How to Use Native Ads to Promote Your Sweepstakes

In the noisy world of advertising, who doesn't love a good discount or a freebie? That's what sweepstakes are all about. 

If you're unfamiliar with the term, think about the last time you came across a shiny wheel of fortune from a brand asking you to give it a spin. 

Or a random scratch card. Those ads are called sweepstake ads. Their engagement rate is usually high, as nobody wants to miss out on amazing deals. Grabbing attention in this crowded advertising space becomes so much easier with them. 

Out of all the ad formats that online sweepstake ads could be in, native ads stand out the most. This blog is dedicated to sweepstake native ads and will tell you everything about it. 

Introducing Sweepstakes

Before we jump into native sweepstake ads, let's first understand the concept of sweepstakes itself. 

Wikipedia describes sweepstakes as a type of contest where prizes are awarded to the winners. No purchases are necessary to enter or win, and a purchase doesn't increase your winning at all.

In the context of marketing, sweepstakes advertisements have become a promotional approach to reward existing and potential customers and draw attention to a product or service. Many businesses like to base it on gaming elements as the main attraction. 

So it can be a wheel of fortune where you spin and win, scratch cards that reveal the grand offer, gift cards, coupon codes, and lotteries.

The rewards offered totally depend on the business but usually range between discounts, vouchers, freebies, trial services, and special experiences. The reason why brands do it is because they want to create hype and excitement among the audience.

Introducing Native Ads 

Native ads are a type of ad format that is subtle and unobtrusive for the readers and viewers. Think of them as paid advertising that is auctioned to be placed on relevant media and websites. They blend in seamlessly with the content without standing out and attracting irrelevant attention. 

These can be in the form of in-content ads on websites, content recommendation blocks, sponsored ads, in-feed native ads, and in-video ads. More often than not, native ads can be hard to spot. You might be reading an article or watching a video without even knowing that something just got promoted to you.

The advantage of native ads is that they forego banner blindness and actually make the user listen. Users are always more inclined to hear out ads that don't come off ads. 

Combining Native Ads and Sweepstakes 

When you combine native ads with sweepstakes ad services, the result is ads that feel less disruptive and still promote without a number of rewards and prizes. Instead of grabbing information, they share information and effectively attract people who might not actively be looking for something.

Think of it this way: a user who is unaware that they need a particular service reads a blog, takes information, and comes across your sweepstakes ads. It's a wheel of fortune that is not too flashy or pushy, so they give a spin and win a 25% discount code. What they were interested in just by reading the blog just doubled up when they won a sweet discount.

How to Use Native Ads For Sweepstakes 

If you're contemplating designing a sweepstake native ad, then we have got you covered. Take the following steps to create an engaging native ad. 

Decide your goals 

When it comes to promoting sweepstakes business, the obvious goal is to create hype around your products. Businesses aim to attract new customers and attain customer loyalty by providing them with irresistible deals. 

Keep these objectives in mind and turn them SMART by making them more specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. This will later help you measure the results of your sweepstake native ads and decide the necessary courses of interaction. 

Understand your target audience 

Who is your target audience, and how do they react to winning sweepstake rewards? That's a thing you need to study before jumping into creating your ad. Since your ads need to attract newer customers, they need to incorporate some related elements. Ask yourself a few questions: 

• Who is my current audience? Find insights into their demographics like age, gender, income level, etc. Since sweepstakes move more Gen Z and Millenials, you'll have a greater chance of winning them with it. 
• Where does my target audience spend their time? This will help you determine what website, social media platforms, apps, and forums to target with your ads. 
• What problems does my audience have? This will let you know the kind of websites and pages your audience likes to read and where you can place your ads.

Choose the right ad platform

Based on what your audience prefers, you're gonna have to choose a platform to promote. So, if your pick is in-feed ads or in-content ads, having an advertising network by your side is a must. Consider the following factors to choose the right sweepstake advertising platform: 

• Reach of the network: Is the network able to reach the audience within the niche that you're looking to advertise sweepstake ads? 
• Ad Inventory: Ad inventory is a major deciding factor. Check if the ad network has enough inventory available on websites that are relevant to your business and will seamlessly blend in with the content without making it look flashy. 
• Ease of use: The ad network should have an easy-to-use interface and friendly features to measure your performance effectively. 

Make sure the platform is compatible with your business for immense reach and exposure. For instance, for PPC ads, a specialized sweepstake PPC agency works best. 

Create your ads 

The most important thing to keep in mind while creating sweepstake native ads is to blend them in with the content. Your ad headline and copy should correlate with the content of the website you are advertising on. 

The graphic should effectively convey that it's a sweepstake, whether it's a wheel of fortune, a scratch card, or something else. Overall, the ad should cater to your audience's interest and offer the reward as a means of entertainment. 

Let's understand this with an example. Suppose you want to create a sweepstake ad for a new product launch for your sports gear business. After thorough research of the market, you found that your sweepstake native ads will perform the best in between website content. 

So, you decided to showcase your ads on websites within the sports niche. In this case, your ad should either complement or add to the content of the websites. It can be used as an example or a quick offer made. 

Monitor performance and update 

Just like any other ad, sweepstake native ads need to be checked for their performance, too. Test and measure its different aspects to see what has worked in the past and what resonated more with your audience. Use your ad networks dashboard to filter out the following: 

• Impressions to calculate the reach and exposure your ad achieved 
• Engagement to check the number of times someone spun the wheel of fortune, scratched a card, etc, to unveil a reward. 
• CTR to identify how many people clicked on your ad after being compelled by the reward. 
• Conversion rates to see how many people used the reward to make another purchase. 

Conclusion 

Despite their contradictory nature, sweepstake promotions go well with native ads. You tone down the flashiness of sweepstakes and make them appear more subtle to go along with the content. Backed by relevancy and trustworthiness, sweepstake native ads call for more engagement without actually disrupting the user's experience.

Now, if you're thinking of creating one for your promotional strategy, make sure you partner up with a reliable sweepstake PPC agency to get the best results.