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Everyone loves free stuff. And for brands, giveaways are an easy and inexpensive way to get their name and product into the hands of loyal or new fans. With the right combination of item selection, quality and design, a promotional item can have a huge impact in promoting a brand. Sweepstakes are fun ways for a brand to connect with its fan base, but often the hardest part is choosing the right promotional products to giveaway. Here are some tips you should keep in mind the next you are hosting a promotion, but are unsure about what to give.

Budget

You don’t want to break your bank giving an item away. Instead, you should be thinking about how giving something away for free can work for you. That is why choosing the right product is crucial, but there is no need to stress out about it. No one is going to turn away free stuff. But if you want to make the giveaway work for you, just remember that cheap looking gifts will negatively reflect on your brand and company’s image. No one is going to go through the effort of participating in a sweepstakes for a pen or a sticker. Offering a prize that feels “cheap” will surely turn people off. You need to get people excited and by doing this you need to give away a product that is enticing and stylish. The higher quality the product is, the more desirable it becomes. But not so big that your company could actually suffer by giving such a product away.

You don’t always have to give away a product. If your company offers a service, offer people that. For example offer free memberships, shopping sprees, gifts cards, virtually anything that is related to your brand that will get them in the door. It’s time to think outside the box of company pens and calendars. However if the prize is below $50 you should always consider having multiple winners to increase the attractiveness of the promotion

The most common misconception is to immediately give away an iPad. Surely that’ll generate a lot of interest. But what is actually wrong with giving away an iPad for your sweepstakes? It has nothing to do with your brand (unless you’re Apple of course). The people you will get entering your contest will do it solely for the iPad and have no idea what your brand or company does at the end of the day. Some might actually perceive your promotion as spam, because an iPad is too good of a prize to giveaway, and ignore it altogether. Don’t giveaway an iPad, you’ll just be hurting yourself in the long run.

Target Audience

It’s important to know who you target audience is. Do you want to reward your already loyal fans or do you want to reach out to new customers? Know who you want to give to and know what they would want. You want your prize to align properly with your target audience. When choosing the right prize, you want it to be a mix of something that is relevant to your business and something that your customers really want. You can never go wrong with a limited edition version of a product or an item that has not been released yet. Just make sure that prize appeals to everyone in your target audience and that it is wide-reaching.
Be Unique

Choose a promotional product that is creative and unique. Something that is not commonly given away and generates excitement amongst social users. The more unique the product, the more likely it will better remind clients and fans of your services. When in doubt, just remember the cool factor. How do you make your product stand out? Simply put: it’s coolness. Coolness is simple and unique. It’s something your audience will want and appreciate, while still subtly reminding them of what your brand does.

Follow these guidelines and you’ll have scores of potential customers lining up to participate in your promotion!