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Running a sweepstakes can be a great way for alcohol brands to engage with their customers and build brand loyalty. However, there are several legal and ethical considerations that adults beverage companies must take into account when running a sweepstakes involving alcohol. In this blog post, we will discuss four sweepstakes tips for alcohol companies and what they should consider.
Comply with Legal Requirements: Alcohol brands must comply with various legal requirements when running a sweepstakes. For example, in the United States, brands must comply with state and federal laws, including the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau regulations. Brands must also ensure that their sweepstakes are open to individuals of legal drinking age and are not accessible to individuals who are prohibited from consuming alcohol.
Hire a Sweepstakes Agency: As mentioned above there are several legal requirements to consider and these must be clearly defined in the rules and Regulations. Hiring a sweepstakes agency who specializes in sweepstakes law is key. The sweepstakes agency will structure the rules to include the eligibility criteria, how to enter, the deadline for entry, the prize, and any other relevant details. The rules and regulations must be easily accessible and prominently displayed to potential entrants.
Adhere to Responsible Marketing: Alcohol brands have a responsibility to market their products in a responsible manner. This includes promoting responsible consumption and avoiding any messaging that could be perceived as promoting excessive or irresponsible drinking. Alcohol brands should also ensure that their sweepstakes do not target underage individuals or encourage excessive drinking. In addition to handling the creation of the official rules and abbreviated rules, Sync will review all of your marketing materials to make sure that they are legally compliant.
Ensure the Prize is Relevant and Appropriate: The prize for the sweepstakes should be relevant and appropriate to the brand and its target audience. For example, a luxury whiskey brand may offer a private distillery tour as a prize, while a beer brand may offer tickets to a popular sporting event. Additionally, the prize should not actually include alcohol or promote excessive consumption of alcohol.
In conclusion, running a sweepstakes can be a great way for alcohol brands to engage with their customers and build brand loyalty. However, alcohol brands must consider several legal and ethical considerations to ensure that their sweepstakes comply with legal requirements, promote responsible marketing, and are relevant and appropriate to their target audience. By following these tips, you can run a successful and responsible sweepstakes!
Sweepstakes have long been a popular marketing tool for businesses as they produces a tremendous return on investment (ROI). In 2023, there are many different types of sweepstakes that brands (and their agency partners) can run to engage with customers, build brand awareness, and generate leads. Here is list of the top 10 types of sweepstakes to run in 2023:
Social Media Contests:
With billions of people using social media every day, running a sweepstakes on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Twitter is a great way to reach a large audience and interact with consumers. Brands can ask customers to like, comment, and share their posts to enter the sweepstakes, and can even require entrants to follow their social media accounts to participate.
This can have two positive impacts:
Increased Brand Awareness: The ripple effect is real. The more people know about you, the more their friends and followers will know about you.
Increased Engagement: Social media sweepstakes can also help businesses increase engagement with their existing followers. By offering a chance to win prizes, it can increase engagement and help to build a stronger relationship with customers. Additionally, the excitement and anticipation of the sweepstakes can encourage customers to visit a business’s social media channels more often, which can lead to increased engagement overall.
Referral Sweepstakes:
Referral sweepstakes incentivize customers to refer their friends to your business. Entrants can earn additional entries for each friend they refer who also enters the sweepstakes, which can help brands build their email lists and reach new customers. Referral sweepstakes can create a greater likelihood that those referrals will turn into new customers because they are being referred by a friend. That’s an instant vouch of support for the brand.
These types of sweepstakes can be achieved in different ways. You can have a simple enter to win sweepstakes where entrants can refer up to five friends after entry for extra chances to win or they can refer friends by tagging on a social media sweepstakes. Our client Wealthfront just finished a campaign where they gave away $25,000 to three different Wealthfront members. Entrant received extra entries for doing a number of different tasks including referring friends!
Instant Win Sweepstakes:
Instant win sweepstakes allow customers to enter and find out immediately if they have won a prize. This type of sweepstakes can be especially engaging for customers, as they don’t have to wait for a drawing to find out if they’ve won. It also allows them to feel like they have a great chance to win. Sync recommends offering daily entries for instant win campaigns as it will keep customers coming back and engaging with your brand.
Survey Sweepstakes:
Surveys are a great way for businesses to gather feedback from customers, and adding a sweepstakes component can help incentivize customers to participate. Businesses can offer prizes to random survey participants, or even offer a larger prize to the customer who provides the most helpful feedback.
Photo or Video Contests:
Photo and video contests can be a fun way for customers to engage with a brand and show off their creativity. Businesses can ask customers to submit photos or videos related to a specific theme, and then award prizes to the best entries. Sync can help guide you on what type of judging criteria to include in the official rules. We also offer a judging platform for to score entries.
Daily Sweepstakes:
Daily sweepstakes allow businesses to keep customers engaged over an extended period of time. It’s best to offer a different prize every day to keep entrants coming back. Then offer a lager overarching grand prize to anyone who entered through the sweepstakes entry period.
Essay or Writing Contests:
If you want to engage with customers who are passionate about something, offering an essay or writing contests can be a great option. Brands can ask customers to write about a specific topic, and then award prizes to the entries that best matched the judging criteria.
Treasure Hunt Sweepstakes:
These are fun! Treasure hunt sweepstakes can be a fun way to engage with customers and build brand awareness. Businesses can hide clues or information about their brand or products throughout their website or social media channels, and then award a prize to the customer who finds all of the clues. If it’s within the budget you can include it on your website, but if you want to do smaller scare, we recommend running these types of campaigns on your social channels.
Instant Discount Sweepstakes:
Instant discount sweepstakes offer customers a chance to win an immediate discount on their next purchase. We typically recommend the discount to appear after entry and still offering a larger overarching grand prize. This type of sweepstakes can help drive sales for businesses while also providing customers with a fun and engaging experience.
Charity Sweepstakes or Contests:
Charity campaigns allow businesses to give back to their communities while also engaging with customers.
Sweepstakes: Businesses can donate a certain amount to a charity based on the number of entries they receive. Allowing entrants to vote on the charity they want to donate to, is another great option.
Contests: Going back to the essay contests, brands can ask people to nominate deserving people for the chance to win. The person nominated would then money for themselves and the cause they donate their time to. Sync recommends background checks for this and can provide this service for you.
Charity sweepstakes and contests can produce a great ROI.
In conclusion, there are many different types of sweepstakes that businesses can run in 2023 to engage with customers and build brand awareness. Whether you choose to run a social media contest, a referral sweepstakes, an instant win sweepstakes, or any of the other options on this list, a well-executed sweepstakes can be a powerful tool for driving sales and building customer loyalty.
Offering big displays, entertainment and food sampling are all effective ways a company can draw people to their booth during a trade show. Today I will discuss an updated version of the typical booth raffle – an online sweepstakes. Below I will break down the three top reasons to run a sweepstakes at your next trade show.
Catch people’s attention
If you’re giving away a trip, cash or free products/services, you’re sure to turn heads and pique attendees’ interest. When Sync runs trade show giveaways, we provide the client with a QR code to put on all their POP and marketing materials that when scanned links directly to an online entry form. This makes it a seamless user experience. Users will stop, scan and go directly to the sweepstakes site and enter for their chance to win – big! And best of all, we can select winners same day and they don’t need to hang around all day for their number to be called. Go Delta highlighted the benefits in their article by saying, “A study by Exhibit Surveys Inc. found that companies that displayed promotional giveaways at their booth had significantly higher traffic than companies that did not utilize giveaways.”
Boost email opt-ins
For each entry you receive, you can also receive an email opt-in. This allows you to reach back out to all of those who attended your show. You can even send them a surprise and delight offer to everyone who entered as a thank you.
Drive sales
After entry you can provide CTA on the thank you for entering page back to your site. You could even offer discounts after entry to help boost sales. Want to take it a step further? Ask those who entered to sign up for SMS notifications for an additional chance to win!
Sweepstakes are a fast and effective way to obtain the best ROI for your next trade show. Sync provides an all-inclusive package consisting of design, programming, legal and prize fulfillment for your next sweepstakes. We even offer discounts to clients who run multiple trade shows a year. Now that’s a win for everyone! Contact us today for pricing and campaign examples.
3 Reasons to Run a Sweepstakes at Your Next Trade Show
Running an online sweepstakes or contest is an effective tool to engage consumers and elevate your brand or company. There are many things to consider when including a sweepstakes such as budget, run dates, eligibility, and prizing. The most important and often overlooked items are the legal parameters of a campaign. If not addressed in advance, it could derail all your efforts. Below are 5 ways to avoid legal issues when running a sweepstakes.
Official Rules and Abbreviated Rules
Think of this as your sweepstakes’ user manual. The official rules should be a blueprint of your campaign and should clearly outline eligibility, campaign run dates, how and where to enter, prizing and the total ARV. It’s also important to include when and how a potential winner will be notified. Entrants should have a clear understanding of how the sweepstakes works and there should be no surprises. Abbreviated rules are a shortened version of the full rules that should give entrants a direct link to the full set of rules. Here is a helpful article of what should be included in the rules.
Bonding and Registration
Did you know that certain states require you to bond and register your promotion? Usually, it’s dependent on the total ARV of a campaign, but it varies by state. Neglecting to bond and register and not adhering to the timing deadlines for when you can submit your registration and bonding could amount to hefty penalties. Here are links to New York, Florida and Rhode Island that specifically addresses their requirements.
Legal Review of Marketing Materials
You may have your official rules buttoned up, but did you know there are legal disclaimers that should appear on your marketing materials such as emails, POP and social media posts? Also, your marketing materials must not be misleading to entrants. A full-service sweepstakes agency can guide you on what is required to keep your promotion legally compliant.
Social Media Restrictions
Social media campaigns are fun and inexpensive, but they do come with legal requirements which are constantly changing. Each platform has their own guidelines that you must following in order to run a campaign. Guidelines change quite frequently so it is a good idea to consult with a legal professional who is up-to-date on all of the changes. If you can’t get outside help, it’s a good idea to go to each platform. Here are links to Facebook, TwitterandInstagram’s policy pages.
Privacy and Collecting PII
Consumer privacy is a very hot-button item. There are many rules and regulations about collecting and storing personal identifying information (PII). Consulting the laws for each participating state and country if international is essential before running a campaign. For example, here is a helpful article about the CCPA law that affects promotions running in California.
While many companies opt to use inexpensive sweepstakes software to build and manage their campaigns, they often overlook the legal elements. It may be less expensive, but in the long run, you may end up paying heavily in fines and even have your promotion shut down mid campaign. Now that you know the 5 ways to avoid legal issues when running a sweepstakes, consider using a full-service agency like Sync to manage your campaign.
The last 12 months have been unlike anything any of us have ever experienced. 2021 is the year for companies to give back to consumers more than ever before. One of the best ways to give back is through running contests. Today I will discuss 4 reasons to run a contest now.
People want to feel connected
Now more than ever, people want to share their experiences as a way to connect. This is a great opportunity for brands to ask their customers to share their story for a chance to win something truly helpful to them. Crate and Barrel is currently asking engaged or recently married couples to share their story for a chance to win everything in their registry (up to $2,500). In addition, Crate and Barrel will make a $1,000 donation to Feeding America® on behalf of each couple.
Feel-Good Content
People are ready to start getting good news again! What better way than to run contests that help share good news and create positive change. Aerie is continuing their Changemakers initiative for a second year to celebrate consumers who are making a difference and reward them with the necessary funds to continue their work. 20 amazing applicants will win $20,000 towards their personal missions. This campaign spreads good vibes while celebrating the efforts of people making changes in their community.
Consumers are on their phones now more than ever
Since you already have a social team trying to drive awareness and followers, why not add a contest? It’s a win for you and a win for consumers. A social contest is a great way to garner user-generated content and followers. With consumers on their phones now more than ever, having them upload content all while promoting your brand along the way is a no brainer. This also builds awareness for your brand, allows you to learn more about your consumer, and leaves them feeling seen and rewarded. As stated in outgrow.com, companies who run contests get an average of 17,500 new followers through a contest:
Have some Fun
Did you see the Big Game this year? If so, you probably saw the commercial for Mountain Dew’s Major Melon Bottle Count contest. Viewers were asked to tweet out how many bottles of Mountain Dew appeared in the ad for a chance to win $1 million dollars. Within minutes, there were thousands of tweets. Not everyone has Pepsi’s budget, but you get the idea. Offering consumers a fun contest will get them excited, engaged and will leave them with a good taste in their mouth about your company or brand (pun intended).
I hope these 4 reasons to run a contest now, were helpful. There are an assortments of ways to run a contest, and this year is the time. Let’s give back to our communities and let their voices be heard. Contact Sync today for help brainstorming your next campaign.
Sweepstakes and brand loyalty marketing go hand in hand. It’s an easy and cost-effective way to reward your customers all while strengthening the relationship you have with them. Today we will discuss the best types of brand loyalty sweepstakes to run and why.
Start slowly
We always suggest to our clients to run at least a few straight forward enter-to-win sweepstakes before running a loyalty sweepstakes. First and foremost, it will allow you to collect new opt-ins to add to your email list. Also, you will see how sweepstakes resonate with your consumers before you launch a loyalty-based campaign.
It’s all in the email
A brand loyalty sweepstakes starts and ends with email communication. Consumers are interested in your brand and have already signed up to receive emails from you. Now, reward them with the chance to win a great prize. Be sure to put the sweepstakes CTA within the email you send out to your consumers.
Reward, reward, reward
When it comes to a brand loyalty sweepstakes, we think having all entrants win something is a great way to optimize the relationship you have with your customer. To achieve this, you can run an instant win sweepstakes. Here the customer either wins a prize or a discount coupon with a percentage or dollar amount off of your product. If you are a subscription-based service, another way to reward your consumer is to automatically enter them into a sweepstakes for signing up. Here is an example of a recent sweepstakes. Stitch Fix entered all entrants who scheduled a Fix for delivery in the month of June for a chance to win. However, keep in mind, if you require a purchase like this sweepstakes did, you must offer a free alternate means of entry.
Have fun and gather more info
Polls are fun for everyone! People love to give their opinion! And you love to get information on your product, right? Why not ask your loyal customers a question about which new fall look they like best for a chance to win? They are rewarded with a chance to win, and you gather insightful information about your product line for the fall.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to brand loyalty sweepstakes. Whether you’re reaching out to a newly acquired customer or one of your more loyal fans, reach out to Sync to help you strengthen your relationship with you customer by offering unique and engaging ideas.
Looking for a sweepstakes company that can handle all aspects of your next online sweepstakes campaign? Look no further than Sync Marketing. Sync Marketing is a Los Angeles-based sweepstakes company that specializes in online sweepstakes.
What we do
The Specifics
Regardless of what type of sweepstakes you want to run, we handle an array of details within every sweepstakes or contest.
In this phase of the project, we will go over your goals and ideas and come up with effective solutions for you to exceed your goals. Whether you want to gain email opt-ins or user generated contact, we have the experience and know-how to suggest the right type of sweepstakes for your next campaign.
Our highly passionate and experienced team of programmers and designers are ready to create a stand out sweepstakes for you. We offer responsive design and mobile-optimized sites to make sure the user experience is seamless for your consumers.
This is quite possibly the most important piece to the puzzle. Making sure to hire an agency that specializes in sweepstakes law is integral to the success of your sweepstakes. Especially with social media sweepstakes, because these can be quickly taken down by a social media network if you are not abiding by their policy. Sync Marketing is a sweepstakes company that has got you covered in this area. Not only does our legal team specialize in promotion law, but we attend the latest law conferences and are quite frequently speakers at these events.
You need to know if your promotion is successful, right? Our programmers provide a 24/7 password protected website so you can access your metrics at any time. We will go over your goals prior to programming to make sure we’re tracking everything you need for your promotion.
Types of Sweepstakes
At Sync Marketing, we offer an array of sweepstakes. Our most popular is our TurnkeySweeps by Sync platform. These are turnkey sweepstakes that launch within a week of receiving approval on the creative. We also run SMS campaigns, instant win sweepstakes, and custom campaigns. If you’re looking for a sweepstakes company who solely focuses on sweepstakes and contests, then we’re the agency for you. Contact us today for a quote.
Anyone who has enters sweepstakes or contest has usually noticed a long list of rules and regulations. Some may be put off by all this legal jargon. It’s not just there to protect the companies involved in the promotion, but it is also a helpful tool for the entrant. It outlines very important features of the promotion in one neat package. Different variables of the promotion can change what needs to be outlined in your rules. Today, I have provided a list of some of the items that should be included in your sweepstakes and contest rules:
Eligibility
This section is important in sweepstakes and contest rules, because it outlines who can enter. This should include the geographical location where the promotion is open, i.e. 50 US states. It should also include the minimum age of entrants. Lastly, it should call out the fact that your employees, family members, etc. cannot enter or win.
Timing
This section should outline the exact start date and time and end date and time. Obviously, this is important because it tells entrants their deadline for entering.
How to Enter
This section outlines where and how people enter. Maybe it’s an online sweepstakes. In that case, the URL to the sweepstakes or contest home page will need to be provided. Also, you will need to tell entrants what you are collecting from them, i.e. name, address, phone number, etc. Here is a link to a sweepstakes home page that shows the entry process.
If you are running a sweepstakes where the entry method is on social media, you will need to explain the process for entry. Here’s an example of a Twitter and Instagram sweepstakes. In addition, this section should outline the total number of entries a person can earn during the sweepstakes entry period. Depending on the complexity of the sweepstakes or contests, this section needs to be drafted with acute attention to detail from a legal standpoint. That’s why it’s important to hire an administrator who specializes in sweepstakes law to identify any additional information that needs to be included.
Winner Determination
This section should clearly outline when the winners will be selected and notified. This helps legitimize the process for the administrator when contacting the potential winners. The entrant can refer to the rules and see that the dates match. It also lets entrants know if they will have to wait days or weeks after a promotion to find out if they are a winner. Patience isn’t always a virtue when it comes to winning a prize, so this will inform your entrants when you will be conducting the drawing so that they have an exact date in mind.
Prizes
This section outlines what prizes you are awarding and their approximate retail value (ARV). This is important because any time a prize has an ARV over $600, it will need to be reported to the IRS. Winners should have fair warning before accepting any prize where they are going to be issued a 1099.
The above is a basic list of things to think about when drafting sweepstakes or contest rules. Keep in mind, there are a lot of other items that need to be included. It is extremely important to work with an agency that knows everything that is legally required to run a promotion.
Sync Marketing’s legal team is constantly researching and staying up-to-date on all the latest legal actions and changes in the field. We also attend the most respected marketing law conferences each year. This translates into invaluable legal counsel and advice for you on all your promotions and will ensure your sweepstakes and contest rules are the most iron clad. Here is a link to some of the legal services we offer at Sync Marketing. Contact us today and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have about sweepstakes and contest rules.
We’re now officially into summer, and while most people bask in that fact, marketers are already looking ahead and making plans for the back-to-school season. This is a prime time of year to focus on consumer loyalty and brand awareness. This is especially true for retailers that carry merchandise geared for children and young adults. Back-to-school sweepstakes are an effective marketing tool to accomplish these goals. Today I will go into a few reasons why.
Deals, deals, deals.
This is a great opportunity to provide incentives to consumers to shop your brand. Back-to-school sweepstakes allow you to incorporate coupons and surprise-and-delight offers to consumers. This can be accomplished by offering these deals after they have entered for a chance to win. For example, once they receive the “thanks for entering,” message, offer them 20% off their next purchase. Not only is this optimal for reengagement but its also an invaluable way for you to obtain insights on your consumer. If you find that a high percentage of consumers redeem the coupon from the sweepstakes, then you will know that sweepstakes are resonating with consumers.
Consumer Loyalty
It’s a two way street. While you’re looking for consumer loyalty, so is your consumer. By running a back-to-school sweepstakes, you will in turn receive loyalty because you’re offering you consumer something in return. Once you receive their email address, the hope is that these consumers will keep coming back. If you are offering them incentives, like sweepstakes or surprise and delight offers, it’s even a better reason to return to your site. So, after you run that back-to-school sweepstakes, make sure to follow up with a pre black Friday sweepstakes and keep the momentum going! Check out some of our work samples for more inspiration on back-to-school sweepstakes.
Showcase your back-to-school merchandise
What better way to showcase your new back-to-school product than with a back-to-school sweepstakes. Through banner ad campaigns, social media posts and in-store POP, you will be able to promote your new products all while promoting the back-to-school sweepstakes.
When running a back-to-school sweepstakes, also keep in mind the prizing for your sweepstakes. Optimal prizing could be a daily awarding of your product or service with an overarching grand prize like cash or a trip. People love to start planning trips as soon as the reality that summer is over kicks in and cash offers consumers some hope of financial relief to offset some of the money they spend to send their kids back to school. To learn more about ideas for prizing and some of the best types to give away, click here.
As this year’s back-to-school season quickly approaches, consider running a sweepstakes. You will be sure to be top of your class with consumers.
Looking to run an affordable sweepstakes while still receiving an exceptional product with the most up-to-date legal expertise? TurnkeySweeps™ by Sync is your affordable sweepstakes company solution.
There are a lot of low cost sweepstakes tools out there, but when looking for a sweepstakes agency, make sure that the company you are looking at is more than an app. Do they specialize in all aspects of sweepstakes and contests? At Sync Marketing we specialize in the ideation, design, programming, legal and prize fulfillment. We eat, sleep and breathe sweepstakes. If they don’t seem to have a rigorous review process and custom official rules, you could be risking running a non-compliant promotion. Sweepstakes guidelines change often, especially when it comes to social media promotions, so it’s imperative to work with a sweepstakes company that knows their stuff. You can learn more about the important of legal compliance in this article here.
We created TurnkeySweeps™ by Sync to offer an affordable sweepstakes solution for our clients who wanted sweepstakes to launch fast with a limited budget. With TurnkeySweeps™ by Sync, we can launch a campaign in under a week after receiving approved creative. Need more than a simple enter to win sweepstakes? We offer photo upload, social share and more as affordable add-ons.
In conclusion, if you would like to learn more about our inexpensive and affordable sweepstakes solutions and what add-on options we offer, contact us today.
