In 2020, it’s harder than ever to get peoples’ attention!
For that reason alone we have seen the brands and companies are falling in love with the kind of marketing that makes consumers experience.
Experiential marketing, sometimes loosely known as ‘event marketing’ or ‘on-ground marketing’ is a strategy that engages consumers using branded experiences; the idea is to create a memorable impact on the consumer by being creative with the contents produced. One that will inspire them to share with their friends both online and off. These experiences could include something as big as an event to something as simple as product testing. Experiential marketing is all about immersing consumers in a live experience. It’s likely a similar approach we already use when crafting our event experience. The goal of experiential marketing is to create an authentic branded experience. In order to truly understand what experimental market is we need to keep in mind things like active participation and engagement from the audience, promotion of the brand’s message and values, and creative content creation.
Experiential marketing can help us humanize a brand, and create experiences that leave people with lasting, positive brand impressions. Although these experiences are real-life and in person, we need to marry them with social and virtual content to amplify our effort across channels and online grounds.
More than just promoting a certain activity, a great branded experience should be all about the brand itself. It’s not enough to simply tell our audience why the brand is the best, as they might not always receive the message. But allowing them to experience it themselves will ensure that the message will stick with them for years to come. A great branded experience is one that provides long-lasting value to the audience. This is the part that many brands fail at when it comes to experiential marketing because they focus entirely on providing short-term value. A great branded experience is one that sticks with its participants and encourages continued brand interaction long after the fact.
EXPERIMENTING EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING!
Looking at avenues to grow the experience is a constant process that is being worked upon. For example, hosting online live sessions from social media forums have been as much beneficial in immersing the audience, keeping in mind that this does not need to be an in-person event. While it would be better if participants could physically be there but online events work just as well.
When we talk about experiential marketing, usually what comes to mind first are pop-up events. Pop-up events can take a variety of shapes and forms, art installations and even live performances, but essentially the ultimate goal of pop-up events are to enhance the ordinary, everyday experiences. A part of what makes pop-up experiences so fun and engaging is that, by their very nature, they’re not designed to last. This activates a scarcity mindset within your target audience who will rush to be a part of the experience before it ends.
One very important fact to remember about experiential marketing is that it doesn’t have to affect as many people as possible; sometimes all we need to do is give one person a unique experience. When combined with the right amount of creativity and social sharing, creating an experience that only affects a small group of people can be just as effective as hosting an event that garners thousands of attendees.
WHAT WE LEARN!
In an increasingly crowded market, brands are becoming more and more aware that the key to edging out the competition is to build a strong, lasting and engaging relationship with every one of their customers. And, by far, the most effective way to do that is to take advantage of experiential marketing.
We should take time and think about how we can reach out and connect to our audiences in a meaningful way and find ways to interact with them. An extraordinary experience is no longer a nice-to-have option, but rather an integral part of any successful marketing strategy.
well articulated!