Careful Planning for a Sweepstakes Promotions

A Sweepstakes promotion is an effective promotion for your advertisement. I will help to enhance your products image, increase your products sales, get support from the retailers and enlarge the database of potential customers.

Sweepstakes can be very expensive, however, this kind of promotion can offer more control of its costs. In fact, sweepstakes promotions have several legal restrictions and requirements that must be followed, because that they are legally controlled and regulated by Federal, State and local authorities.

In order to carefuslly plan your sweepstakes promotion, the following guidelines are suggested to you:

You need to identify and define your objectives and marketing goals for your sweepstakes promotion. Plan your sweepstakes promotion as part of your total marketing strategy not as a stand alone promotion. Many methods can help you support your promotion, like TV, radio and other displays. The budget needs to be established for the sweepstakes promotion.

Besides, determine where the sweepstakes will be held, the geographic area of participation, duration of the promotion, age requirements, entry requirements, prohibited affiliations and legal requirements.

McDonald's McCafe Promotions

McDonald has introduced McCafe-branded beverage. In order to promote the sales of the new products, including flavored lattes, mochas, and cappuccinos, McDonald's announced a new series of sweepstakes. The sweepstakes will grand the new winners thousands of dollars worth of Visa and McDonald’s gifts cards.

Here are the details of this promotion from McDonald website: Promotion begins on May 5, 2009 at 12:01:00 AM Central Time (CT) and ends August 2, 2009 at 11:59:59 PM CT. You must be a legal resident of the 50 United States or DC and 18 or older (or the age of majority in your state of residence if older than 18) at the time of entry to participate. Odds of winning the Sweepstakes depend on number of eligible entries received. Contest winners are determined by independent judges and public voting as defined in the Official Rules.

The new, branded line of espresso drinks to some degree is McDonald's return fire, to Starbucks which attempts to encroach on the fast-food giant's breakfast business in recent years.

Winning Contest and Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are consumer-focused sales or awareness promotions which utilize the excitement and enthusiasm generated by a prize incentive to draw entries for the opportunity to win the offered prizes through a chance based drawing.
Sweepstakes are generally quicker and easier for the Sponsor to administer and for the public to enter than “Contests,” however Contests have their own special value and appeal. One other major difference is that winning a Sweepstakes is based on the operation of an element of Chance, as opposed to being entirely skill-based. Some tips are here for your sharing:

First, sweepstakes should never require a purchase to enter. They should list at least one way to enter free. However, contests are allowed to charge for entry.
Second, make sure you actually want the prize offered. If you enter a contest for a prize that you don't want, that's time taken from entering a contest for a prize you do want. Check marks the contests or sweepstakes that you have entered, so you do not get disqualified by entering again.

Third, consider entering some of the little contests if you have the time to enter more than those BIG contests, because the chances of winning are greater. Just make sure it is for a prize you want.

Fourth, some contests are running on the websites and give away freebies to increase the amount of visitors to their site, and increase subscriber ship to their newsletter to tempt you into buying something. This is a fair trade-off, but don't feel obligated to do so.

Tell you Important Tips of Winning Contest and Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are consumer-focused sales or awareness promotions which utilize the excitement and enthusiasm generated by a prize incentive to draw entries for the opportunity to win the offered prizes through a chance based drawing. Sweepstakes are generally quicker and easier for the Sponsor to administer and for the public to enter than “Contests,” however Contests have their own special value and appeal. One other major difference is that winning a Sweepstakes is based on the operation of an element of Chance, as opposed to being entirely skill-based.

Several tips for contest and sweepstakes are given to you for your sharing.

First, read the sweepstakes rules first. Basic information will be listed, like prizes, times you can enter, expiration date, etc. So if you want to take part in the sweepstakes, you will check it out even it is bother. Time is money. If you enter a contest and get disqualified you have just wasted time that you could have used entering other contests or sweepstakes.

Second, it's a good idea to check out a site’s privacy policy. You can avoid getting a LOT more SPAMS. SPAM is not opt-in newsletters. Do not subscribe a newsletter if you signed up it and didn't mean to. It's always a good idea to know who you are giving your private information to, as well. If you are not sure about it...don't do it.

Third, never and ever send money for a prize. Almost all scams are run this way. It will be the fastest way to lose your money. You should never have to send money in order to receive your prize. Use your own judgment for shipping and handling requests. Smaller companies may ask for it. They are using this as a promotion and cost of prize and shipping should be something they can write off on their taxes as a business expense.

How to Improve Your Chances of Winning Sweepstakes

Some people seem often to bring home lots of sweepstakes prizes, while others win nearly nothing. Many people think it completely attributes to luck, and frequent winners use smart tactics to gain more winnings. Entering sweepstakes intelligently by creating a plan, you can dramatically increase your chances to win. The following list show you five tips which to improve your chances of winning sweepstakes prizes.
First, Focus Your Effort.
Maybe you have noticed that there are more contests running than you could possibly enter on any sweepstakes listing. It's a good idea to make your efforts on prizes that you really want to win. Don't pay your attention to entering for those prizes if you know you won't be able to attend a concert across the country. Instead, focus your energy on the giveaways with prizes you really want to win.

Second, Enter as Many Sweepstakes as Possible.
Try to enter as many different sweepstakes as you can. If you enter a single giveaway, you'll have to get a lot of luck to gain the winnings. But if you enter hundreds of different prize competitions each month, the likelihood of a win soars. So, enter many different sweepstakes as possible.

Third, Emphasize Sweepstakes with Lots of Prizes.
The more prizes a sweepstake offers, the better your chances to win. It will be much easier to win a giveaway that is awarding 100 prizes than a giveaway with a single prize. Even if some of the prizes are smaller in value, you'll feel encouraged when you receive the notification that you have won the prizes.

Fourth. Look for Sweepstakes that Restrict Entries from Other States.
Since each state has its own rules governing sweepstakes, some sponsors will prohibit entry from residents of particular states. Some states, like Florida, New York, and Rhode Island, are commonly excluded from large sweepstakes. However, California and Utah are rarely included in sweepstakes sponsored by wineries or beer breweries. Because of more expensive shipping fees to the states Hawaii and Alaska, they are often left out.

Fifth, Prioritize Sweeps with Restrictions by Age or Gender.
Some sponsors have strict requirements on specific age ranges or genders when participate entries. For instance, most sweepstakes allow entry by people over 18 years of age, but some restrict entry to above 21. The restrictions cut down your competition and increase your odds if you are above 25 years of age.

How Sweepstakes Scams Work

Sweepstakes is a type of consumer sales promotion in which purchasers of a particular product are given an opportunity of winning attractive prizes; winners are chosen purely by chance. People use contests and sweepstakes to defraud people. In order to recognize the signs of a sweepstakes scam, it's helpful to know the most common goals of scammers. Tell you some of the most common aims of contest and sweepstakes scams.

One of the common goals of sweepstakes scams is outright theft. Generally, the scam artists try to convince you to send those cash under false pretenses. Modus Operandi is another usual way. The way this sweepstakes scam works is that you are informed that you won their sweepstake or contest, and that all you has to do to receive your prize is to wire them money to cover taxes.

Legitimate sweepstakes do not need any form of payment identification. They do not place strings on their prizes. You won't have to pay taxes to anyone but the IRS. Some sweepstakes sponsors require social security numbers, however; this is a legitimate question to ask before releasing a prize.

Promoting your website through sweepstake

Among various marketing methods, sweepstake is an effective but not expensive way to drive traffic to website if carried our properly.

There are many benefits for those websites that offer a give-away. Take one for example; it is a free advertising for those sites. There are a number of sites provides websites lists for sweepstake enthusiasts. In order to retry visitors’ interests, the content of the lists is updated daily. The largest of these sweepstakes directories get many thousands of visitors daily.

Before starting sweepstakes, you should select a prize, usually, the larger the value is, the more interest your sweepstake will generate. If you are on a budget, you should start small and if your initial sweepstakes is successful, you can increase the prize value the next time and see if the traffic is proportionally increased.

Another important factor is that you should make the prize relevant to the interest range of your audience. If visitors click though to your website and register for the sweepstake then leave the sites without paying attention to the content of your website, the traffic directed this way is not useful. If the theme of your website is fashion, for example, a fashion book or fashion gadget will ensure that you attract only those visitors who are likely to be interested in what you are offering through your site.

It is also important to think about how you tent to present sweepstakes on your websites and what information is required for sweepstake enthusiasts to fill in. Usually the basic information that is needed is the emails address for next step contact. In most cases, the less information you need, the more entries you will get. It is wise for you if you put the form in a content page rather than on a page by itself. If the form is on its own page, the link that only direct visitors to the form without seeing the content of the site.

If you have not the experience of sweepstakes, you’d better begin with looking at other websites that carrying out sweepstakes. After studying on others, you will have a much clearer idea about how to incorporate them into their content. And you will know what is best suiting your site.

Instant Win Sweepstakes

Unlike regular sweepstakes, in which you have to wait until the giveaway ends and a winner is drawn before you know whether you will receive a prize or not, in instant win sweepstakes, you will know the result as soon as your entry goes through.

After your entry, if you are an instant winner, the winning message will pop immediately on your computer screen. Comparing with the regular sweepstakes, the instant win sweepstakes can keep the entrants’ high enthusiasms and a lot of people think they prefer this kind of sweepstakes, which can make them feel more excited.

Besides, many instant win sweepstakes let entrants play games before they find out whether they've won or not. But in fact, entrants’ performances in the game will hardly affect the result of whether they will win or not. The games are only exist to make the sweepstakes funnier and more exciting. So you can skip the game if you like, which won’t affect your choice of winning.

As for how the instant win sweepstakes run, usually the sponsors will pick a random winning time for each prize and the first person who enter the sweepstakes after that time has pass will win the prize.

Last but not least, be sure to read the rules carefully, which may help you get the idea about how to enter such sweepstakes better.

Tips for Taking Part in a Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are a specialized form of consumer promotion where the incentive offered in exchange for the consumer’s entry is awarded in whole, or in part, through the operation of chance or random selection. This contrasts with Contest promotions which award the incentive or prize as part of a bona fide competition involving intellectual knowledge, skill or physical prowess according to objective criteria and in which chance does not play a role in winner selection.

When you take part in a sweepstakes, you should fill in the sweepstakes form. Your sweepstakes form should be simple, specific and clean, especially that it should be easy to read in order to avoid misunderstanding and possible legal problems. Make sure that the form is compliance with all state and federal statutes, because some states require registrations, surety bonds, insurance, etc.

There is something that you must be paid attention to. You should always avoid statements like "You are a winner". On the sweepstakes entry form, a complete set of official rules and P-O-P displays should be included and also an alternate means of entering for entries without a product purchase. Disclose all requirements for eligibility, deadline date and mailing address for the entries. You should indicate where the promotion is void (states) and the odds of winning on the form. You should also make the list of winners available upon request and award all prizes timely to avoid bad publicity.

Strategies of Winning Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are a specialized form of consumer promotion where the incentive offered in exchange for the consumer’s entry is awarded in whole, or in part, through the operation of chance or random selection. Sweepstakes use the value and attractiveness of the prize incentive offered to create excitement, interest and engagement with the Sponsor’s products and services and to build the largest possible entry database. Sweepstakes promotions can use cash, products and/or services of any value as incentives and do not have to have any relationship to the products or services of the Sponsor.

Before you entering a sweep stakes, you should do some preparatory work. You should buy cards, paper, envelope, pens and a clipboard. Entering a single sweepstakes at one time is highly recommended. In addition, one can also take part in a lot of online sweepstakes. It takes a considerable amount of time to track down sweepstakes to ender. Many of the online sweepstakes do not have a deadline and they offer less attractive prizes. Most of them are only allow one person to enter one sweepstakes.

Entering as many as sweepstakes will increase the success rate, but it’s better to enter many sweepstakes copious times than entering copious sweepstakes one time each. It is statistically the best chance to win sweepstakes to get the odds in one’s favor. Generally speaking, one should enter those sweepstakes which are technically more favorable.

Firstly, one should enter the sweepstakes of numerous valuable prizes. Then, you can try the sweepstakes shown in radios and TV. Another good idea is to take part in local sweepstakes. Very attractive prizes are offered by a few of those local sweepstakes. If one is good in freehand writing or cooking, he is also encouraged to enter a contest, because these contests have far less entries than sweepstakes.

Both general sweepstakes and online sweepstakes are becoming more popular day by day. Act smart while participating in these sweepstakes so as to increase their chance of winning.

5 Tips to Improve Your Chances of Winning Sweepstakes

Some people seem often to bring home lots of sweepstakes prizes, while others win nearly nothing. Many people think it completely attributes to luck, and frequent winners use smart tactics to gain more winnings. Entering sweepstakes intelligently by creating a plan, you can dramatically increase your chances to win. The following list show you five tips which to improve your chances of winning sweepstakes prizes.

First, Focus Your Effort.
Maybe you have noticed that there are more contests running than you could possibly enter on any sweepstakes listing. It's a good idea to make your efforts on prizes that you really want to win. Don't pay your attention to entering for those prizes if you know you won't be able to attend a concert across the country. Instead, focus your energy on the giveaways with prizes you really want to win.

Second, Enter as Many Sweepstakes as Possible.
Try to enter as many different sweepstakes as you can. If you enter a single giveaway, you'll have to get a lot of luck to gain the winnings. But if you enter hundreds of different prize competitions each month, the likelihood of a win soars. So, enter many different sweepstakes as possible.

Third, Emphasize Sweepstakes with Lots of Prizes.
The more prizes a sweepstake offers, the better your chances to win. It will be much easier to win a giveaway that is awarding 100 prizes than a giveaway with a single prize. Even if some of the prizes are smaller in value, you'll feel encouraged when you receive the notification that you have won the prizes.

Fourth. Look for Sweepstakes that Restrict Entries from Other States.
Since each state has its own rules governing sweepstakes, some sponsors will prohibit entry from residents of particular states. Some states, like Florida, New York, and Rhode Island, are commonly excluded from large sweepstakes. However, California and Utah are rarely included in sweepstakes sponsored by wineries or beer breweries. Because of more expensive shipping fees to the states Hawaii and Alaska, they are often left out.

Fifth, Prioritize Sweeps with Restrictions by Age or Gender.
Some sponsors have strict requirements on specific age ranges or genders when participate entries. For instance, most sweepstakes allow entry by people over 18 years of age, but some restrict entry to above 21. The restrictions cut down your competition and increase your odds if you are above 25 years of age.

Reduce the Cost of a Sweepstakes Promotion

Sweepstakes are a specialized form of consumer promotion where the incentive offered in exchange for the consumer’s entry is awarded in whole, or in part, through the operation of chance or random selection.

Sweepstakes promotions are very popular because they are often relatively easier to conduct and administer than Contest promotions (Contests typically require judging and consideration of every entry according to Contest criteria), and because they have been proven to be powerful tools to attract the interest, attention and engagement of a target audience and to aid branding and sales objectives of the sponsoring company.

How to reduce the cost of a sweepstakes promotion becomes an important question. The following are some good ways:

Offer a lesser value of cash alterative to your Grand Prize. For instance, you can offer a $10,000 cash alternative if the Grand Prize is $20,000.

Consider using gift certificates, phone cards, gas cards, etc. These prizes are easy to mail and have real value. They will reduce handling fees. US Savings bonds are also a good alternative and cost approximately 50% of the face value.

Find prize suppliers whose prices include warehousing and delivery (Drop-shipping).

Consider sharing the cost of a sweepstakes promotion and prize liability with a compatible brand or buy into a “Share-A-Sweeps” promotional program.

What You Should Know Before Holding Online Contest Or Sweepstakes

Nowadays online Contests and Sweepstakes are very popular ways for business to promote their products or services. They are web advertising magnets that can draw large amount of visitors to your website because people love to win things for free.

When you decide to hold a contest or a sweepstake, it is advisable for you to check out other contests and sweepstakes web sites and try to get more ideas. Then prepare your products or services as prizes for entrants. Always offer more than one prize, and make sure they have some value, nothing cheap. The prizes should also meet your target audiences’ need.

After that, you can announce your site to hundreds of web sites that list free contests and sweepstakes and send out press releases about your contest or sweepstakes to let more people know them. It would be wise for you to ask the entrants if they would accept offers from your business in the future by e-mail; make it easy for people to enter your contest or sweepstakes; capture as much information as you can when they enter your contest or sweepstakes; give your contest or sweepstakes a professional look; tell the entrants about the time period of how long your contest or sweepstakes will be held; clearly state how the winners will be chosen and how you will deliver the prizes.

May the above notices help you hold excellent contests or sweepstakes.

How to Find Sweepstakes On the Web

Sites offering giveaways are spurring on the Internet everyday. Some one just takes it easy to find such website. Yes, indeed, it is not difficult to find such one. But it is not easy to get one that suitable for you. If we type sweepstakes in the search engine bar, what ever it is Google, Yahoo, MSN, the browser will find thousands of sites. But you don’t know which one to choose.

From above analysis, it is not a good way if you intentionally to find one. Some sweepstakes allow multiple entries while others sweepers are only allowed to enter one sweepstake one time.

One good way to find sweepstakes is searching the websites that provide sweepstakes and promotion service for other sites. One of these sites that are reputable is Enteractivesolutions (ESG). ESG is one of the leading companies that provide promotion marketing service, sweepstakes and contest administration service.

Besides, there is other ways to find a suitable sweepstakes site, which is joining sites that want participants to take surveys based on many different topics. If one finishes the survey, he is automatically entered in drawings.

It is amazing that thousands of sweepers got big prizes though entering giveaways. If you are jealous of those people, then choose the right way and make research before entering entries, you have the chance to be one of them.

Sweepstakes Strategies that Win More Prizes

There are so many sweepstakes to enter, but there is so little time to take part in one by one. So, will you enter all the sweepstakes? The answer is NO. Even there are lots of prizes over there; a sweeper can’t get all of them in a day. What we need to do is enter sweepstakes seriously. So, it’s so important to have a sweepstakes strategy that helps you win more prizes.

First, look over new sweepstakes listings. Looking over the new sweepstakes listings carefully and selecting from the lists the daily or weekly sweepstakes which you want to win.

Second, decide the best sweepstakes to enter. Because you have selected some contests and sweepstakes with prizes, then you could select the best sweepstakes to enter. You should try to enter all these sweepstakes even if you have no time to enter others.

Third, you should enter the daily sweepstakes. Look over the sweepstakes list every day so that you don’t forget the important sweepstakes that you want to enter. If you have weekly or monthly sweepstakes, you should pay attention to the beginning of the week and the beginning of the month.

Fourth, if you still have some extra time to enter the sweepstakes, look over the daily sweepstakes list and enter the ones with prizes you'd like to win, or you can enter the sweepstakes flexible.

ABC About Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are very popular in many countries. People like entering them because they are free and entrants have the chance to win prizes.

In the United States, sweepstakes are very important ways of marketing promotions. Sponsoring companies usually use the opportunities to generating enthusiasm and providing incentive reactions among customer by supporting the sweepstakes with featured prizes. The prizes people can win in sweepstakes are very different, from less than one dollar to more than one million dollars and also can be cars, homes, etc
The size of sweepstakes are also various, from international, national, state, local, to geographical. However, all the sweepstakes must comply with some certain laws. In many states of the United States, there are laws to rule the sweepstakes.

Secrets for Online Sweepstakes Entrants

Nowadays sweepstakes are popular ways for businesses to attract customers and promote themselves. Sweepstakes sponsor usually prepare a large amount of prizes and they cannot require entrants to purchase to obtain more chances to win. So people just have to enter for free and then they will get the chance of winning prizes.

It seems easy but there are still some secrets to follow in order to win more.

First, entrants should enter for as many competitions as they can to have much more chances to win. There are various forms of sweepstakes, among which, a popular form is instant win sweepstakes. It is a form of online sweepstakes where the entrants can know whether they have won or not immediately after entering. Usually entrants have to play a game or answer a question. Other popular forms of online sweepstakes are daily, weekly and monthly draws.
Second, entrants must be patient. Most entrants will not win the first competition they enter. Entrants should be patient and keep track of all the online sweepstakes they entered.

Third, entrants should pay more attention to sweepstakes with smaller but more prizes. It is true that sweepstakes with bigger prizes are much more attractive, however, such ones will have fewer winners and the chances to win will be fewer as well.Last, it is a good idea to enter online sweepstakes with restrictions. The more restrictions a sweepstakes have, the fewer people are eligible. So as long as you are qualified to attend the sweepstake, you will have more chances to win than attending open sweepstakes.Although winning online sweepstakes depends on luck and cannot be controlled, entrants can use some of these tips to increase their chances of winning.

How to Improve Your Luck

Luck does play an important role in winning sweepstakes. Although you can not put all your attention to it. But we still like to mention that you can improve your luck. There are tips that can improve your chance to win big prizes if you follow them.

Almost every sweeper has a motto, “A win is a win,” that is to say, a small prize is the gift that given by the activity. You should never lose heart if you get a small prize or even get nothing. Remember the process itself is some kind of prize itself, as you enjoy yourself during the whole process. After you win a small prize, you should encourage yourself to go on with it, confident that the next chance is yours.

The first step is having a winning attitude that is expecting to win. When it comes to sweepstakes entries, expecting to win can give you the motivation to continue to enter until the prizes start coming in. If you expect to lose, you'll never have the motivation to keep entering, day after day.

Expecting to win can help in other aspects of your life as well. For example, if you have a job interview, imagine that you've already gotten the job. You'll find yourself less nervous, more confident and performing better in the interview, making it more likely that you'll actually get a job offer.

The Right Promotional Choice – Sweepstakes Promotions

There are many sweepstakes promotional methods to make the sweepstakes promotions. However, which is the right promotional choice for sweepstakes promotions? That is the most important question to consider when you trying to achieve specific brand objective or reaching performance levels.

If your objective is to build the image of your products brand, or even you want to increase brand awareness, good publicity for your product, then the right promotional choice is sweepstakes program. If your objective is to dramatically increase the product’s sales, then the best choice may be a coupon or free sample.

After you make the sweepstakes promotions being the right sweepstakes promotional tool, you should develop a theme in accordance with your target audience and prepare the message that you want to deliver. Only a sweepstakes be carefully planned and advertised, can the chances of winning sweepstakes could be increased. The sweepstakes should also include relevant prizes. Sweepstakes promotion should not be used as a stand alone promotion. A sweepstakes should be complemented with advertising, point-of-sales materials, and others. During the above, coupon advertisement is one of the important tools. A coupon advertisement which includes a sweepstakes has better readership and higher redemption's. Some studies have shown that a sweepstakes that is included in coupons and rebates can highly increase redemption, even by 25%.

Reasons to Join a Sweepstakes Club

Filling out entry forms over and over again can be a lonely pastime. When you are entering a sweepstakes alone, if you don’t get any encouragement or feedback, it is easy to get discouraged. So join a sweepstakes club. Clubs are groups of fellow sweepers who get together on a regular basis to help each other win more contests and sweepstakes.

Joining a sweepstakes club can help you improve your chances of winning sweepstakes. The reasons are as follows:

1. Share News about Local Sweepstakes
The number of entering local sweepstakes is much lower than national sweepstakes receive. Local sweepstakes have some of the best chances to win. However, it’s difficult to get the news about sweepstakes entries. Sweepstakes club members can share the news and knowledge to help locate great local sweeps before they end.

2. Motivation and Encouragement
Sweepstakes club members are a great source of motivation. They can share stories about their recent wins, enjoy the happiness with you when you receive a prize. They can also help each other get through dry spells when winnings are scarce.

3. Trade Contest Tips, Hints, and Strategies
Is there anything about your? Talking to other experienced sweepers can help you find out the sweeping strategy because it can improve the winning chances. Learn tips from organizational strategies to new ways to win more regularly at every meeting.

4. Group Giveaways
People who love sweepstakes are likely to have its own giveaways and exchanges. Some clubs use low membership fees to pitch in for door prizes, while others will ask members to bring a few stamps to participate in a drawing for sweepstakes supplies.