Articles
6 Ways to Market in a Pandemic: Rewriting the Marketing Playbook
As COVID-19 continues to take a toll on businesses worldwide, the way we market our business has had to evolve. We spent some time in 2020 rewriting the marketing playbook and posted a series of articles about how to market using virtual events, social, and more. These six posts continue to be our go-to recommendations for any business trying to market themselves in a pandemic. If you have advice for marketing during a pandemic post them in the comments below! 5 Ideas to Boost Virtual Event Engagement Since live events are still being sidelined, virtual events are having their moment. … Continue reading
COVID-19 Relief and CCV Programs
Throughout 2020 and into 2021, Marden-Kane has helped clients and non-profits work together for COVID-19 relief in their communities with commercial co-venture programs, also called “CCV Programs.” A CCV program is when a business partners with a non-profit organization to make donations of money, goods, events, products or services to benefit the non-profit’s cause. This type of cause-related marketing is regulated in many U.S. states, and may require that the business complete some sort of CCV filing or registration in the state(s) where the transaction is taking place. This is in addition to any federal, state, or local promotion laws. … Continue reading
Top 10 Promotional Marketing Articles of 2020
Announcing our top 10 promotional marketing posts from 2020. It has been a wild year, but businesses are finding new ways to market and promote themselves using games and incentives. These are the 10 things that resonated most in 2020 with the businesses we serve that will help carry their marketing into 2021 and beyond! 1. How to Run a Legal Scavenger Hunt Ever thought about running a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt as part of your brand’s marketing efforts? A legal scavenger hunt is the way to engage your loyal customers and offer a fun, immersive experience. Depending on the … Continue reading
Fun Halloween Giveaway Ideas for Your Business
Trick or treaters are almost at the door! Now is the chance to scare up some new customers with a fun Halloween giveaway. “Scare Up” Some New Leads with an Online Halloween Giveaway or Sweepstakes Ask people for their emails (with an opt-in to your mailing list built into the submission form), and then conduct a random drawing from the entries to give away a great prize. Now that they are added to your mailing list, you can reach out to them about your products and specials to convert them into customers. “Dress Up” your Product Offerings with a … Continue reading
5 Ideas to Boost Virtual Event Engagement
Since live events have been sidelined for most of 2020, virtual events are having their moment. To keep attendees engaged at virtual events takes lots of preparation and a good plan for virtual event engagement! Here are 5 ways you can boost engagement at your next virtual event: 1. Engagement = Points Towards a Large Sweepstakes Prize Run a Sweepstakes for a chance to win one large prize, like a 3D printer, a Peloton, or some similar, highly sought after item, plus daily prizes if the event goes over multiple days. Through gamification, a sweepstakes entry in the overall sweepstakes … Continue reading
Best Practices for Creating Instagram Giveaway Rules
Running a giveaway on Instagram is an easy way to engage and build followers, but if you aren’t creating Instagram giveaway rules, you might get into hot water. Here are some best practices: Have actual legal, official rules. Your rules will help protect you in case of a legal dispute. Include all entry criteria in your rules. Without entry criteria, your entrants get to make them up – and you may be unhappy with the entries they submit. Detail your prizes. Don’t be vague about prizes or your winners will be disappointed. And disappointed winners are never good! Make sure … Continue reading
Cooking Contest Best Practices
A cooking contest is a great way to engage your customers and help people think of creative ways to use your brand’s products, be it the food or kitchen products. Keep It Simple As with any contest, the key to a successful cooking contest is to keep the ask simple and the messaging clear. An open-ended call for entries could create issues if you end up having to judge a simple fruit salad against a complicated stew or a kale smoothie. On the flip side, if you are too specific about what types of recipes can be submitted into your … Continue reading
Promoting “Singles Day” in the U.S.A.
Singles Day originated in China during the 1990’s and is still celebrated on November 11th (11/11) each year. As you can see, the date corresponds with four “ones”, representing four singles. Similar to China’s Singles Day on 11/11, the UK celebrates that day on 3/11 and the U.S.A. on 9/22…this of course is above and beyond our Singles Awareness Day on 2/15, that follows our national Valentine’s Day. According to the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the number of single adults in our country is growing significantly, almost exponentially, from year to year. And, it has been reported that in 2017 … Continue reading
Can You Use a Coupon as a Prize?
Question: Can you offer a coupon as a prize in a sweepstakes or contest? Answer: It depends. If the coupon or voucher value covers the entire full priced item without any hidden fees (like shipping & handling, etc.) then you can offer it as a prize coupon. But if the coupon offered is for savings on a purchase, or if it does not cover the shipping and handling necessary to receive the prize, then the answer is no. The prize offered and claimed needs to cover an entire product and shipping so that the winner will not incur any expense. … Continue reading
7 Types of Incentives to Use For Your Next Promotion
What motivates customers to interact with your brand? Incentives do! Here are seven types of incentives you can use for your next promotion. 1. Prizes: It should come as no surprise that the #1 type of incentive is a contest or sweepstakes prize. People love to win high value prizes, especially cash, trips, and one of a kind experiences that can be won in a game of chance or a skill-based contest. 2. Discounts: Coupons, vouchers, and “Buy One, Get One” (“BOGO”) type discounts at purchase are another type of incentive that can make the difference between a customer coming … Continue reading
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Recent Articles
- COVID-19 Relief and CCV Programs
- 6 Ways to Market in a Pandemic: Rewriting the Marketing Playbook
- Top 10 Promotional Marketing Articles of 2020
- Fun Halloween Giveaway Ideas for Your Business
- 5 Ideas to Boost Virtual Event Engagement
