Why a Holiday Sweepstakes is the Best Marketing Tactic This Season 

By: Sync Marketing | In: Ask Sync, Ask Sync Marketing, Sweepstakes, sweepstakes company, sweepstakes management, sweepstakes marketing

Q&A with Jennifer French, Owner of Sync Marketing: Why a Holiday Sweepstakes is the Best Marketing Tactic This Season 

Q: Why are holiday sweepstakes one of the most effective marketing strategies during the holiday season?
Jennifer French:
The holidays are a time when consumers are actively looking for deals, experiences, and ways to engage with brands that reflect the festive spirit. A holiday sweepstakes provides the perfect opportunity for brands to tap into this excitement. By offering something fun and valuable, like a chance to win holiday-themed prizes, brands can capture attention, boost engagement, and drive traffic to their sites. The heightened consumer activity around the holidays means people are more willing to participate, which makes this strategy highly effective for increasing visibility and conversions. 

Q: Can you share some examples of holiday sweepstakes campaigns that Sync Marketing has executed and their outcomes?
Jennifer French:
One of our standout holiday campaigns was a Christmas-themed sweepstakes for a well-known beverage brand. The promotion was a “12 Days of Christmas” contest where customers could win a new prize every day. This not only kept participants coming back but also helped the brand see a 30% increase in email subscriptions and a notable rise in social media engagement. Another successful campaign we ran for a retail client during the holidays saw a 40% increase in sales over the promotional period. These are just a few examples of how Sync Marketing can make a holiday sweepstakes work for any brand. 

Q: What are your top three tips for running a successful holiday sweepstakes or contest?
Jennifer French:
First, make sure your prizes are aligned with your audience’s interests and the holiday season. A festive, relevant prize will drive participation and excitement. Second, keep the entry process simple. Consumers are busy during the holidays, so make it easy for them to enter and share. Lastly, always ensure compliance. Sweepstakes laws can be tricky, and following the rules is critical to avoid penalties or negative publicity. At Sync Marketing, we handle the compliance for you, ensuring a smooth and successful promotion. 

Q: What trends do you see shaping holiday sweepstakes for 2024 and beyond?
Jennifer French:
We’re seeing a shift towards more digital and interactive experiences, such as holiday-themed microsites or gamified sweepstakes. Consumers love engaging in fun, online experiences, especially during the holiday season when they’re in a more festive mood. Additionally, we expect to see more social sharing incentives, where participants can earn extra entries by sharing the sweepstakes on their networks. This helps brands expand their reach organically. Finally, personalization will play a bigger role—offering personalized holiday sweepstakes experiences tailored to the participant’s preferences or previous shopping behavior will be a big trend moving forward. 

Q: What are the biggest compliance challenges when running holiday sweepstakes, and how does Sync Marketing help brands navigate these issues?
Jennifer French:
Compliance is one of the most critical aspects of running a sweepstakes, especially during the busy holiday season. Every country, and in some cases every state or province, has its own laws regarding sweepstakes. Navigating these rules can be daunting for brands. For instance, in the U.S., different states have different registration and bonding requirements, while in Canada, Quebec has historically had unique requirements. At Sync Marketing, we manage all aspects of compliance—from drafting official rules to ensuring the sweepstakes are properly registered—so brands don’t have to worry about legal pitfalls. 

Q: What are some creative prize ideas for holiday contests that drive participation and engagement?
Jennifer French:
Holiday contests should offer prizes that are not only exciting but also timely and relevant. Popular prize ideas include holiday-themed gift baskets, trips to festive destinations, or exclusive experiences such as holiday events or concerts. For retail clients, we often suggest including gift cards or limited-edition holiday merchandise as prizes. Another idea is creating a “12 Days of Giveaways” or “Countdown to Christmas” contest where participants can win a different prize each day. This keeps people engaged and coming back, which increases brand touchpoints during the holiday season. 

Q: How can brands integrate sweepstakes with holiday-themed microsites or digital experiences to boost engagement?
Jennifer French:
A holiday-themed microsite is a powerful way to immerse participants in your sweepstakes. By designing a festive, engaging microsite, you can offer participants a cohesive experience that encourages them to explore more about your brand. These microsites can feature interactive elements, like spin-to-win games, holiday trivia, or virtual advent calendars, all which tie into the holiday spirit. Sync Marketing specializes in creating these types of digital experiences, allowing brands to engage participants on a deeper level and drive more entries. 

Q: What are the advantages of hiring a sweepstakes agency, like Sync Marketing, for holiday campaigns compared to handling them in-house?
Jennifer French:
Running a holiday sweepstakes can be complex and time-consuming, especially with the added pressure of the busy season. A specialized sweepstakes agency like Sync Marketing not only brings years of experience to the table but also ensures every aspect of your promotion runs smoothly. From crafting creative and compliant campaigns to managing prize fulfillment, we handle everything. Plus, we have the tools and knowledge to optimize your sweepstakes for maximum engagement, giving your brand a higher chance of success compared to an in-house effort. 

Q: Why is now the best time to start planning a holiday sweepstakes?
Jennifer French:
The holiday season is fast approaching, and the earlier you start, the better. Planning in advance allows you to fine-tune the campaign, ensure compliance, and promote it effectively to maximize participation. Brands that start early also can build anticipation among their audience. At Sync Marketing, we’ve found that the most successful holiday campaigns are those that are launched with plenty of lead time, allowing for robust promotion and engagement. Now is the perfect time to get started! 

Holidays Giveaways

By: Sync Marketing | In: Sweepstakes, sweepstakes company, sweepstakes management, sweepstakes marketing

Why a Holiday Giveaway is the Best Marketing Tactic This Season

As the holiday season approaches, brands are searching for impactful ways to capture attention and drive engagement. One of the most effective tactics this time of year is running a holiday sweepstakes or contest. Whether you’re looking to boost brand visibility, increase customer loyalty, or drive sales, a well-executed holiday contest can deliver exceptional results.

Here are three key reasons why a Christmas sweepstakes should be at the top of your marketing strategy this season:

1. Increased Consumer Engagement

During the holidays, consumers are actively seeking deals, rewards, and festive experiences. By running a holiday giveaways, you can capitalize on this heightened interest and give customers a reason to interact with your brand. Whether it’s through social media, email campaigns, or a dedicated microsite, a contest offers multiple touchpoints for your audience to engage with your brand.

Not only does this keep your brand top-of-mind, but it also generates valuable data for future marketing efforts, such as email list building or understanding customer preferences.

2. Boost Brand Awareness and Reach

The viral nature of contests and sweepstakes means that your brand can quickly reach a wider audience. By encouraging participants to share your contest for additional entries, you tap into their personal networks, extending your reach organically. As a leading holiday giveaways agency, Sync Marketing specializes in creating campaigns that maximize social sharing and engagement, helping your brand get noticed by more potential customers.

Take advantage of holiday trends by crafting themed prizes or experiences that align with your audience’s desires. For example, a “12 Days of Christmas” giveaway or a New Year’s Eve grand prize can create buzz and excitement around your brand. According to experts, well-timed contests can improve visibility and engagement by up to 40% during the holiday season​.

3. Drive Conversions and Sales

A Christmas sweepstakes isn’t just about brand visibility; it can directly impact your bottom line. Offering relevant prizes or exclusive discounts as part of your contest encourages participants to make a purchase or take action. For example, providing a discount code to every participant or offering prizes tied to your product can drive immediate sales.

At Sync Marketing, we design sweepstakes with a focus on driving conversions. From crafting attention-grabbing calls-to-action to ensuring your contest adheres to compliance regulations, we handle every detail so your holiday promotion runs smoothly.

Why Now is the Perfect Time

The holiday season provides a unique window of opportunity to engage with your audience in fun, festive ways. A well-planned holiday giveaways is not only a great way to spread cheer but also an incredibly powerful tool for driving engagement, awareness, and conversions. At Sync Marketing, we help brands create sweepstakes that capture attention and deliver results during the busiest time of the year.

Ready to elevate your holiday marketing strategy? Let Sync Marketing, a premier holiday sweepstakes agency, help you create a campaign that brings joy to your customers—and success to your brand.

Holiday Promotions

By: Julie Link | In: Instagram, Sweepstakes

It’s the spookiest and sweepiest time of year! For retailers, the end of October is the time to start ramping up holiday promotions for the season.  And what better way to do this than with a sweepstakes? Sweepstakes are a great solution for retailers because they are cost effective, engaging and produce exceptional ROI. Today, we will discuss the best game plan for running holiday promotions this season.

Type of Sweepstakes

The basic enter to win sweepstakes often produce the best ROI. If the prizing is good and the entry method is simple, it’s a win-win for both customer and brand.

Instagram: If you want to generate some UGC this holiday season, then let your customers imagination go wild by running an Instagram Contest.

Partnerships! Why not partner with a complimentary brand to come up with a fun and engaging sweepstakes. Partnership are great because you receive free advertising from the partner and better prizing. Here’s an example of a fun holiday partnership between Abercrombie and Paper Culture.

Prizing

If you are a retailer, the best prizing is your product. We recommend giving out several gift cards and a larger grand prize. Having more smaller prizes allows consumers to feel like they have a chance to win, while also enticing them with the larger grand prize ($1,000 gift card, a trip, etc).

Consistency!

Our clients customers love it when they run a few during the holiday season. It keeps them engaged with the brand while also feeling as though the brand values them because they are giving away their product. We recommend running a Thanksgiving sweeps, Holiday sweeps and New Year sweeps to keep customer engagement high.

Sync is currently offering a 25% discount for brands who want to run three sweepstakes this Holiday season.  Contact us today for details.

It’s not too late to get started this holiday season. Sync can turn around sweepstakes in less than a week. Please contact us today to get started!

Holiday promotions!

Holiday Sweepstakes 2014

By: Julie Link | In: Contests, Sweepstakes, User Generated Content

It’s safe to say that the holidays are one of the most popular times of year to market a product or service. There are many different avenues to take when targeting consumers, but sweepstakes and contest are an effective way to break through the clutter. Running an online sweepstakes or contest allows you to interact with your consumers, gather relevant consumer data, collect user-generated content and reward them for interacting with YOU this holiday season. Here are a few of our favorite holiday sweepstakes and contests of the season:

Office Depot Holiday Cheer Challenge Sweepstakes

Office Depot is spreading cheer this year with their holiday challenge sweepstakes. Entrants are encouraged to share merry moments with their friends and family to earn cheer points!  The more points you earn the more chances you have to win great prizes, included a $100 office depot gift card or the grand prize pack. Plus, while you are there don’t miss out on the ever-popular Elf Yourself feature. This sweepstakes challenge is administered by Sync Marketing. Sweepstakes ends 1/10/15 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Claire’s #putabowonit Sweepstakes

Enter Claire’s #putabowonit Instagram Sweepstakes for a chance to win a holiday shopping spree for you and your besties! Weekly prizes will also be awarded. Ends 12/17/14 at 11:59 p.m. ET, so enter now! This sweepstakes is administered by Sync Marketing.

Dave’s $100,000 Baby Steps Giveaway Sweepstakes

Dave Ramsey is giving away a ton of cash prizes, some worth up to $15,000 in the Dave’s $100,000 Baby Steps Giveaway Sweepstakes! Enter now for your chance to win!

TJ Maxx’s Holiday Sparkle Sweepstakes

Bling bling! Enter TJ Maxx’s Holiday Sparkle Sweepstakes for a chance to win a diamond necklace worth nearly $15,000, that will definitely brighten your holiday season!

The bottom line is that sweepstakes are all about giving and receiving and we can’t think of a better time to run a sweepstakes than during the most giving time of the year. We here at Sync Marketing wish you all a very happy holiday season!