Expanding your international audience through sweepstakes

How a simple giveaway can help your brand break into new markets and connect with global audiences

Breaking into the international market isn’t as easy as translating your website or shipping internationally. Besides dealing with new legal requirements, you’ll have a tough job appealing to new cultures and reaching a worldwide audience.

Simply running expensive ads won’t take you far in gaining attention, but sweepstakes have proven to be an effective way for businesses to capture a global audience. It’s a powerful tool that lets brands connect with audiences beyond borders in a fun and exciting way.

What is sweepstakes?

Sweepstakes, or prize draws, are campaigns where participants enter for a chance to win a prize. The key part of it is that users enter for free, and the winner is chosen randomly. This means that any of the participants can win –  they don’t have to show skill or effort (such as submitting a photo).

Businesses can use global sweepstakes for audience expansion as they immediately capture attention.

Once they decide to enter, they’ll then be required to register and share on social media. This means that your posts will continue expanding their audience organically, helping break into a new market.

Why sweepstakes work for international growth

Expanding into a global audience requires you to connect with customers in each market, and sweepstakes are quite powerful at that.

Sweepstakes attract a large, diverse audience

When you enter a new market, your largest challenge will be to get people to notice your brand. Global sweepstakes make it quite easy to capture attention and encourage interaction.

Since people don’t have to commit anything, entering a challenge for a chance to win a prize is easy. This means many people will join, and they’ll share your content and your brand on social media.

However, ensure you also make the prize attractive and relevant to each market to encourage maximum participation.

They drive international word-of-mouth marketing

One of the most powerful aspects of sweepstakes is their ability to make a campaign go viral. This is because, in most cases, these campaigns are designed to be shared as a requirement for joining. This creates a ripple effect as the more people see it, the more it’s shared.

They help you build an international customer base

One of the biggest marketing tools is a loyal customer base, which you can email about your new products or campaigns. Sweepstakes are designed to make people register with their emails, so you’ll create a mailing list in every country your campaign is operating. This will allow you to do direct follow-ups, personalize marketing, and even offer exclusive new campaigns to your customer base.

They provide insights into global markets

Market research is key for audience expansion, and global sweepstakes help you with this. When people register, you’ll have access to a wealth of information about potential customers. You can analyse it to reveal the location and demographics of your participants, which will give you insights into where your brand is strongest.

They create brand recognition and trust

When running your campaign, your brand and products will be shared widely in markets where your brand isn’t yet trusted. This means that people will see friends and social media personalities they trust talking about your products positively, and this will make them trust your brand. You’ll build credibility, so even those who don’t take part in the campaign will have a positive image of your brand.

They increase social media reach and engagement

Social media is the key to reaching an international audience, and that’s where sweepstakes focus on. When people are interested in the campaign, they’ll like or share your page, follow you, like a post, or tag their friends to enter. This means you’ll instantly gain new followers and a social media audience you can engage with long after the campaign ends, setting the stage for long-term international growth.

Ready to take your brand worldwide? Launch a sweepstakes today and start engaging with international audiences in a fun, effective way!