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Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn your marketing messages into memorable experiences that consumers remembered and talked about long after the engagement had passed?
Well you can, and in this article we’ll look at how brands of all sizes can turn in-person experiences into winning touch points that stick through experiential marketing.
What is Experiential Marketing?
Experiential marketing leverages live, in-person, one-on-one interactions that aim to help customers and potential customers strengthen their bond with a brand.
“Experiential marketing” is also one of those buzzwords that has a tendency to get thrown around loosely. It has a lot of overlap with similar buzzy concepts such as event marketing, on-ground marketing, live marketing, engagement marketing, participation marketing, brand activations, and loyalty marketing.
All of those terms essentially mean the same thing: live, in-person experiences meant to build brand relationships.
We could also look at experiential marketing through the lens of what it is not. It’s not purely digital, it’s not traditional advertising, and it is not a one-way touchpoint. It is not overly sales-y. In fact, an experiential marketing campaign aims to be the opposite of those things. Here are a few traits to remember when creating your experiential marketing campaign:
It’s physical. Make sure your in-person brand experience has at least some physical, real-life component to it. While some marketers point to viral social media challenges as examples of experiential marketing, those examples often come from the pandemic era when in-person experiences weren’t possible. Now that the world is opening up again, get out there in the physical world and include an interactive, in-person component in your campaign.
It’s full-funnel. A well-executed experiential marketing campaign will touch your audience at all levels of the customer journey. Live events are a fantastic top-of-funnel approach to building brand awareness. They nudge prospects from the consideration stage into a purchase, and they build brand loyalty through positive and memorable interactions.
It’s memorable. Think “bigger than your average trade show exhibit.” Make it stick. A successful experiential marketing strategy will be sure to make a multi-sensory, emotional connection and crystallize that connection into a memory. A memorable experience becomes a lasting impression and adds to a positive overall customer experience.
Three Examples of Experiential Marketing Campaigns
To find examples of experiential marketing around you, a good place to look is a local event listing for your city—especially the free events. These free events—if not publicly funded—are often paid for by the marketing budget of a brand promoting itself through a memorable live experience.
Most examples of experiential marketing focus on national brands and their multi-million-dollar campaigns. But you don’t have to be huge to include experiential in your marketing efforts. In fact, live events work best at a local level. Here are a few small and local business examples of experiential marketing campaigns that have crossed my radar here in Denver lately:
- A candlemaking craft venue promoted its grand opening by inviting people to try out the craft at an open house with a DJ and free drinks.
- An underdog cellphone carrier set up a free pop-up selfie museum. They built out an empty warehouse and staffed the experience for two full weeks.
- A local law firm hosted a pet adoption event at its office and the neighboring park to promote the firm’s estate planning services. Free lunch was even included!
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5 Benefits of Experiential Marketing
You can probably think of an experiential marketing campaign you’ve interacted with in the past year. Any brand-hosted pop-up event, art installation, exhibitor booth, or trade show display, interactive game or challenge, immersive experience, happy hour networking, or skill-building workshop could be considered experiential marketing—particularly if the host brand is reaping the following benefits of its experiential campaign.
Benefit #1: Showcase your brand on event calendars
Invitations are a powerful tool. Event details earn a free spot in publications and platforms that are otherwise pay-to-play. It’s timely, relevant content that makes its way past spam filters and group moderators to reach interested audiences looking to have unique experiences and discover new things.
Once you have your event details and graphic, be sure to promote it on local event calendars and everywhere else you tend to post. Submissions to event calendars will get your brand in front of new audiences.
Benefit #2: Put a tangible touchpoint into your audience’s hands
Experiential marketing is all about creating live interactions. This provides the perfect opportunity to get under the fingertips of your campaign audience with a valuable swag item.
That pop-up selfie museum I visited? They printed out a strip of photos from a photo booth, which I still have today, complete with the logo on it. At that law firm’s pet adoption event, attendees who didn’t leave with a new dog at least got to take home a swag bag of pet-themed goodies.
Benefit #3: Collect valuable first-party customer data
As third-party data becomes harder and harder to come by, it’s more important than ever to collect your own first-party data directly from your customers and prospects. An experiential marketing campaign is the perfect data opt-in scenario.
By signing up for the experience you’re offering, your audience is also signing up to hear from you afterward. Leverage your participant list to the maximum with email and remarketing campaigns, even after the experience has ended.
Benefit #4: Turn customers into brand champions
When someone has a great time at your experiential marketing event, that person becomes a believer. Whatever conversion you’re seeking—new followers, new subscribers, or new customers who are fired up enough about your brand to become brand ambassadors and do word-of-mouth marketing—a positive in-person memory is just the right touchpoint to get them to convert. A good time is your campaign’s ticket to ongoing customer loyalty.
Benefit #5: Create press-worthy buzz about your brand
The most successful experiential campaigns make headlines with a classic publicity stunt. Think of the last headline you’ve seen about a new record for the Guinness Book of World Records. Chances are, a commercial brand was behind it. If the record-breaking event invited the public to interact or participate, then you know it’s an example of an experiential marketing campaign for the books.
The final word
Experiential marketing utilizes both online and offline channels. Using marketing tactics that straddle both traditional marketing and digital marketing strategies, brands of all sizes can create live, interactive experiences that will convert their target audience into enthusiastic believers.