| Sweepstakes Promotion Checklist
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This checklist is a follow-up article to the previous one posted about setting up your online promotion. Please review that article before using this checklist. If you have any questions about any of hte information presented in these articles, please don't hesistate to contact us.
As with any other highly visible promotion, sponsoring a sweepstakes requires
thorough planning and attention to detail. This checklist will help you
understand what bases need to be covered in order to create an effective
and efficient online sweepstakes or contest promotion.
WHY SWEEPSTAKES?
Sponsoring a sweepstakes has many benefits, including:
* Drawing attention to your company and building name recognition.
* Adding fun to an incentive program and getting people to participate
at your Web site.
* Adding value to a consumer offer and rewarding customer loyalty.
* Prompting people to explore your offerings and learning more about you.
* Steering visitors to your Web site.
PLANNING
* Establish your promotion objectives.
* Determine your promotion budget. Can you afford to hire a promotion
agency, or will you be working with a shoe-string budget?
* Determine which products will participate in your prize structure.
* Determine the duration of your promotion or how often drawings will be held.
* Determine the relevant statistical data you want to capture.
* Establish criteria for evaluating results and conducting a post-promotion
review (lessons learned).
THEME AND DESIGN
* Develop a theme or unifying concept for your sweepstakes, making sure
that it will appeal to your target audience and reflects your brand
or service image.
* Make sure that the mechanics of your promotion will satisfy your
objectives and can be easily understood and conveyed.
* Give sufficient emphasis to the product being promoted.
* Comply with truth in advertising standards -- Don't mislead.
* Design your promotion site with ease-of-use in mind. Don't make people
wait for an enormous splash screen graphic to load.
* Establish your online entry requirements -- e-mail message, fill in
a form, sign a guestbook, download trial software, instant wins, and
so forth. Consider alternate mail-in methods of entry.
* Include a visible link to your official rules.
* Remember to link your promotion page with your main Web site.
PRIZES
* Select a prize structure appropriate to the theme of the promotion.
* Determine the number of prizes to be offered based upon your budget
and objectives, and what is needed to get attention.
* Create the necessary artwork depicting the prizes and their descriptions.
* Consider distribution methods for delivering your prizes.
RULES
* Don't use another site's official rules for your new promotion.
Each promotion needs its own specific set of rules. Cutting and
pasting without paying attention to detail can be a very dangerous
practice.
* Items to consider: Indicate where official entries can be obtained
or the requirements for entering online. Identify an alternative
method of entry if necessary to satisfy the "no purchase necessary"
requirement. Disclose eligibility requirements. Who may enter?
Specify that mechanically reproduced entries may not be submitted, or
entries submitted by an automated entry service. Set a deadline date
or dates for receiving the entries and selecting the winners. If
you're sponsoring a skill contest, spell out the judging criteria.
Specify whether a winner may elect cash instead of merchandise. Identify
those states in which the promotion is void. Determine whether affidavits
will be required of winners. If so, state it. Explain how people can
obtain a list of the winners. Provide the address to which requests
should be sent.
* Submit rules to attorneys for review if desired.
PROMOTION
* If you are going to include traditional promotional materials,
consider the following: free-standing brochures, flyers, TV
and radio ads, direct mail support, risers, window streamers,
coupons, and so forth.
* Prepare a press release and take advantage of your local
newspapers and radio stations, as well as online media channels
such as PR Web at www.prweb.com.
* Announce your promotion to various subject-matter related
newsgroups and to alt.consumers.sweepstakes.
* Establish links to your promotion with various sites that list
sweepstakes and contests such as:
-- Winning Ways (www.onlinesweeps.com)
-- Huron Online (//huronline.com)
-- RedHotSites (www.redhotsites.com)
-- ThreadTreaders (www.4cyte.com/threadtreader)
-- Contest World (www.contestworld.com)
-- Volition (www.volition.com)
-- The Contest Catalogue (www3.catalogue.com/contests)
-- Sweepstakes Online (www.sweepstakesonline.com)
For a large list of more Web sites to announce to, you can visit the
"Addicted to Winning" Web site at www.flash.net/~ohnoguy/sweeps.htm
* Don't even consider using a bulk mail service to send an
announcement. Don't do it!
* Establish links with other subject-matter related Web sites.
* Explore various message boards for opportunities to announce
your promotion.
* Use your existing channel of contacts to help create some
excitement. Consider swapping advertising banners with one you
created specifically for your promotion.
* Replace any company-specific banners with promotion-specific banners
that you may have with free banner services such as Link Exchange
(www.linkexchange.com).
ADMINISTRATION
* Determine who will perform the judging or the process of how you
will choose a winner. You need to remove all ambiguity and make sure
that all entries are treated equally. Ensure that a random drawing
is truly random and unbiased.
* Arrange criteria for notifying and verifying winners.
* Prepare affidavits of eligibility and releases if necessary.
* Arrange for timely shipment of prizes to winners.
* Consider methods for announcing the winners: e-mail newsletter,
announcement on your Web site, message posted to various newsgroups,
press releases, and so forth.
As you explore each of these items, you'll understand why thoughtful planning
and preparation is necessary for a sweepstakes or contest promotion. If you have
any questions regarding any of the items presented on the checklist, please feel free
to send us mail.
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Promote Your Sweepstakes 
