Category: Sweepstakes

Can You Run an Instagram Stories Sweepstakes?

Clients have been asking us lately if they can run an Instagram Stories sweepstakes or contest. Here are the facts. What are Instagram Stories? Instagram Stories are a feature of Instagram that allows users to post short videos or photos of their day in a sort of “highlight reel” that disappears in 24 hours. Similar to Snapchat, you can add text or animation or effects to your posts, as well

January 3, 2020

12 Reasons to Run a Holiday Promotion — 12 Days of Christmas Style

Thinking of how to sell in the idea of a holiday promotion to your client or manager? Here are 12 reasons why a holiday promotion would help achieve your 4th quarter marketing goals this year – with a little help from the 12 Days of Christmas. Build your brand: Your brand may be new — no followers, no customers, no sales. What better way to start off than to run

November 6, 2019

Cyber Monday Promotion Ideas to Bring Customers to Your Online Site

A Cyber Monday promotion could be the difference between someone choosing to shop at your online store or at your competition. Plan early for a Cyber Monday promotion specifically tailored to your brand and audience. If you sell online products and want to increase Cyber Monday sales overall: Run an online instant win game with chances to win high value prizes. An instant win game is a fun way to

October 23, 2019

6 Things NOT to Do When Planning a Holiday Promotion

Frequently we give out ideas or strategies for promotions, but sometimes we need to talk about the failures to prevent companies from making the same mistakes. Here is a quick list of what NOT to do when planning your holiday promotion so your brand can outshine the rest. Don’t forget who your customer is. One of my favorite “they did not just actually do that, did they?” moments was when

October 16, 2019

Sweepstakes Rules Generator vs Custom Sweepstakes Rules

The allure of a sweepstakes rules generator is that you can create a set of sweepstakes rules for less money and less time. In fact, back in the day, Marden-Kane had an online sweepstakes rules generator of our own. Clients at that time could easily and cost-effectively create their own sweepstakes rules without legal fees or lengthy review times. The reality, however, was that most of our clients actually needed

September 19, 2019

6 Ways to Have a Sweepstakes Advantage

A sweepstakes is a promotion that involves an element of chance – usually a random drawing or random instant win. So are there ways to have a sweepstakes advantage if the drawing is random? Only if you make your entry count. Here’s how: Enter! Seems simple enough, but we have seen people start the entry form process and then never get to the submission success page. You can’t win if

September 12, 2019

What Promotion Incentives Work Best?

We are constantly asked by our clients what promotion incentives work best. Should they give away a lot of small things, or one big thing? What is the ideal value of an incentive or prize? Do small incentives work? Here is a short summary of what promotion incentives work to entice consumers to register for a promotion such as a sweepstakes or contest or loyalty program. But first, we

September 5, 2019

From the MK Promotion Archives: Tigerino – the First Scratch-Off Game Card

Marden-Kane originated the first scratch-off game card with Tigerino. The Tigerino promotion was designed for Humble Oil’s ESSO and ENCO gas stations in 1966, to capitalize on the already popular “Put a Tiger in Your Tank” ad campaign. The idea was simple: if you purchased gas you could get a game card. Every game was a winner, but some game cards awarded big cash prizes depending on the letters

August 8, 2019

Avoid Clickbait Tactics to Make Your Social Sweepstakes a Success

Take a look at your social feed right now. Look on any platform — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat — and start scrolling. How long does it take for you to find a post or story or tweet running a “giveaway?” The “giveaway” is everywhere on social. Mommy bloggers, Instagram dogs, major brands, and influencers are all running giveaways. And while the chance to win some swag might be

May 17, 2019

How to Create Sweepstakes and Contests So Easy Anyone Can Enter

One of the biggest problems we see with online sweepstakes and contest concepts is that they can get overcomplicated or are run on platforms that the target audience is not using. When that happens, people get confused and do not enter — or worse, start bad-mouthing your brand. It’s time to start creating contests and sweepstakes so easy anyone can enter. As we like to say, don’t set the

April 18, 2019