Experiential marketing is a combination of strategies that invite audiences to engage with a brand via some real-world/branded experiences. It is also understood as ‘live marketing’, ‘engagement marketing’, or ‘event marketing experience.
All in all, a winning experiential marketing strategy is often referred to as specific activities undertaken by the brands to promote their product through unique and dynamic branded experiences. Key things experiential marketers should pay heed to are-
- Experiences in marketing are quite necessary to grab the attention of your buyers and lure them to buy the product.
- Experiential campaigns transfer your actual motive directly to the consumers.
- An experiential campaign should allow consumers to directly engage through meaningful, memorable experiences.
What is Experiential Marketing?
Experiential marketing is a type of marketing technique that directly influences customers through brand experiences. In short, the brand is asking the consumers to try their product before it is launched in the global market. Such branded experiences lead to a stronger bond between both sides and getting to know each other deeply.
Take the example of GuitarGuitar, one of the top guitar retailers in the U.K. – they designed soundproof booths to give customers a unique solo experience with guitars before purchasing them.
Nothing is better than generating a kind of emotional connection that will be quite memorable for the customers. Companies tend to stick to this type of marketing for improving their CLV (Customer Lifetime Value). CLV measures the profit generated by a single customer for a brand in his lifetime association with the company.
Experiential marketing effective strategies come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from interactive product demonstrations to immersive brand experiences to create brand awareness and optimize conversions. Some of those can be of the following types –
- Solo experiences
- Pop-up shop
- Augmented reality and metaverse
- Product demos
- Co-branding
- In-person events or experiential events
- Product Sampling
- Conferences
- Classes and workshops
- Tours, etc.
Why is experiential marketing important?
Experiential marketing has become increasingly important because it allows businesses to connect deeper with customers. The key difference between experiential marketing and other types of marketing is that an experience takes place in “real” life.
The main advantages of experiential marketing include the following:
- Raise brand awareness
- Create search demand
- Create a bond between a brand and its audience
- Deliver authentic in-person experiences
- Capitalize on the fear of missing out
- Boost product or service trial
- Drive sales conversions
Key Elements of a successful Experiential Marketing
It is a common myth that merely providing free samples of your product will do the job. It is not that simple and includes a lot more hard work for gaining your customers’ trust.
The following factors will help you to create a better experiential strategy for accomplishing your goals.
- Target Audience – It is unnecessary that your complete customer bank would like to demonstrate your product or service. Sometimes, choosing and dividing it into various sections is a better option. Try to figure out the audiences interested in being a part of your experiential marketing campaign.
- Awareness – If you are launching a strategy of experiential marketing, make sure you have a sufficient number of people waiting to use it. This can only be done through the proper advertisement of your product. The main motive is to make the customers aware of your actions. Promotes your campaign on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Experiential marketing channelizes around effective awareness strategy for powerful marketing and branding.
- Background Connection – Customers would prefer to test your product only if they are satisfied with the idea behind it. Ensure to generate an appropriate background for the product that will give them reasons to be a part of it. Lure them with some exciting offers and establish a connection with them. Thus, customers would relate to your brand in an emotional sense, and eventually, it will benefit your product sales.
How to plan an Experiential Marketing Campaign
1. Put the Customer First
You need to put the consumer first to foster brand ambassadors or brand warriors who can do word-of-mouth experiential marketing for you
2. Know the power of Storytelling
You should understand the power of storytelling, as users who relate to a story make better connections with the brand and give favorable responses via your experiential marketing strategies.
3. Let your brand stories connect
Your brand stories should truthful, plus they might incorporate personalities or characters your audiences can feel to root for, as it lets experiential marketing be more conversion-oriented.
4. Set clear goals
Marketers should set clear goals and outcomes, plus they should also determine ways to measure those goals and outcomes, as it will optimize the success rates of experiential marketing campaigns.
5. Identify and Research the market for experiential marketing
For channelizing an experiential marketing campaign, it is inevitable for marketers to Identify and exhaustively research their target market
6. Know the importance of branded experience in experiential marketing examples
You should always remember why offering real-world/branded experiences work by going through some of the popular experiential marketing examples on the web
7. Make your Experiential Marketing Campaigns result-driven
Your experiential Marketing Strategy should revolve around devising a creative, engaging, exciting, and effective activation
8. Use online and social media channels
Marketers should try to find out ways for optimizing online engagement via social media and other channels
9. Make sure the event marketing strategy for your brand ensures value addition
You should try to offer users something valuable that can channel brand awareness and let your audiences and users work as brand ambassadors.
Benefits of Experiential Marketing
Next, it is time to throw some light on live marketing benefits that can change the game completely. These are the reason why the hype is created about this experiential marketing style,
1. Better Reach
Engagement marketing is the best way to promote your product before it is launched in the market. The range of new customers will eagerly wait for the product to hit the sales platform of your store. Such a type of participation marketing campaign is considered more effective than traditional marketing in optimizing reach.
2. Brand Loyalty
It is often seen that loyal customers tend to be a major part of a brand’s overall success. experiential marketing will act as a booster to the growth of trust between both parties. Customers will feel better about your company if they are part of your campaign.
3. Customer Growth
According to several surveys, it has been proved that live marketing enhances the growth of customers. Brands that tend to use more unique methods with a cross-channel marketing plan are preferred when it comes to choosing a similar product. Such an interactive experience will not only increase brand awareness but also nurture customer relationships more effectively.
Examples of Experiential Marketing
It is safe to state that experiential marketing is highly appreciated by consumers and their respective brands. However, it is similar to a double-edged sword that can have a positive as well as a negative impact on the image of the brand. Let us understand this via some examples of experiential marketing
1) Free Movie Tickets by CocaCola
The renowned soft drink brand CocaCola organized a time run for the customers to have a chance to win free movie tickets.
They only have to use one of their vending machines at an airport and try to reach a specific destination in 90 seconds. This was done to make them aware of physical fitness and get them attached to their brand.
2) Betfair’s Chaos due to Octopus
Betfair is one of the famous gambling companies that came across an interesting idea for promotion purposes. For the sake of inviting people during the World Cup 2014, they planned to bring a huge octopus to the site.
Unfortunately, the trailer broke on the way, and it caused huge chaos on the street. Later, they apologized for their action on their social media handles.
3) Refinery29: 29Rooms
For around three years now, this lifestyle brand has facilitated the 29Rooms events that it says- are “an interactive funhouse of style, culture, & technology.” It comprises 29 independently branded and curated rooms – and participants can encounter something else in everyone.
The rooms are planned and made with brand partners like different musicians and artists along with shopper-facing brands such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Cadillac, and Dyson. This experiential marketing example shows how to go crazy, yet keep it on-brand.
It suggests that an experience ought to be memorable as well as relevant to the individuals joining in. It is also recommended to partner with other creators like artists or musicians to make experiences conspicuous to expand the brand reach.
4) Volkswagen: Piano Staircase
Volkswagen in the year 2009 opted for this strategy to let individuals be at their most musical side by converting a subway staircase into a giant piano in Stockholm, Sweden when no one was there.
The following day, each step of the staircase started making sounds of different piano keys while people were moving through them. This experiential marketing campaign was based upon “The Fun Theory” which suggests people prefer doing something if it looks fun.
It suggests that ensuring the fun factor in every marketing campaign is highly effective in solving your customer’s problem. Offering a delightful experience is your chance of making a constructive and productive impact on your community.
5) Facebook: Facebook IQ Live
Facebook created Facebook IQ Live for understanding how much data it has about the way people are using its platforms. As a new insights division of Facebook, it brought consumer data to life in a manner that can pull the attention of advertising and marketing executives.
This data plays a crucial role in curating live screens for depicting the conversion path of online shoppers when they use social media for making their purchases. This campaign was useful in enabling attendees to get valuable insights on how to use Facebook for optimizing their business presence.
It ensured an experience for the users about the ways they would use a product or service of a business on Facebook. It lets users interact with a brand in a more creative and result-driven manner.
6) Experiential marketing campaigns with Amazon Ads
With the assistance of the Amazon Ads custom team, brands can craft unforgettable experiences for potential customers no matter where they are in their journey.
Stores offer brands the opportunity to exhibit their products within a comprehensive and engaging shopping experience on Amazon, as well as stay at the forefront of consumer consciousness after an event. With Sponsored Display Ads, companies can quickly craft digital advertisements that support experiential marketing strategies with any budget size.
With Amazon Ads, customers can effortlessly engage with their favorite brands through interactive audio and video ads that boast innovative features. Letting you take your marketing to the next level!
Should you try experiential marketing?
To determine when to include an experiential marketing campaign in your branding event, consider your objectives, timeline, and resources.
Experiential marketing campaigns can be a powerful tool to make your brand or sponsors more human and create experiences that leave consumers with lasting, positive impressions. Nevertheless, for maximum reach, it is essential to combine these real-life experiences with social media and content distribution across channels.
If you want to create an experiential event that will leave a lasting impression on attendees, awarding prizes through a wheel or raffle is not enough. You need to craft creative and immersive touch points which can increase the value of your event for both yourself and any sponsors involved. This may require either significant budgeting resources or working with well-known brands who are willing to help facilitate.
Summing Up!
Thus, the productivity of experiential marketing depends on your mindset.
Some people believe it to be unique, while others mess up badly in getting the appropriate results. You have to plan your every move during this campaign carefully. A single wrong step will do more harm to you than not doing anything at all.
How important do you consider experiential marketing campaigns for optimizing the reach, lead generation, and conversion of a brand?
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