Building a strong brand may seem difficult when your company has a limited budget for marketing. Fortunately, the power of text message marketing puts the strategies that big brands use within reach for smaller companies.
Here are several powerful sweepstakes marketing tactics that you can adopt from big brands.
Take it Mobile With Text-to-Win Entry
Allowing participants to enter your sweepstakes with a mobile text-to-win can make a big difference in the number of subscribers. It’s convenient (especially in a retail environment) and fast, which makes it appealing to consumers. Don’t forget to make your sweepstakes available for entry through your website and via social media, as well.
Offer Instant Win Prizes
With today’s technology, instant winners can be drawn automatically with software. For example, you can set an instant win for the 120th entrant (if one instant winner) or for every 25th entry (for multiple instant winners). Instant win prizes create a sense of urgency and excitement and give Millenials the instant gratification they like.
In fact, bd’s Mongolian Grill ran a very successful sweepstakes using this same tactic. They asked fans to visit a location for the secret code to enter their 25th anniversary give away and awarded instant win prizes every day. The result was increased foot traffic at all of their locations.
Offer Experiential Prizes
Unique experiences are memorable, which is why experiential prizes are trending. A DJ-hosted party at the sweepstakes winner’s home or tickets to a summer music festival are examples of experiential prizes.
These prizes can be more effective than product giveaways, because they allow the sweepstakes winner to share the prize with their friends and family, in turn attracting more fans to your brand.
Additionally, experiential prizes are more likely to be shared by winners on social media, which will give your sweep an additional boost.
Vallarta Supermarkets used this tactic when they ran a sweepstakes offering a tailgate party package as the prize. The prize included 60″ HDTV, $300 Vallarta Supermarket Gift Card, a BBQ Grill and a Live DJ.
With the sweep promoted on FM station Power 106 and a focus on the communities they serve, Vallarta Supermarkets generated thousands of participants.
Use Sweepstakes Data in Omnichannel Marketing
When you run a sweepstakes, you can collect various data points from your participants, including phone numbers, email addresses, and more. As you’ve probably noticed, whenever a big brand gets you to sign up for a promotion, they then use this data to send you offers later on other channels.
You can do the same for your company by using sweep data in your omnichannel marketing. This is marketing across several platforms, including web, social and mobile, to appeal to the interests of those who entered and expressed interest in your brand.
Take your sweepstakes marketing to the next level and build a brand-boosting sweepstakes of your own. Reserve your Sweepkey and set up your campaign in 10 minutes or less.