Brands that stand out in a crowded market are more likely to gain visibility and recognition. One way to do this is through experiential marketing.
This type of marketing involves creating unique, immersive experiences for consumers that help build a connection between the brand and its audience. It can also boost customer loyalty and advocacy.
1. Engage the Senses
The human senses play a huge role in how we perceive the world around us. They also play an important role in forming long-lasting positive associations with brands, products and services. These associations influence consumer loyalty and willingness to recommend the brand to others.
The goal of experiential marketing is to use sensory elements and storytelling to create sharable moments that engage consumers on an emotional level. When consumers are emotionally engaged, they’re more likely to talk about the experience on social media, thus spreading brand awareness.
Smell is an especially effective marketing tool. Studies show that pleasant smells increase mood by 40 percent. This is why many businesses utilize the power of scent to make an impression on consumers that lasts.
Sound is another powerful marketing tool. From a catchy jingle to an immersive virtual reality experience, marketers can use sound to promote their product. It’s crucial to approach this aspect of experiential marketing with care, however. Overusing sound can make an audience feel bombarded by messages and turn them off.
Taste is a difficult sense to incorporate into experiential marketing campaigns, but that doesn’t mean brands should ignore it. Incorporating a tasting component into an experiential event can boost sales by creating brand affiliations that influence perception, judgment, and buying behavior. Disney, for example, uses multiple senses to craft a memorable experience for their theme park guests.
2. Shareable
In a time when digital marketing has been the focus for many brands, experiential marketing offers a counterbalance by fostering in-person engagement that transcends the limitations of screens. It allows brands to create memorable experiences that forge deep emotional connections with their audience and inspire them to share their experience with others.
Successful experiential campaigns can generate buzz for a brand long after the event has ended. One such example is the “Weigh This” campaign for IKEA, where they asked women to be weighed and recorded their reactions at their local IKEA store locations. They then turned this into a social media campaign that spread across the internet. The result was a marketing effort that felt more like a movement than an ad.
Additionally, the nature of experiential marketing enables brands to collect a wealth of data that can help them improve their future campaigns. From the number of people that attend the event to their demographics and engagement levels, brands can use this data to understand what aspects of a campaign are most effective and impactful for their audience. This information can then be incorporated into future marketing efforts for stronger engagement and greater brand awareness. This is especially true when experiential marketing is designed to support a specific value that the company has stood by for years.
3. Memorable
The brand experience is made up of the entire relationship that customers have with a company. This includes the time that they spend making a purchase, using their product, reading marketing emails, or interacting with other consumers on social media. It also consists of the positive experiences that customers have with brands during experiential events.
Creating memorable experiences can help brands stand out in a crowded marketplace and foster brand loyalty. People are more likely to recommend a brand to their friends and family that they remember having a good experience with. A well-crafted experiential event can also increase brand awareness and customer engagement, which can lead to conversions and sales.
Experiential marketing companies create engaging in-person experiences that encourage participants to share their own experiences online. This omnichannel approach to marketing allows businesses to reach a wider audience and promote their brand on a much bigger scale. By fostering relationships with participants and encouraging them to share their experience with their followers, experiential marketing companies ensure that participants will associate their experiences with the brand for years to come.
4. Integrated
Unlike traditional marketing, experiential marketing aims to build meaningful relationships with consumers. It cultivates emotional connections and lasting impressions, resulting in brand loyalty and even advocacy.
It also encourages word-of-mouth advertising, leading to organic growth in new customers. Experiences can be as simple as a pop-up shop, product sampling, or event activation, or as complex as a virtual or augmented reality campaign.
Aside from creating engaging events, experiential campaigns can be a valuable tool for consumer research and data generation. By designing experiences that are both fun and interactive, brands can collect data on consumer preferences, behavior, and sentiment – information that can be used to refine future marketing efforts.
For example, when Sensodyne wanted to raise awareness about the importance of oral hygiene, they partnered with a park in London to hold an experiential event called “The Molar Museum.” Visitors could take photos with a giant molar, learn about oral health, and participate in a Guinness world record-breaking lesson on oral hygiene. The experience not only raised awareness about the importance of brushing and flossing, but also garnered a lot of social media visibility for Sensodyne.
A key to effective experiential marketing is understanding the needs and wants of your target audience. By carefully targeting specific demographics, behaviors and interests, marketers can ensure that their experiential campaigns are both effective and memorable.