The short answer? No. Experiential marketing isn’t the future or an interesting concept that’s waiting on the horizon. It’s delivering results right now. It’s a form of marketing that brands of all sizes should integrate into their next campaigns. Otherwise, they risk falling behind more innovative rivals.
Here’s a look at how marketing has changed, why experiential marketing is so successful and a quick rundown of its benefits for your business.
How the Landscape Has Changed
You don’t need me to tell you what doesn’t work anymore in the world of marketing. Flashback to the 1990s for a second. Titanic smashed box office records, the Spice Girls smashed gender stereotypes and Chris Waddle smashed his decisive penalty over the bar at Italia ‘90.
During the 90s, salespeople held all the power. They had the information that buyers needed and brands were able to use traditional methods, like print marketing and television advertising, to get their message across.
Fast forward to today and the internet, smartphones and social media have changed everything. The power now lies with buyers who have all of the information they could ever need at their fingertips.
Today’s consumers have a short attention span and they want to be impressed. Fail to make an impact and it’s easy for them to just keep walking by or scrolling on social media. This is why experiential marketing is having such a significant impression on the industry.
It’s hard to grab someone’s attention with people skipping ads on TV and installing advert blocking software on their computers. Experiential marketing allows you to form a genuine connection with a possible customer and make sure they’re fully engaged.
The Benefits of an Experiential Marketing Campaign
Boost Your Social Media Engagement
The more likes your event has on social media, the higher the number of people that are now aware of your brand or product. It’s difficult to engineer something that will go viral but you can help the process with experiential marketing.
A unique event or memorable moment is the perfect thing for someone to share on social media. You can increase the chance of success by creating dedicated hashtags, incorporating social media followers that aren’t present or introducing specific photo opportunities for visitors to take advantage of.
After the event is over, it’s easy to analyse and measure how the campaign performed on social media. Did you trend on Twitter? Has the number of Facebook followers you have increased?
Drive Sales
You’re more likely to buy a product if you’ve had the opportunity to try it in person. It’s as simple as that. No matter how good an online description or product photo is, we’re always more confident in a purchase when we’ve seen it in real life.
Experiential marketing is perfect for new product launches because it allows customers to see a product up close. Whether it’s a free sample or a unique demonstration, you can boost sales and quickly raise awareness with a campaign like this.
Create Loyal Brand Advocates
Create a fun, memorable and challenging experience and you set your brand apart from the rest in the mind of a consumer. You’ll always be the brand that thought differently and tried something outside of the box.
This is something that resonates with consumers and helps to develop long-lasting trust. Even if it’s just in someone’s subconscious, positive feelings like this can be the difference between choosing an alternative or always shopping with your brand.
Be a Memorable Brand
No brand wants to be forgettable. Someone should see your logo or website and know exactly who you are and what you’re offering. An experiential marketing campaign stands out from the common and traditional alternative methods that others are doing.
Just take a look at some of the examples below. Each of them is from a brand that’s really making an impression on consumers and ensuring that when these people next see their logo, they’ll have a positive reaction.
As these examples show, the future of experiential marketing is even bigger, better and bolder than what’s come before. Brands are trying to outdo each other to create the most immersive, interactive and engaging experiences for consumers.
It’s an opportunity to be creative and really stamp your brand’s values on something. Create an experience that is aimed exactly at your target audience and go straight to them. You’ll find the results speak for themselves.
Get Started With Experiential Marketing
We’ve put together a playbook that’s packed with all of the essential information you need to get started. Experiential marketing isn’t something to think about next week, month or year. It’s a tactic that needs to be your focus right here and now.
What are you waiting for? Download our free playbook now using the link below and create something amazing.
