For years, online sweepstakes have been a secret weapon used by large corporations to increase customer acquisition, engagement and involvement. However, an organization of any size can quickly and inexpensively tackle critical issues in customer service, sales, marketing and product development by running an online sweepstakes.

Here are 7 reasons to run a sweepstakes for your company:

1. Increase traffic to your web site – Promoting a sweepstakes is a great way to get traffic to your web site. Post your sweepstakes in targeted forums and sweepstakes b-boards with a link to your site and watch your traffic jump.
2. Build prospect lists – When a prospect signs up to enter your sweepstakes make sure you ask for his or her email address not only as a means to contact the winner, but also as a means to build your prospect lists for remarketing. Just make sure you ask for permission to contact them again. This can be done with a simple check box that is a box that must be checked or un-check to receive or not to receive promotional emails.
3. Strengthen customer relationships – Giving your customers an exclusive opportunity to win a sweepstakes giveaway or special offer shows you value their business. If you’re in the services industry, offering a discount on the next service purchased is always appreciated.
4. Collect marketing research data – Increase your response rate for your survey by offering a sweepstakes as an incentive sweepstakes to get feedback before rolling out a new product, logo or Web design.
5. Reveal Customer Preferences – Your customers are your greatest source of knowledge when it comes to new product ideas or service needs. Offer them an incentive for their ideas with a short survey that automatically enters them into a sweepstakes.
6. Motivate employees – Inject a little fun in the workplace. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a sweepstakes for your employees. You could raffle off a no strings attached vacation day for the lucky winner.
7. Build buzz around new product launch – Launching a new product requires a lot of buzz to be created. Press coverage and magazine articles are standard forms of buzz generation, but the Internet enables an additional viral marketing capability. Post a sweepstakes for your company with the winner receiving your new product or service for free. An online sweepstakes can reach hundreds of thousands of people just from one posting on a sweepstakes portal. Imagine what can happen if you post your new product sweepstakes on 5, 10, 15 targeted portals.

April Weitzel is a recognized eMarketing expert. She has an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and has played a critical role in the marketing efforts of fortune 500 companies as well as privately held organizations. She is currently the Director of Marketing for Elliance, the company behind the ennect online marketing toolkit. EnnectSweeps, the only DIY online sweepstakes tool on the market, is the newest addition to the ennect product line.