As 2014 wraps up, we thought we would look back and see what our most popular blogs of the year were. Here is the list of the Top 10 blogs published in 2014 ranked by the number of times they were visited this year.
1. 5 Social Valentine’s Day Sweepstakes Ideas
Love is in the air! Make it work for your brand with a Sweepstakes. Here are five ideas to get you started. All of them are social in nature, and there is still time to put any one of these into place before the big day. Continue reading
2. Good Criteria for Judging a Contest
As you are all probably aware, a contest is a game of skill; whereby entrants are judged on their ability to successfully perform skill-type activities. For example, writing an essay, preparing a recipe, answering trivia questions or solving puzzles would all be deemed to require skill. To solidify the importance and absolute necessity of skill in a Contest, sponsors should focus on and clearly identify the scoring and judging process. Continue reading →
3. Treat Your Customers with 4 Tricky Halloween Contest Ideas
Saying goodbye to summer (and beach weather) can be difficult, but fall has officially arrived and you know what that means: time to break out your sweaters, drink some apple cider, and start planning your Halloween costume! Here are a few Halloween themed promotion ideas to help celebrate the new season. Continue reading →
4. How to Register a Sweepstakes in Florida
Does your sweepstakes have a total prize Approximate Retail Value of over $5,000? If you’ve answered yes, then this blog is for you. When your sweepstakes has a total prize Approximate Retail Value of over $5,000, by law you have to register it with the state of Florida. (Note: You do not have to register a contest in the state of Florida no matter what the prize value is, only a sweepstakes.) Continue reading →
5. The Winner Selection Process for a Sweepstakes
Most of us dream of being a big prize winner one day and many of us might even have some lucky rituals that we put into high gear when we really want good fortune to smile our way. A kiss for luck can certainly make someone feel like they’re a winner already – if only that were always true. Here in the world of sweepstakes administration, the selection process for a sweepstakes winner is much more pragmatic and based only upon random selection. Continue reading →
6. Sweepstakes and Contests Quiz: Are You a Promotional Marketing Expert?
Think you can plan and execute a promotion on your own? Take our Promotional Marketing Expert Quiz below to see how much you really know. (Keep track of your answers and check to see how you did at the end. No peeking!) Continue reading →
7. What is “Consideration” in a Sweepstakes?
Consideration has many definitions, but when it’s included in a Game of Chance such as a Sweepstakes, the promotion could be violating federal, state and local laws and regulations governing Sweepstakes and Contests. When a promotion combines the elements of (1) prize, (2) chance and (3) consideration, it is a Lottery. All lotteries, except those which are state operated are illegal under federal law and the laws of all fifty states. (1) Prize is anything of value awarded to winners. (2) Chance is the process of randomly selecting the winners. Continue reading →
8. How to Register a Sweepstakes in Rhode Island
When preparing to conduct a Sweepstakes, it is important to be aware of the regulations and laws that are unique to the states where your promotion will be running. One great example of this is the registration requirements that several states enforce. Continue reading →
9. The Difference Between Sweepstakes and Contests
The words “promotion,” “sweepstakes,” “contest” and “giveaways” are sometimes used interchangeably. However, there are a few very distinct differences between them. To start, the word “promotion” can be used to describe many different marketing tactics including Sweepstakes, Contests, Instant Win Games, Continuity and Loyalty Programs. Continue reading →
10. How Instagram Direct Changes Promotions
One of the biggest challenges we have had with Instagram promotions has been contacting winners. Instagram had no way to privately contact potential winners to notify them that they won – which led to potential to fraud when we were forced to post a public comment to notify winners. Marden-Kane came up with a workaround to this problem, which involved asking people to verify their account when they contacted us. This worked out fine – but we prefer to not announce winners in public until they have actually been cleared as a winner. Continue reading →
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