Today, consumers have a huge number of products and services to choose from, sometimes hundreds and even thousands – depending what type of item or service it is they are wishing to procure. This plethora of choice means that businesses and marketers need to do all in their power to stand out from the crowd. To do this, they use a number of marketing approaches to make a big impact and get customers to choose their business over the competition. One form of marketing that has proven to be incredibly effective is experiential marketing. But what is it and why do you need it? Let’s take a look…
The definition of experiential marketing
Experiential marketing is a concept that has been formed based on the full experience a customer has with a service, product and/or brand. Traditional forms of advertising – for instance, television, print, and radio – concentrate on communicating the brand visually and verbally by explaining product benefits and features. Experiential marketing, on the other hand, tries to immerse potential customers within the service or item by engaging as many other human senses as they can. By doing this, experiential marketing is able to use a whole host of other marketing approaches, from guerrilla marketing on a large-scale to individual sampling. The whole purpose of this type of marketing is that it creates an emotional and memorable link between the potential customer and the brand, creating consumer loyalty and influencing purchasing decisions.
The benefits of experiential marketing
The popularity of experiential marketing is there for all to see, from the rise of experiential marketing recruitment businesses to the sheer number of experiential marketing campaigns. This includes the likes of Refinery29: 29Rooms, Guinness: Guinness Class, and Facebook: Facebook IQ Live. So, what exactly are the benefits of experiential marketing? Let’s take a look…
- It enables you to micro-target specific audiences – Target marketing is something all businesses need to focus on, and experiential marketing allows you to take this one step further by micro-targeting specific audiences. Use your data to find out about the people that use your products and services and target them with your campaign.
- It synergises with other marketing channels – One of the greatest assets of this form of marketing is the fact that it works so well with other marketing approaches, both with pre-event support and post-event content production. From email marketing to social media, the way in which experiential marketing synergises with other channels means that it boosts the effectiveness both ways.
- It leads to increase client engagement – As mentioned earlier in the post, one of the main purposes of this type of marketing is that it inspires customer loyalty. It does this by increasing the level of engagement your brand has with clients.
- Traditional advertising is in decline – When looking at the benefits of experiential marketing, you also need to consider the disadvantages associated with traditional advertising. There is no denying that traditional advertising is in decline thanks to technological advances and the dominance of the Internet. Ask yourself one question: when was the last time you watched the adverts on your television rather than looking at your phone instead?
- It gives people the chance to interact with your brand – People need to interact with your brand if they are going to build positive connotations of it. Brand experiences are typically memorable, unique, and fun. They provide engaging experiences that people enjoy. Experiential marketing gives you the chance to present the best side of your brand to consumers, establishing great connections.
- It appeals to the new ways people use media – This links on to the earlier part regarding traditional advertising being in decline. Experiential marketing appeals to the new ways we use media. Think about social media. It’s fair to say that this is now the cornerstone of all types of marketing. Well, experiential marketing has come along and made social media even more powerful!
- It works – Let’s end on the most important fact of them all: experiential marketing works. You only need to look at the statistics to see that this is the case. Firstly, look at the attention this form of marketing is getting and the wealth of experiential marketing campaigns that have been launched to see that this is the case. Secondly, there is research to prove that this is the case. EventTrack conducted a survey, which showed that after an event, 65 percent purchased a product or service being promoted, and 74 percent had a more positive perception of the brand.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding regarding what experiential marketing is and how it can benefit your business. From enabling you to micro-target specific audiences to inspiring consumer loyalty, there are many reasons why experiential marketing has become an important tool for businesses to do today.