Promotion Trends Archives

Run a Legal Pay to Play Sweepstakes

The newest promotion trend is to run a pay to play sweepstakes where you can earn entries with purchase. For many e-commerce providers, a sweepstakes with the chance at winning a high value prize can be used to boost sales or donations. Every dollar spent can earn an entry into the sweepstakes, and bonus entries can be earned for purchasing certain products or making a purchase at a certain time. In the United States there are laws, however, that make this type of promotion illegal unless you follow some simple guidelines. Here are three things to do to ensure you … Continue reading →

March Madness: How to Run a Bracket Challenge

March means the return of flowers, longer hours of daylight, St Patrick’s Day – and March Madness. The annual bracket challenge basketball tournament is known to basketball fans and non-fans, on TVs in bars and in homes across the country, where people talk about their picks to win it all. A bracket challenge like the March Madness tournament can be a fantastic promotion vehicle for your business, and you can run it during March or anytime throughout the year. Here are some tips to follow for creating your own bracket challenge. Make it legal. Sweepstakes and contest laws apply for … Continue reading →

Ideas to Build Brand Equity in Times of Crisis

Before we dig into the nuts and bolts, let’s define what it means to build brand equity. By definition brand equity is the commercial value that derives from consumer perception of the brand name of a particular product or service, rather than from the product or service itself. Companies use advertising and other methods to build brand equity and make their products more memorable, recognizable, and desirable, over other similar products and brands. Good examples of brands with great brand equity are Kleenex or Pampers, whose brand names are more recognizable than the name of the product they are (facial … Continue reading →

11 Small Business Social Promotion Ideas for the Shutdown

Small businesses, especially those considered non-essential right now, have to come up with creative ideas to retain loyal customers and ensure that they will have a business to reopen. For most small business this is definitely not “business as usual,” but rather, “business unusual” that keeps you in the black. For each of these small business social promotion ideas, please remember that each social platform has promotion guidelines that still apply and the FTC is still watching to make sure you are running your hashtag promotions legally. For Retail: Make your customers into your brand ambassadors during these challenging … Continue reading →

8 Creative Employee Incentive Ideas to Inspire Your Work From Home Staff

COVID-19 has turned many companies upside down in how they approach their work and the engagement of their employees. Here are 8 employee incentive ideas to inspire your work from home staff to work harder than ever, even when the new normal is not so normal. 1. Encourage Self Care How are you encouraging self-care for employees that are working from home? Run a promotion on Facebook asking your employees to share how they are taking a break. Maybe it is taking a quick walk outside, throwing in a tub of laundry, taking the dog out, putting dinner in … Continue reading →

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 level of skill involved in your scavenger hunt, the promotion may be deemed a contest (skill-based) or a sweepstakes (game of chance). Either way, you will want to have a full set of legal, official rules in place to govern the promotion to cover all possibilities – such as what the tie-breaker would be if two people found the treasure at … Continue reading →

How to Run a Legal TikTok Contest or Sweepstakes

TikTok recently posted advertising guidelines for the US and EU, which don’t give a lot of guidance about contest guidelines, but that doesn’t mean that there are no rules to follow. To keep your TikTok Contest or Sweepstakes legal you should adhere to these seven basic recommendations for running a promotion on a social platform: Use a unique hashtag to track entries. The best way to track entries for a TikTok contest is by using a unique hashtag. Any post that is made during the posted timeframe of the promotion that has the pre-determined hashtag is considered an entry. … Continue reading →

Marijuana Marketing Making Us Dizzy and Confused

This post on marijuana marketing was contributed By Fae Savignano, EVP, Marden-Kane Digital. In the United States the use and possession of marijuana/cannabis is illegal under federal law for any purpose. However, the legalization of marijuana by U.S. jurisdiction (State law) is on a roll! As of this date, the medical use of marijuana (with a doctor’s recommendation) is legal in 33 states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts. Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, … Continue reading →

Teen Trends for Back to School Promotion Planning 2018

Can you hear it? It’s the school bell ringing. Time for your back to school promotion planning! So what trends should you know about as you plan for this back to school season? Here is where it’s at for kids, tweens and teens this year: Snapchat. Snapchat is still a top social app of choice for today’s teens, even though popularity seems to be waning a bit. Why do they keep using it? Maybe it’s because no one wants to break a snap streak, a fire or number emoji next to a friend’s username that shows how many consecutive days you have been … Continue reading →