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Consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands can benefit from running sweepstakes and contests. With significant competition in this space, CPG brands continuously look for ways to differentiate their consumer experiences from those of competing brands. Sweepstakes and giveaways are how CPG marketers are delivering results while helping to increase brand awareness and audience reach.
Read on to learn how CPG marketers use sweepstakes and social media giveaways to retain customers and improve customer loyalty while creating unique experiences for your customers.
CPG Brands: Try These 10 Online Sweepstakes Marketing Ideas
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Article Contents
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- How do you market CPG products with sweepstakes?
- What are the trends in CPG sweepstakes?
- How do contests help CPG brands?
Why Are Sweepstakes and Contests Critical to CPG Brand Differentiation?
According to Shopkick, the average CPG brand depends on just 0.7% of customers, the most loyal customers, to earn them roughly 80% of their sales volume. Just a slight increase of 5% in customer retention means that brands can increase their revenue by as much as 95%. This accounts for millions in sales for CPG brands that they can easily earn a positive ROI when running a sweepstakes or contest for a fraction of the cost.
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Increase CPG Brand Touchpoints With Social Media Contests
Sweepstakes and contests open up many more brand touchpoints for prospects who have not yet entered the CPG sales funnel. By creating a giveaway promotion that encourages sharing, participants open up and share your promotion with their networks, giving you instant access to customers through word of mouth marketing.
CPG Mobile Marketing With SMS Sweepstakes
Running a text to win sweepstakes allows your CPG customers to engage with your brand via mobile. This is useful especially if your mobile marketing requires the installation of app, such as a customer loyalty app or coupon app. In this way, you’ll be able to reach your customers directly in-store as they shop at retail locations that have your CPGs on the shelf. Furthermore, you can also personalize your messaging through the use of marketing automation in order to increase conversions and sales.
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10 Online Sweepstakes Marketing Ideas
Now try these 10 online sweepstakes marketing ideas for your CPG brand:
1. CPG Brands: Co-sponsor a Sweepstakes or Contest With Other Brands
Co-sponsoring a sweepstakes or contest with another brand is a great way to get your brand’s CPGs noticed by consumers. First, you’ll get the benefits of social sharing and word of mouth advertising. Then as new participants enter your giveaway, some will decide to stick around to see what your brand is about. If they like you, they will go ahead and make a purchase right away.
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Leverage Other Brands’ Authority by Cosponsoring a Sweepstakes
Another benefit of co-sponsoring a social media giveaway with another brand is that you’ll also benefit from their authority and social proof. This brand endorsement helps give first-time customers enough trust in your brand to make a purchase and share your sweepstakes or contest with their friends.
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2. Drive CPG Sales Through Personalization With Your Sweepstakes Marketing
While you are required per sweepstakes laws to offer the same exact sweepstakes experience to all giveaway participants, this is not the case for your sales funnels and customer nurturing. Using data, along with customer attrition, you should make sure that you personalize the shopping experience, at the very least for first-time customers.
Remember that their first impressions of your CPG brand are what is required in order to convert them to loyalists. A sweepstakes or contest also helps start a conversation with the customer which will allow you to identify their needs and wants from your brand through the use of surveys.
3. Take Advantage of Current Trends for CPG Sweepstakes Marketing Ideas
Taking advantage of current trends for sweepstakes marketing ideas is almost always a winner because you can capitalize on search and paid ad traffic that is already coming to those keywords. Some examples of trending sweepstakes marketing ideas that CPG brands typically use include movies, music artists, sports stars, and sports events. You want to stick to trends that are big ones so that you can expect thousands of visitors to your sweepstakes at minimum.
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Run Sweepstakes and Contests During Trending Events
A sweepstakes or contest can work alongside the trending event itself to create a unique experience for your sweepstakes participants who are also part of the event. When you attract enough sweepstakes participants, your sweepstakes or social media contest will become part of the overall conversation about the event. Becoming part of the conversation means that your audience reach will be even wider.
Look for Profitable Trends
Just because other brands are planning to run a sweepstakes during the holidays or around a specific event, for example, this does not mean that it’s the best sweepstakes marketing strategy for your brand. Instead, wait for profitable trends that deliver sales from your audience and make sure that your CPG brand is in a position to take advantage of the trend.
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4. Use a Sweepstakes to Brand New Products
Use a sweepstakes or giveaway to get customers and your CPG brand’s social media followers to help you name your product, choose a new flavor, or some other new product campaign. Not only does this help create excitement around the launch of the new product, it also helps you to create an audience with potential customers before the product goes live.
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5. Test Out New Marketing or CPG Packaging Designs
You can test out which product packaging options increase sales the most by advertising your sweepstakes or giveaway on your product labels. With this option you can identify the key preferences that customers have that make you choose your product. To encourage customers to purchase the product before they enter your sweepstakes, make sure that your CPG sweepstakes entry form includes a place to upload a store receipt. All sweepstakes must be free to enter so uploading the receipt must be optional in order to comply with sweepstakes laws.
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6. Drive CPG Customer Loyalty With Emotional Sweepstakes Marketing Experiences
Emotional and nostalgic customer experiences are a great way to help customers connect with your CPG brand. By associating your sweepstakes or contest with a specific time of the year or special occasion, your CPG brand becomes a symbol of the season. With a reliable promotion that customers can count on to happen every month or year, recurring sweepstakes and contests can help to inspire CPG brand loyalty.
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7. Use a Sweepstakes or Contest to Change Directions
Some CPG brands found themselves rebranding recently due to changing consumer interests. If you’re unsure about how your customers perceive your rebranding strategy, a sweepstakes or contest is a good opportunity to test the waters and get customer feedback. You can also get feedback with a sweepstakes survey that appears on the entry form of your sweepstakes. You can also ask participants to make UGC for your sweepstakes to learn more about their customer relationships with your brand.
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8. Create UGC Contests to Build Brand Trust and Authority
Use a UGC contest that incorporates all types of media from videos to testimonials, blog posts, podcasts, and social media marketing to demonstrate the value that your brand delivers. Consider branded sweepstakes marketing ideas such having your participants highlight your brand’s use in their daily lives. This will help you build a buzz about your CPG brand on social media. It also enables social media contest participants and potential first-time customers visualize themselves using your products.
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9. Run a Social Good CPG Sweepstakes
A social good sweepstakes or contest helps to promote your CPG brand while also involving social action that creates good marketing for your brand. By aligning your CPG brand with a trusted charitable organization or good cause, you can appeal to your audience with messaging about something that they are already passionate about.
A sweepstakes or contest in a partnership with a social organization gives your customers an opportunity to support a cause that they believe in. They will also be more likely to share your CPG sweepstakes with others because it makes them look good. In fact, a study confirmed that 70% of Millennial and younger audiences are willing to pay more for products that are designed to benefit a cause they support.
10. Increase Customer Retention for Memberships & Subscription Services
If your CPG brand has products that are often incorporated into memberships, delivery or subscription box services, then it’s a good idea to target these customers with a special promotion. Running a CPG sweepstakes with a DTC or ecommerce co-Sponsor can create a perk for consumers that helps create CPG loyalists while also ensuring that the co-Sponsor’s direct customers remain subscribed members.
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Boost Your CPG Marketing With Sweepstakes and Contests
Moving forward, the opportunities for CPG marketers to differentiate their brands will be numerous thanks to martech. Now is the time to get to know your audience and start developing a strong sweepstakes marketing strategy that is based on data as a result of running recurring giveaway campaigns. Sweepstakes ROI is one of the best ways to determine if your CPG messaging is effective.
Read these articles for more tips and the best sweepstakes ideas for CPG brands:
💎 Running a CPG Brand Sweepstakes or Contest? Tips to Help You Get Started
💎 The Importance of Social Media Contests for Creating User Generated Content
💎 Sweepstakes Laws Compliance: Is Hiring a Sweepstakes Administrator Essential for ROI?
💎 5 Reasons to Run an SMS Sweepstakes Campaign
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