
You should match the offer of your promotion to
the goals you are trying to achieve and the audience you are trying
to attract. If you are trying to attract a general audience, then
you can give away a general prize such as cash, gift certificates,
or general merchandise such as a TV, stereo, bikes, and so forth.
Do you sell a product? Do you perform a service? Offer a sample
of your product or a trial period of your service as a prize. The
people who enter your sweepstakes will be targeted more towards
your product or service. You will most definitely attract fewer
entrants, but those people will be more likely to purchase your
product or service in the future.
Take some time to really think about what you offer as a prize.
You don’t have to give away large prizes to get a good response,
but don’t skimp on the prizes, either. There are hundreds
of sites giving away T-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs, and free
Web pages. Your promotion will get lost in the myriad of other sites
giving away similar prizes.
Once you decide the prize offerings for your sweepstakes,
you can begin to form the structure of your promotion.
Determining the Structure of Your
Sweepstakes
There are different types of sweepstakes and contest
promotions that you can sponsor. The type you choose depends on
how you would like your promotion to be handled.
Sweepstakes are those promotions in which the sponsors
do not require any purchase or monetary exchange to enter. Any legal
sweepstakes must provide a way for people to enter without purchasing
anything. This is typically when sponsors require entrants to mail
their names, addresses, and phone numbers on a 3x5 piece of paper
or index card. Online, you can provide an e-mail address to which
entrants can send their entries or you can have them fill in an
online entry form.
Raffles are those promotions in which you would
require entrants to purchase tickets for a set amount of money.
Raffles don’t attract as much attention as sweepstakes, for
obvious reasons.
Contests are those promotions in which the sponsor
requires the entrant to submit more than just their name and address,
such as a recipe, photo, jingle, answers to questions, and other
creative information.
There are also other types of promotions such as
instant-win games on specially marked packages of a sponsors products,
but handling this type of promotion is not within the scope of this
article. If you are interested in sponsoring a game of this type,
any respectable marketing agency should be able to help you set
one up.
No matter which type of promotion you choose to
sponsor, every promotion needs to include certain information. You
should include the following information at your Web site regarding
your promotion:
-
Information about the company holding the
sweepstakes. Who are you? This should be covered at your main
Web site, but you would be surprised at the number of sites
that sponsored an online sweepstakes and forgot to link the
sweepstakes page back to their main site.
-
A full description of the prizes that you
are offering. Make sure that the entrants know exactly what
is included in your offering. If you are giving away a cruise
as a prize, is the airfare included? Transportation?
- A contact name if entrants have any questions about your sweepstakes.
-
A set of the official rules. The official
rules need to address the items that further make up the structure
of your promotion.
You also need to consider how you are going to
set up your method of entry, certain legalities of sponsoring a
sweepstakes, and whether your promotion is going to have a legitimate
"look-and-feel." The following sections will address each
of these areas.
The Official Rules
Every legitimate sweepstakes MUST have a set of
official rules. The official rules should state exactly how the
sweepstakes is structured and any restrictions or limitations about
your promotion. For example, how many times do you want people to
be able to enter your sweepstakes? Once per day? Per month? Throughout
the life of the sweepstakes? Many sponsors who first held an online
sweepstakes didn't specify how many times a person could enter,
and realized after receiving tens or hundreds of entries a day from
the same people, they should have considered that factor in the
beginning. Also, remember to think globally. Are you ready to ship
the prize overseas if the winner lives in Germany? If you are giving
away a cash prize, we always assume that it is in US dollars, but
you are always safer to state that up front so as to avoid any confusion.
The official rules should contain the complete structure of your
promotion.
The official rules for the sweepstakes need to
include the following information:
- The name of your sweepstakes.
-
A prize description and its value. If you
are giving away 1 grand prize, 5 first prizes, and 25 second
prizes, this is the place to include full descriptions plus
the approximate retail value (ARV).
-
Entry requirements, such as whether you are
accepting online entries only, 3x5 index card or postcard mail-in
options (and the address in which to send entries), and so forth.
Many sweepstakes support online and mail-in methods of entry.
- Information required for entries (name, address, zip, phone,
e-mail, any qualifiers, UPCs, recipes, essays, questionnaire items,
and so forth). Remember not to get too personal.
-
Residency eligibility (open to which states
or countries). Open in US and Canada? Void in PR?
- Any age restrictions.
-
Any restrictions for number of times a person
can enter. Make sure this information is visible. Whether you
are going to allow multiple entries per person or just a singe
entry per person, make sure people know that before they enter.
- Entry deadlines.
-
Drawing date or frequency if you have multiple
deadlines. If you are holding a quarterly drawing, what are
your entry cut-off dates and the drawing dates?
- Any other information that is relevant to entering.
- A URL of where the winners’ names will be posted, or
an address if you want to provide a way for people to send a self-addressed
stamped envelope for the winners’ list.
- Contact information if people should have any questions.
Make this information as accessible as possible.
Sponsors generally will create a separate Web page for the official
rules and post a link near the bottom of the online entry form or
near the sweepstakes' name. There are many sponsors who post their
official rules on the Web. Do some research and see how they set
them up. Good sites for this are www.disney.com, www.kraft.com,
and www.blockbuster.com. These sites constantly have sweepstakes
promotions.
Setting Up the Method of Entry
There are typically two ways you can have people
enter an online sweepstakes: by sending an e-mail message to a generic
e-mail account or by submitting an online entry form.
If you are going to collect any type of demographic
information you receive from the entries, you'll want to set up
an entry form and have the information ported into a database such
as Access®. If you choose to have entrants send you a mail message,
be prepared to enter all of the information manually into a database
if you plan on recording the information for use at a later date.
This will depend on your Web site and whether you have the access
or ability to generate forms, have access to the CGI bin, or have
the resources to hire someone to do this for you. The specifics
of how to create a form is not within the scope of this article.
There are many good resources on the Web that can help walk you
through this process.
Planning a good entry form for your sweepstakes
will yield you better results for your goals. The information you
request should be formulated from your goals. It's perfectly acceptable
to ask questions about consumer preferences on your entry form,
such as brand name awareness or shopping habits. Be aware, though,
that if you ask for information that is too personal, such as income
level, you may not get a large response. People are still very wary
about giving out that sort of information—with good reason.
Even if you represent a very well-known company, people aren’t
going to divulge a lot of personal information.
Also, don't arbitrarily assume that because people
enter your sweepstakes that it's acceptable to contact them with
other product information. Provide a check box on your entry form
so people can choose whether they want you to contact them with
offers, notices, or special discounts in the future. Sending them
unsolicited e-mail just because they entered your sweepstakes is
akin to sending spam. Your second promotion will most likely be
a lot less successful, because people will know that you are just
collecting names to send them unwanted mail at a later date. Also,
if you do plan on sending them mail in the future, let them know
where you got their names. They most likely aren’t going to
remember every sweepstakes they entered a month or two ago.
The whole promotion idea is to get people to visit
your Web site. It’s perfectly acceptable to place your entry
form at the bottom of a page so that you can provide some information
about your product or service before it. You can also ask a question
on the entry form that pertains to your product or service if you
want. Make sure the answer is easily found on your other Web pages.
There are a lot of different ways you can set up an online sweepstakes
entry form, so think about the information you want to receive from
your entrants.
Legalities of Running a Sweepstakes
You now have the information you need to set up
your promotion. The next step is to ensure that you are complying
with local laws and regulations. Do you know that if the prize you
offer is worth more than $5000, the State of Florida requires that
you post a bond before starting your sweepstakes? If you don't post
that bond, then your sweepstakes is considered illegal in the State
of Florida. This is one of the reasons that you'll often see sweepstakes
void in certain states. This is also the main reason that you find
a lot of smaller prizes available in sweepstakes.
If this is your first time sponsoring a sweepstakes,
make sure you check with local laws about possible restrictions.
Will liquor laws, firearms laws, or tobacco laws apply to your sweepstakes?
Is the prize value significant (over $500)? Do you need to provide
winners with a 1099 claim form at the end of the year? Local marketing
and promotion agencies can help you with this information. Also,
a great online resource for the legalities of running sweepstakes
and contests is the Arent Fox Contests and Sweepstakes Law Internet
Law Site at www.arentfox.com/features/sweepstakes/. They are available
to answer any questions you may have about your promotion, and they
are extremely helpful!
The Appearance of Your Promotion: Legitimate or Scam
Entering sweepstakes has been a viable hobby for
many years. The way you handle your promotion will show people whether
or not your promotion is legitimate. Legitimacy is the key. People
are tired of e-mail scams, Web sites that are nothing but ads, and
get-rich-quick schemes.
Many sites hold a sweepstakes just for the sole
purpose of gathering names. For example, one site chose to give
away a custom designed T-shirt every month as the grand prize. It
also listed 100 second prizes per month consisting of a coupon worth
$5 off of any purchase at their site. Guess who won second prize?
Guess who won second prize every month that she entered? If you
want to offer all of the people who visit your Web site $5 off of
every purchase, then just do it. Create a nice graphic, or coupon,
or order form with the discount posted right on it. Don't hide it
or disguise it as a sweepstakes. The last thing your business can
afford is a sense of ill will!
If you hold a sweepstakes just for the sole purpose
of gathering names, you are quickly going make a lot of enemies
on the Web. You might as well send bulk e-mail, because you'll get
basically the same reaction. SCAM!
The image of your offer is going provide visitors
with insight as to how you run your business. You want to showcase
your business in the best light possible, so don't hurry or skimp
when planning a sweepstakes.
Promoting Your Sweepstakes
You probably have heard from many Web marketing
and promotion companies that holding a sweepstakes will drive hoards
of traffic to your site, and you'll reap huge lists of customers
that you can contact after the promotion is over. It's a bit of
an overstatement, but the promotion idea is a sound one.
You announce a sweepstakes just like you would
announce any new Web site. Announce it in newsgroups such as alt.consumers.sweepstakes,
online sweepstakes sites such as www.onlinesweeps.com, and submit
your sweepstakes page to the major search engines and directories.
There are currently over 50 well-known sites (both commercial and
noncommercial) that list online sweepstakes. If you have access
to AOL, then you can also enjoy posting your sweepstakes information
on the appropriate message boards. Press releases are also a great
avenue for announcements. Sweepstakes and contest promotions make
great press releases. Go to InfoSeek (www.infoseek.com) and enter
the word sweepstakes. Choose the News option (not the Web) and see
what other companies are using for press release material. You can
structure yours in the same manner.
Also, remember your target market? If you are offering
fishing lures as a prize, go to the fishing or outdoors Web sites
and discuss your prize on message boards or chat forums. Announcing
a new sweepstakes will create an initial surge of traffic, and depending
on the prizes that you offer and the frequency of the drawings,
you could enjoy this traffic for several months.
If you decide to sponsor more sweepstakes promotions
after your first one is done, remember that different prizes will
attract more attention. If you offer the same prize again, people
may think they have already entered it and will not visit your site
again.
Summary
Don't let visions of running up your hit counter
get in the way of promoting your sweepstakes in a respectable manner.
Sponsoring a sweepstakes can be a very viable way of getting your
Web site the attention that it deserves, but it takes good planning
and careful consideration, just like any other marketing or advertising
promotion.
Your business can attract a lot of attention by
sponsoring a sweepstakes, and the way you handle the promotion is
going to make an impact. Remember, first impressions are very important!
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About Winning Ways
Copyright © 2003, Winning Ways, http://www.onlinesweeps.com
All rights reserved.
Since 1996, Winning Ways has helped many Web sites
set up their online sweepstakes, including site reviews of promotions
and their official rules, announcing promotions in various newsgroups
and forums, posting promotions on their Web site and at various
other sweepstakes and contest sites, and announcing promotions in
their monthly sweepstakes newsletter. Winning Ways moderates the
VirtualPromote Sweepstakes Promotion Forum, where they have the
opportunity to answer various questions from sponsors related to
different aspects of sweepstakes, contests, and other incentive
promotions.
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Read additional articles from Winning Ways, http://www.onlinesweeps.com
Reprinted with permission by Susan Donahue Erler, Winning Ways. |
