WHAT WE DO: Official Rules, Prize Bond Filing/ Purchasing, Prize Insurance, Client Indemnification Insurance, Prize Fulfillment, Kit Assembly, Mobile Phone Promotions/ Text Messaging, Quick Response Codes, In-Store Retail Promotions, Experiential Events, Security and Fraud Consulting, Security Game Card Printing, Production/ Supervision, Grand Opening Events, Rebates, Sales Force Incentive, Push/Pull Market Development Promotions, Accommodation Programs, Gift Card Acquisition/Fulfillment/Support

CORE CAPABILITIES: Your traditional and digital full-service resource. In today’s employment environment it is especially important for brands and retailers to remain cognizant of employee performance levels and its relationship to customer loyalty. By creating uniquely tailored and targeted customer loyalty programs focusing on specific customer segments the social-emotional consumer engagement grows. From acquisition to retention promotions within the credit industry to printing traffic driving instant win games, CMC offers a variety of reintegrated marketing and gameification strategies. Call on us for multi-touchpoint tactical turn-key executions.

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Archive for sweepstakes

Build Your Audience with a Social Media Contest

Over the last decade, social media has become a fixture in so many lives. We Are Social found that there are now 2.3 billion active social media users, with almost 2 billion active via mobile devices. Engagement levels can vary between the different platforms – Facebook has consistently scored highly – but the popular sites will always bring their users back.

If you are a business trying to gain exposure through social media, standing out can be particularly tricky. Everyone, whether a business or a personal user, tends to be fighting for attention, but creating content that resonates takes some innovation. If you already have a small following, one method that is producing consistent results is a social media contest. The method is used by small businesses and major brands, but it has resisted going stale like many other fads. So how can you hold a social media contest that helps build an audience?

Consider the Type of Contest You Want to Hold

Probably the easiest contest you can create is a sweepstake. For this type of competition, first you think of a relevant prize, or simply use a cash or gift card offer, then request people input their email address for entry. A sweepstake can be set up to also repost the contest across their social account, so you get their email address and extra promotion. Another option is to hold a photo or video contest. Anything that requires creativity will create a higher barrier to entry, but the resulting content can provide excellent promo when you post it across social media. Finally, caption contests are a fun way to engage people, with funny entries helping content to go viral. If you are stuck for ideas, Buzzsumo has a giveaways feature that searches for popular examples you can study and reproduce.

Streamline the Process with Apps

You don’t necessarily need to use an app to run a contest, but they make the process far more streamlined. A good app should simplify the contest at every level, while also letting you track statistics. Heyo is a good example of a tool that is built for businesses to find leads through social media. The main social networks are integrated, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, and you can choose from a variety of contests, such as sweepstakes, group deals, and photo contests. Shortstack offers a variety of attractive templates and themes, so you can set up a page quickly. The major networks are included, with facilities in place to restrict ages and amend the journey an entrant takes from start to finish. There are various other options, including Woobox and Wishpond, and the app you choose can be decided based on features and pricing.

Other Factors to Consider

Make sure to check the terms and conditions of each social site you intend to run a contest on. Certain sites can be stricter towards actions they regard as excessive promotion. If you are encouraging entrants to repost the contest many times, you could trigger spam filters that put your account in jeopardy. Also, make sure you have terms and conditions for the contest itself. It might only take a few lines of text, but it is worth removing any ambiguity from the rules. While it is unlikely you will encounter many problems, it helps if you have prepared yourself for all eventualities.

Contests should be used sporadically to avoid becoming predictable. A good contest will grab attention and get people invested, but it is a technique that is better suited to occasional use. When you do implement a contest, though, you should not be afraid to promote it heavily, while also staying within the rules of the platform. Contests have worked for many years, so it is no surprise that they translate to social media, but there is no sign that you cannot include the technique within your social media arsenal for the foreseeable future.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Marketing

Tagged as: contest, social media, sweepstakes

OnStar – Celebrating over twenty years

CMC is a nationally recognized sales promotion agency for over 20 years. It specializes in the design, development and execution of promotional events with tactical focus on sweepstakes, contests, games and online events. CMC provides turn-key expertise in international promotion law including jurisdictional compliance for both pre and post promotion regulations, and extends its clients indemnification insurance, consults on prize strategies, and provides options for prize acquisition, and offers complete fulfillment services. It also offers comprehensive data collection/management services for post promotion campaigns.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Promotions

Tagged as: promotion, sales, sweepstakes

Is the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes Prize Patrol for Real?

Since 1967, millions of households across America have been receiving enticing, oversize envelopes in the mail encouraging them to enter the fabulous Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. Grand prize winners of prizes of $10,000 or more are supposedly visited by the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol. But is it for real? Could an average American really win such an enormous sweepstakes with no purchase and no obligation for future purchases? It sounds too good to be true.

Publishers Clearing House, a pioneering giant in direct mail advertising, is an American business success story. Headquartered in Port Washington, New York, the company offers consumers the largest variety of heavily discounted magazine subscriptions to choose from in the country. (The company also started offering specialty products in 1987.) To entice people to browse through the multitude of magazine titles offered, the company came up with the sweepstakes idea, though no purchase is ever necessary to enter.

Throughout the 40 plus years that the sweepstakes has been run, the public has been misled by Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes mailings. Many times, the information in the sweepstakes envelopes sent out was so confusing that Americans actually thought they had won when they had not. Countless stories abound throughout the company’s history of people who erroneously believed that they were winners upon receipt of a sweepstakes envelope. Lawsuits filed by multiple states put an end to the company’s most confusing business practices between 1994 and 2001, including the practice of including fake winning checks made out to recipients of the sweepstakes mailings. Nevertheless, Publishers Clearing House claims to have given out over $223 million worth of cash and prizes to legitimate winners since the sweepstakes’ inception.

In 1988, Publishers Clearing House created the Prize Patrol, a group of people who present winners with their prizes, complete with a camera crew to catch the excitement unfolding. The Prize Patrol gives out sweepstakes prizes of $10,000 or more. TV commercials have shown the Prize Patrol ringing doorbells across America, presenting dumfounded contestants with oversized checks that represent their winnings. Most likely, they appear dumbfounded because the odds of winning the sweepstakes are so remote. Even though every entrant has an equal chance at winning, the odds are typically over a billion to one. So you will need more than a bit of luck to be chosen!

However, under no circumstances should you ever send any of your own money to claim prize money. According to the Publishers Clearing House website, these are sweepstakes scams perpetrated by imposters trying to trick you into believing that you are dealing with the actual company. They use forged documents that look like the real thing. Publishers Clearing House never asks sweepstakes winners for a dime to claim their winnings.

So the Prize Patrol is indeed real. There is around a one in a billion chance that they could knock on your door if you enter the latest Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. Whether you enter the sweepstakes by mail or enter on the Publishers Clearing House website, be prepared to spend some time flipping though magazine and product promotions. They purposely set it up that way. Remember, you are under no obligation to buy to claim your one in a billion chance to win. How lucky are you feeling today?

Sources:

Publishers Clearing House Company History. Fundinguniverse.com.

Publishers Clearing House Strikes Deceptive-Practices Accord. (August 23, 2000). The New York Times.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Sweepstakes

Tagged as: PCH, prize, sweepstakes

Instagram Marketing – Engage Your Customers with Fun Contests

Everyone loves a good contest, and Instagram is the perfect launching point for such competitions. People have been hosting photo contests on Instagram almost since the beginning, and smart companies are catching on to the trend. Those firms are using Instagram photo contests to build their brands, expand their reach and gain the loyalty of their customers.

It is easy to set up a photo contest on Instagram. Businesses can simply ask visitors to use a specific hashtag by tagging their pictures. That makes it easy for users to search through pictures on the site, ask their friends to vote for their favorites and ultimately choose a winner.

Many companies, from large multinational corporations like Sony to small mom-and-pop businesses, have already used Instagram Marketing via contests to great effect. Instagram users love contests, and businesses can use the competitions to get the word out about their products, build their brands and even gain new customers as existing fans share and vote for their favorite images.

Companies can start an engaging Instagram photo contest by first asking people to follow them on Instagram and then asking them to post a photo representing a particular theme. That theme can be anything, from ambiguous concepts like beauty and love to representations of technological progress. The wider the concept, the greater the response, and that is good for business.

Users can submit any photograph they want, as long as it meets the criteria for the contest and follows the rules set by Instagram. The company sponsoring the contest typically offers a prize, from a free product to a gift card for future purchases. The prize helps engage customers and gets them interested. Once they have entered the contest, they can browse through other submissions and learn more about the business behind the competition.

That type of engagement is hard to duplicate, and that is one of the great things about Instagram. The Instagram platform seems custom built for engaging with customers, and designing fun and interesting contests is one of the best ways to capture their imagination and build brand awareness.

Hosting contests is also a great way for companies to build their legion of Instagram followers. By making following the firm on Instagram a requirement for the contest, companies can grow their list of subscribers more quickly and engage their customers more fully. Building a large network is critical to success on social media, and Instagram is no exception.

Rewarding customers has always been a smart business practice, and social media sites give companies a myriad of new ways to thank the people who buy their products and use their services. Many companies have already used Instagram contests with great success, and your firm could be next.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Promotions, Sweepstakes

Tagged as: contest, instagram, marketing, sweepstakes

Appreciating The Effectiveness Of Creative Retail Marketing Promotions

Creative retail marketing promotions help differentiate companies and their offerings in a competitive business environment.

They not only boost sales and customer acquisitions, but when planned right can also serve to reward existing customers, apart from allowing a sneak peek into the their buying behaviors and preferences. Contests, games, and sweepstakes are an integral part of the marketing mix, adopted by both emerging and established companies to promote their offerings. With several millions being regularly invested year after year on marketing campaigns, it definitely pays to be more unique and innovative to stay ahead of the competition.

Creative Retail Marketing Promotions – Planning and Execution

Meticulous planning and flawless execution are the keys to the success of creative retail marketing promotions. Organizing sweepstakes, contests or games can get particularly challenging because of the number of tasks involved in the process, including, but not limited to:

• Finalizing an appropriate concept that matches business offerings.

• Deciding the entry criteria, winning criteria, the giveaways, their value, claim process, etc.

• Formulating and publishing clear and concise rules for the contest.

• Designing suitable websites or landing pages for the promotional activity.

• Announcing the promotional event via advertisements on suitable marketing channels.

• Conducting the event, evaluating entries, announcing results, and rewarding winner(s).

• Post-event follow up, data consolidation.

Companies who intend to conduct contests or sweepstakes on their own will need to have a clear understanding of the differences between these promotional methods; their technicalities, rules and regulations related to hosting these events on the social networks; state-, city-, and country-specific laws governing marketing promotions, and several other nitty-gritties before embarking on their efforts.

Given the scale of operations, complications, and expertise involved in putting together such promotions, they are ideally outsourced to professional sweepstakes management companies who are adept at handling all the nuances related to the job, including the local and federal legalities related to organizing such content.

Benefits of Creative Retail Marketing Promotions

Creative retail marketing promotions prove beneficial in several ways, apart from being another effective marketing strategy.

• They help identify valuable customers and build long-term mutually rewarding relationships in the process, when such promotions are closely tied up with business offerings.

• Marketing promotions also enable businesses to reward loyal customers. This is usually done by either conducting competitions for existing customers, or by conditionally including them in a contest when they make a purchase.

• People interested in participating in business contests or sweepstakes are required to necessarily furnish some personal information – at least a name and a contact email id to receive intimation on the results. By adding a few other relevant queries to the entry form, well-published, large-scale promotions help garner vast loads of customer information that can be put to effective use. Details furnished in such cases most often are accurate, and people tend to provide information more willingly than when approached in person by a salesman. Participant profiles, geography, preferences, planned buys, etc. provide valuable insights to enhance business offerings and marketing efforts.

• The prime purpose of the marketing efforts is to acquire new leads, and speed up lead conversion during the course of a promotional run. Sales can be followed up on the details revealed by the participants to close the deals successfully.

• Contests that aim to reiterate value propositions of business offerings have been found to have a marked impact on the sales figures.

The effectiveness of marketing campaigns depends on their ability to acquire new customers, while also catering to demand from existing customers. Creative retail marketing promotions, when carried out with professional help, will help maximize return on investments and also help grow a loyal customer base.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Marketing, Promotions

Tagged as: creative, marketing, promotions, retail, sweepstakes

Sweepstakes 101: Sweepstakes Administration Companies

Sweepstakes administration companies handle the details of hosting contests that award prizes, cash and recognition for businesses that want to gain market share, expand mailing lists and interact effectively on social media forums. Consumers conduct research, follow calls to action and willingly supply valuable marketing intelligence to enter contests. Unfortunately, fulfilling legal requirements and organizing sweepstakes demands time, money, marketing skills and attention to details. Choosing an experienced partner to administer sweepstakes, customer competitions and social media contests allows companies to sponsor sweepstakes, generate publicity and handle legal and prize fulfillment obligations without generating legal and administrative headaches.

Benefits of Using Sweepstakes Administration Companies

Getting sweepstakes administration company to design, advertise and run contests simplifies the processes of composing official rules, registering with state regulatory authorities and meeting conditions of online advertising forums. Businesses get sound legal advice, assistance in developing website promotions for the contest and advice for administering the contest fairly. Many companies run contests through phone apps, and company-supported contests often include user-submitted photos, videos and essays that provide signature benefits. Companies can use contest entries to generate crowd-sourcing content, ignite media interest and strengthen customer loyalty. Sweepstakes administration companies provide expert advice and suggestions for creating the perfect kind of contest or competition to enhance any company’s marketing goals.

Benefits of sponsoring a cash or prize sweepstakes include getting a fixed budget for the incentive program, generating customer excitement and loyalty, attracting new people for email campaigns and newsletters and encouraging people to share links to companies with their friends, families, business associates and social media contacts. Companies can build their brands with minimal advertising costs, promote business milestones, reward customer loyalty and expand customer bases by simply sponsoring sweepstakes events, contests or competitions.

How Sweepstakes Administration Companies Manage Contests

A sweepstakes management company helps businesses choose the best type of contest and prizes to attract attention and build excitement. Strategies for determining how to go about holding a contest include soliciting feedback from customers or website browsers, conducting surveys, building on previous successful contests and soliciting opinions through customer service centers. Sweepstakes administration companies help to write the official rules and promotional material in ways that meet legal guidelines whether companies are awarding cash, prizes, discounts, trophies or personal recognition.

Effective contests not only reward winners but also give all entrants incentives to stay loyal. Increased visits to company websites and media publicity give companies dynamic opportunities to offer special deals and incentives, encourage customers to browse websites and build authority ratings among website visitors. Managing the contest requires an ethical and transparent process, and turnkey contest consultants run the contest to eliminate potential conflicts of interest. These companies also award prizes promptly, deal with complaints, provide consolation gifts and incentives and distribute coupons while recording information about each entrant for email lists, newsletters and special promotions.

Sweepstakes Administration Companies Strengthen Social Connections

Social media forums like Facebook and Twitter generate a huge built-in audience for sweepstakes and contests. However, each site has its own rules and requires that companies holding contests assume all liabilities. Using a sweepstakes administration company ensures that each contest meets eligibility and legal requirements, uses third-party apps effectively for promotion and ensures that companies get verified data from contest entrants, easy social links to company websites and accurate analyses of where contest entries originate.

Contests offer many marketing benefits and drive greater customer satisfaction, but administering sweepstakes proves challenging for small business owners because running a successful contest requires legal research, time-management skills, creative thinking and analytical skills to find out what works and what doesn’t. Sweepstakes administration companies generate viral marketing and publicity, add names to company marketing lists and build website traffic while increasing visibility to SEO search engines.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Promotions, Sweepstakes

Tagged as: administration, companies, marketing, sweepstakes

Sweepstakes 101: The Winning Formula For Sweepstakes Administration

Sweepstakes administration is the planning and maintenance side of running an online competition. Many companies run sweepstakes to get consumers’ attention and retain current clients. As advertising strategies go, running a contest is a great idea widely used, maybe preferable to TV commercials and magazine ads.

Marketing your Product with Sweepstakes Administration

One reason contests are successful forms of advertising is that they are picked up by other websites. Certain pages are dedicated to posting all of the latest contests and promotional freebies, showing subscribers which ones are new and where to find them. Right away, spreading the word is taken into many hands at once, while word of mouth can also start rolling at this point.

Contest sites redirect readers to the websites and Facebook pages of contest sponsors. Not only do online readers find your sweepstakes, but while they are on your site they might look around at what products you sell or the services you offer.

Be sure to make access easy. There should be mobile options to capture an audience more likely to surf the web via a handheld device than a laptop or desk top computer.

Sweepstakes Administration and Thematic Sophistication

Choosing a prize is important, and not just one that is appealing to the general audience. It should also be consistent with a theme which helps people remember your company long after the draw has been made. Themes can pertain to times of the year, such as holidays and seasons.

The sweepstakes might require that competitors send in videos or photographs showing them doing something relating to a business, like playing hockey with the company’s sticks or baking cakes with a brand of flour. Even if one or more prizes are chosen by chance, the title of the sweepstakes should stick in people’s minds and remind them of you.

Sweepstakes Administration: Spreading Joy

During a competition, there are usually problems such as misunderstandings about the rules, or people complaining the contest site is hard to navigate. Rules must be set out clearly. If these are quickly looked after, frustration turns to joy. In spite of the difficulty, a quick response still makes you look good.

Joy also arrives in the mail: a prize promised and promptly delivered by the company. It could be a check, free product, or gift certificate. To create this level of joy, the administrators of a competition have to ensure they set a draw time and date and figure out how to get the money or item to the winner in a timely fashion.

Sweepstakes Administration and the Law

At the end of the competition, some losers are poor losers. Never mind that they keep company with hundreds of other individuals. The draw must have been fixed, or preference was given to people who bought the product (even if the rules said no purchase was necessary). This might just be opinion, but disgruntled players will take their complaints to the law. Be sure they have no case by checking the rules and contest details with a legal expert who has been involved with sweepstakes administration before.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Promotions, Sweepstakes

Tagged as: administration, marketing, sweepstakes

Sweepstakes 101: How to Run a Sweepstakes for Your Company

Everyone loves to win. Whether it is an office pool at work or a multi-million dollar lottery jackpot, winning a prize creates a thrill like none other. This phenomenon is something that companies that run sweepstakes have known for years. If you want to get people excited about your brand, simply create a sweepstakes promotion and offer people a prize. Companies that run sweepstakes create loyal followers for years.

How Companies that Run Sweepstakes Benefit

When you run a sweepstakes program for your company, you attract attention to your products and services. Customers who might not buy an item may be interested in it if they think they can get it for free. Running a sweepstakes provides a double benefit for your company. First, it gets people interested in your products. Potential customers will visit your site to enter the contest and at the same time peruse your site, viewing your other product offerings.

Secondly, people are more likely to share information about a sweepstakes. Free prizes, contests and sweepstakes are among some of the most shared content on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. When your customers win your sweepstakes, they will want to tell all of their friends. You can create an entirely new segment of customers simply by running a sweepstakes on your site.

In addition to helping you gain exposure for your company, the sweepstakes is a valuable marketing tool that can be used again and again. Companies that run sweepstakes often require customers to sign up with an email address for entry. You can use this email address to send information about events, news and new product offerings. This will create an on-going relationship with your customers and allow you to market to them again and again.

How to Run a Sweepstakes for Your Company

The first step in creating a sweepstakes for your company is to choose a product or service that you want to highlight. This can be anything from a vacation destination to a car or a new service. Decide on a target audience and tailor the message to their demographic. Once you have decided on both a product and a demographic, decide what the prize will be.

Companies that run sweepstakes select prizes that are directly connected to the product or service. It is a bad idea to offer a free car if you run a baby supplies company, for example. You will end up with a ton of interest from people who simply want a car and will never buy any of your products. Remember that the sweepstakes is merely a marketing tool used to generate interest in your company’s products or services. The goal is to create a long-term, loyal customer. Companies that run sweepstakes offer a prize that will both entice the winner and get him to buy more products.

Develop a means to track and analyze the data you receive as a result of your sweepstakes. This might mean tracking page views, recording increased sales or tracking conversion rates. If you are directing sweepstakes entries to your website, ensure that your server is able to handle the amount of traffic you will receive.

Handling the Legalities

There are many legal issues that you must contend with if you are running a sweepstakes. In some states, sweepstakes prizes are considered income and must be reported to the IRS. A marketing company that runs sweepstakes will help you to determine what forms you need to file. Hiring companies that run sweepstakes and handle the legal issues and fulfillment will help you to save time and money when running your sweepstakes.

Hiring marketing companies that sweepstakes from start to finish is a good way to save time and money when running your contest. These companies will help you select the prizes, market the sweepstakes to your customers and record the incoming data. They also file all legal forms and mail the prizes to your winners.

Companies that run sweepstakes understand the lure of a free prize. These companies develop campaigns that create a loyal fan base that support the brand for years to come. Even small businesses benefit from running contests, promotions and sweepstakes. Start planning your company’s sweepstakes today and see the benefits of creating long-lasting brand loyalty and ongoing customer relationships.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Promotions, Sweepstakes

Tagged as: brand, companies, marketing, sweepstakes

Vast Advantages Of Virtual Online Sweepstakes

Online sweepstakes have become immensely popular in recent years. Considering all relevant factors, this should come as no surprise. Sweepstakes have a long-standing history as popular marketing devices that benefit participants and sponsors alike.

Online sweepstakes forerunners

Such promotions provide consumers with an opportunity to receive a phenomenal financial windfall with little or no strings or financial risk attached. These special events also afford sponsoring enterprises with widespread positive market exposure that can boost brand loyalty and attract new business at a relatively low cost.

Enter online sweepstakes…

The advent of the Internet has greatly accelerated the development and evolution of virtually all products, concepts, and services. Online sweepstakes are no exception to this rule. Although conventional formats such as mail-in or call-in sweepstakes still exist and comprise a significant share of current sweepstakes markets, virtual sweepstakes versions offer participants many advantages that their offline counterparts simply cannot match.

Online sweepstakes advantages

• Safety first

When compared to the mail-in variety, virtual sweepstakes venues are extremely safe. In mail-in sweepstakes, there is always a possibility of you or the postal service losing your paper entry form. Moreover, delays due to factors beyond your control such as holidays or bad weather can cause your entry form to arrive after the entry deadline. Online sweepstakes eliminate such concerns, however. Simply log onto the designated website, supply all requested information, and click the “Submit” button. Voila! Your entry is complete and your chance to win awesome prizes and mega moolah is confirmed.

• Convenience counts

In order to enter mail-in sweepstakes, you must write all required information down by hand on a paper form or postcard. If you make a mistake or sweepstakes employees cannot correctly decipher your handwriting, you are out of luck. By stark contrast, in online sweepstakes, you input all data with a keyboard, so illegible handwriting is not an issue. Also, most virtual sweepstakes websites feature automated programs to ensure that all questions on your on-screen entry form are completed prior to final form submission.

• Financial FREEdom

Online sweepstakes are totally free to participants. There are no entry fees, mandatory purchase(s), or other such expenditures involved that often function as economic barriers in traditional sweepstakes. Would-be prize winners also save substantial amounts of valuable time, as there is no need to obtain postage stamps or search for a piece of paper or postcard of the precise dimensions specified by sweepstakes operators.

• Various virtues of virtual venues

A simple search engine query is all it takes to locate dozens of online sweepstakes with seconds. Thus, your days of missing many winning opportunities due to ignorance of the existence of an attractive sweepstakes opportunity are long gone. In addition, during the online sweepstakes entry process, you may easily find many attractive monetary matters besides the chance to win big money and other awesome prizes.

This is because vastly reduced overhead costs allow online advertisers to offer deep discounts and other special Internet-only incentives that their land-based competitors simply cannot match. Thus, online sweepstakes sponsors’ ads often reveal coupon codes or other special offers that are impossible with mail-in sweepstakes.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Promotions, Sweepstakes

Tagged as: online promotions, online sweepstakes, sweepstakes, sweepstakes advantage

Rely On Sweepstakes Management Services & Avoid These Six Issues

For a participant, the sweepstake is nothing more than submitting an online form and waiting for results to be announced. For the organizers, the sweepstake represents a major organizational challenge that is best tackled by utilizing the services of sweepstakes management services.

Sweepstakes Management Services Warn—Boring Contest Is Shortcut To Failure

Sweepstakes management services with years of experience opine that simply offering free prizes is not enough to attract participants. A well-designed and entertaining contest encourages people not just to participate but spread the word amongst their friends and social peers as well. Planning and designing the content with the help of sweepstakes management services will create a good impression on the audience even before the contest begins.

Use Sweepstakes Management Services & Forget Planning Hassles

Sweepstakes management services will assist you in planning and providing for web infrastructure improvement, determining the financial cost of the contest, comparing and choosing suppliers for the prizes, choosing logistic companies for sourcing and delivering the prizes. Working with sweepstakes management services will ensure the contest is completed within its pre-determined timeframe.

Using professional sweepstake management services will help you outsource the planning and execution of the project without compromising on quality. The sweepstake management services will take care of the planning and leave you free to provide inputs and approve the detailed plan for immediate execution.

Sweepstakes Management Services Help Avoid Stale & Boring Publicity Stunts

A successful sweepstake helps spread brand awareness even in a competitive and cluttered market. The success or failure of the contest depends on the level of interest generated by sustained media publicity. Simply tweeting about the contest once a day will not suffice. Sweepstakes management services understand the importance of a holistic promotional campaign for the contest.

Sweepstake management services will help you identify various online and offline channels that can be used to spread the word to the widest audience possible. Sweepstake management services will also help you enter into partnerships and tie-ups with media agencies, popular websites, and allied businesses and service providers to generated widespread interest.

A systematic publicity campaign executed by professional sweepstake management services will offer many benefits. Firstly, more and more people will learn about your contest and offerings. Secondly, the professional campaign designed by the sweepstakes management services will create and reinforce the buzz around your brand, thereby maximizing the return on your investment.

Sweepstake management services will also help you plan your publicity rollout in such a manner that your brand remains visible to your targeted audience throughout the promotional campaign. Experienced sweepstake management services will help you enjoy the benefits of shrewd tactics designed to bring in more participants and boost brand recall.

Brush Legal Complications Aside With Sweepstakes Management Services

Sweepstake management services will help you identify potential legal and regulatory pitfalls and help you avoid the same when executing your promotional campaign. There are numerous laws, rules, and regulations applicable to such contests at the Federal and State level.

News that your contest has been declared illegal or that you have been fined for violating the rules will spoil your brand’s image. Sweepstake management services will help you plan a successful campaign without falling foul of the authorities.

Lawsuits filed by disappointed participants too can create complications. Sweepstake management services can anticipate such issues and help you frame detailed contest rules designed to minimize risk of such issues.

Sweepstake management services will also help you handle such issues smoothly as and when they arise. Deft handling of such problems in a professional manner will minimize the backlash and, in the long run, serve to position your firm as a mature and responsible brand in the market.

Sweepstakes Management Services Help Avoid Failure and Plan for Success

Using sweepstakes management services will leave you free to prepare for the inevitable boost in business volumes upon the successful completion of the sweepstake. The contest is merely the means to an end to gain more and more customers.

Ignoring sweepstakes management services and doing everything on your own may leave you unprepared to cater to a drastic increase in customers. Delegate work to sweepstakes management services and focus on retaining new customers to boost your firm’s brand appeal and enjoy long-term benefits from your promotional strategy.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Marketing, Promotions, Sweepstakes

Tagged as: contest, marketing, promotions, sweepstakes, sweepstakes management services

Sweepstakes Fulfillment: Maximizing On Your Investment Through Effective Sweepstake Management

Sweepstakes fulfillment is one of the effective ways through which you can promote your brand in the market.

In addition, it makes possible for you to provide repeat exposure for your brand and corporate image. When this strategy is used correctly, it helps establish loyalty for your product and this subsequently offers you better opportunities for business growth.

However, to make your promotion plan effective, you have to make use of reliable sweepstakes fulfillment companies so that they present you with a sound execution. They will in effect assist you with planning of the campaigns, logistics, and even verifying winners so that the overall task is implemented as required. Such promotions always involve so many procedures, and this may be a daunting task especially to a small business, therefore it’s always best to outsource the services to get the job done in an organized and timely manner.

Reasons to Outsource Sweepstakes Fulfillment

When you settle on sweepstakes fulfillment for your promotions, it enables your clients to interact creatively with your brand. However, only proper management can ensure that it is carried out in the right manner. However much you may want to be in charge of such matters, it only makes sense to leave it to the specialists –it’s worthwhile to let someone else take control whether in part or fully. This way, you are bound to encounter greater benefits because the creativity and valuation aspects will be fully catered for.

An expert in sweepstakes fulfillment will provide you with valuable promotional services to help take your business to a whole new level. Remember, every marketing effort made has an impact on your business image and reputation; thus, the more comprehensive it is the better for you. Bear in mind however that this is something you can only achieve through dependable management –the sweepstakes fulfillment company will take charge of all the basics and also control the pertinent tools to enable a smooth flow of the process.

In addition, sweepstakes fulfillment involves quite a number of laws and regulations which you have to know before you embark on your promotions. If you go against such laws, you may easily land in trouble which may then adversely affect your business. This just validates the importance of outsourcing the services to sweepstakes fulfillment professionals. It enables you to offload the burden to persons who are well versed in the field so that you make the most out of your investment.

Advantages of Outsourcing Sweepstakes Fulfillment

• Compliance with all the state and federal laws related to sweepstakes fulfillment.
• Monitoring and implementation of up-to-date practices in different platforms
• Advice on consumer fraud
• Control of any liabilities that may arise in connection with the sweepstakes fulfillment
• Flexibility to handle both big and small scale operations
• Effective media coverage
• Proper storage of the relevant material

Any promotion you employ in your business should be driven towards establishing a more solid relationship with customers; taking into account that they are the backbone of any business. You want to capitalize on your business venture and this can only happen if the clients feel that their needs are take into account; because only then will they give you their business .With this in mind, the communication has to be done based on a clear layout from the beginning to the end where the winners finally get what is rightfully theirs. Sweepstakes fulfillment need to be controlled by experts to make certain that any complexities are successfully dealt with, and to protect your overall business interests as well. This is the exact reason why it’s important to acquire sweepstakes fulfillment from reliable establishments.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Promotions, Sweepstakes

Tagged as: brand, marketing, promotions, sweepstakes, sweepstakes fulfillment

Use Creative Contests For Customers And Watch The Profits Soar

Using Creative Contests for Customers Is a Modern Marketing Strategy That Works

Shoppers are naturally attracted to businesses that offer creative contests for customers. Running a successful marketing campaign can be frustrating without using modern methods of promotion. The average Joe or Jane spends a lot of money on all the things they want and need. It makes sense that those who spend money would be attracted to an opportunity to have fun and actually win something while spending. Daily living can become hum drum, having a contest to enter while shopping actually provides customers with a little fun in their lives. Businesses that adapt to the way modern shoppers think and feel tend to be more successful. Using promotional opportunities such as contests, sweepstakes, customer loyalty programs and other promotional tools, are gaining businesses a lot of exposure.

Using Creative Contests for Customers Builds Trust and Brand Recognition

As customers enter contests and actually win, the company that host these contests get renown for offering a little spice to a shoppers life. When both loyal and potential shoppers see that a business offers them an opportunity to gain something through contests and other promotions they tend to favor that business. Using promotional contests enables brands to get their name out there and become another popular household name.
A business looking to gain the type of exposure they need to make these contests pay off in the end needs to carefully consider the effort it takes. Just running a contest alone requires a business to follow a plethora of state and local laws, and have a deep understanding of internet marketing. The business must also have the manpower to promote their contest via the internet and through social media outlets. When considering all of the work that is actually involved with holding a contest, having customer loyalty programs or other promotional giveaways, many businesses opt out for lack of ability.

Good News for Businesses That Want To Have Creative Contests for Customers

Without a doubt the hard work that goes into holding just one contest is mind boggling to say the least. There is however a handy trick that many businesses are learning. That trick is to let Creative Marketing Communications handle all of the dirty work involved. That’s right, CMC can create the type of contest that attracts customers and has them recommending the contest to their friends and families as well. When CMC is hired to take care of a business’s contests, sweepstakes, loyalty programs and other promotional matters, the business can sit back and enjoy the growing number of loyal customers and watch their profits soar. Before trying to handle all of the complications involved with creating the type of contest that has customers reeled in by the thousands, let the pros handle it. Forget the nightmares involved with the endless paperwork and the never ending dedication to make a contest run smoothly. Hand creative contests for customers over to a professional promoter, sit back, and watch the profits soar almost overnight.

By: Wes Shneider

Posted in: Marketing, Promotions

Tagged as: contest, Creative Contests, creative marketing, mobile promotions, promotions, social media, sweepstakes