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Grab your customer’s attention and engage them with your brand by extending the customer experience using contests & sweepstakes Eighty-five percent of decision-making is based on emotion and 15% is based on logic, according to a famous study conducted by Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. This is the intersection where cognitive and emotional factors impact purchase decisions.
The challenge of marketing is to differentiate your brand to go beyond a product’s functional benefit to create an emotional connection with the customer. When you have done the work to clearly define your brand and launch an image campaign, sales promotion techniques support the campaign by motivating customers to interact with the brand. A sweepstakes prize structure sets the stage to create a unique experience that extends the brand’s image; a contest takes it a step further by engaging the consumer on a deeper level with an interactive component.
Brand Relationships Are Reciprocal
Brand purist may believe that sweepstakes and contest detract from the brand’s image. The reality is that developing a creative way to engage the consumer, and tap into the 85% emotional factor of decision-making, magnifies your brand message and reaches deeper, both demographically and psychographically. Business is not about a mere transaction; it’s about creating a relationship. In life and business, relationships are reciprocal. Reciprocal consumers connect with a brand’s benefits on an emotional level and are more likely to develop brand loyalty. Reciprocal marketing strategies help exponentially expand a brands audience when companies agree to market each other using online and social media channels, usually by offering something “free” to generate awareness and traffic. It is estimated that there are 27 million pieces of content out there daily. To make an impression your message has to delight, arouse, excite or inspire to make a difference.
Set The Stage with a Brand Experience
A lot has been written on creating a unique customer experience. Disney, Nordstrom, and Southwest Airlines are in very different industries, yet they have each devised a unique way to stage the customer experience to set them apart from their competitors. Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines has often stated “ the intangibles are more important that the tangibles. Someone can go out and buy an airplane…but they can’t buy our culture and esprit de corps.”
Your product meets a basic customer need; your brand should go beyond the basic need to fulfill a customer want, desires or a wish for something greater. Sweepstakes and Contests are a great way to create a customer experience because they engage the customer in a personal way. Developing a prize structure that creatively ties into your brands Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or positioning statement creates a positive brand impression, an emotional connection and a memorable experience. Customers will remember how they feel about your brand when making their next purchase decision. Contest & Sweepstakes give you the opportunity to create an experience that’s bigger, brighter and richer to connect with consumer hearts and minds and make an emotional decision as they connect with your message.