More than 38% of marketing professionals will tell you that events and experience marketing are their most successful tactics.
Experiential marketing is all about the events that your company participates in; have you heard of it? Brands are no longer just a logo; they’re similar to people in the way that they have a personality and an identity and how they can make you feel a certain way.
Events are the perfect avenue for experience marketing, among other things, so keep reading to find out everything you need to know!
What Is Experience Marketing?
Experiential marketing, also known as engagement marketing, is a type of marketing that involves consumers directly. It encourages them to take part in a brand experience or marketing experience.
In its most basic form, experience marketing is the focus on creating memorable and creative customer experiences. The purpose is to foster strong emotional bonds between customers and brands. It’s like taking your brand from acquaintance to friend.
Consumers are widespread recipients of a company’s marketing message in traditional marketing. However, in experiential marketing, a brand directly engages the customer and frequently provides a physical glimpse into the evolution of a campaign.
This allows a company to build a relationship with its customers through participation. Customers get to witness the entire marketing campaign process from start to finish.
Experience Marketing Trends
Marketing trends come and go as companies strive to get a better grip on technological advancements. Brands need to respond to the way the market shifts. It’s no longer enough to make a big splash or create attention-grabbing content.
Businesses must then connect with prospective customers in meaningful ways. They must establish a reputation as a trusted source of information. Then comes the nurturing of those relationships after making target audiences aware of their existence. All of this can be done through the initiatives of experience marketing.
1. Installations Of Art
Branded art installations can help boost traffic and engagement on social media. Ascertain that customers can share their impressions of your installations. You can collaborate with artists or ad agencies to develop a visually striking experiential art installation.
They can also range from simple storefront graphics to full-fledged street art installations. Branded art installations can help boost traffic and engagement on social media. Ascertain that customers can share their impressions of your installations.
To help you create a visually stunning experiential art installation, you can work with local artists or advertising agencies. Your arty brand ideas can range from simple storefront graphics to over-the-top street installations.
2. Pop-Up Experiences
There are often temporary locations that come up for grabs in prime traffic areas. Think of spots on the beach or promenade that are temporarily unoccupied or stores in malls that are between tenants.
Coming up with a popup idea centered around experience is going to be a continued trend moving into 2023.
You could partner with another brand! Together, you could install an experience that will get you both interacting with your ideal target customers. This will also help you keep costs down while making your pop-up statement.
3. eCommerce Experiences
Online shopping is on the rise; by 2023, eCommerce sales are expected to reach $6.5 trillion. Experience marketing is going to find itself expanding into the world of eCommerce as more and more people are shopping online.
Digital marketers will need to find ways of bringing their brand experience strategy to life with their online customer interactions.
This means, ultimately, that the customer journey will need to be more interactive on eCommerce websites. The pathways that they take to make a purchase should be more pathways that are interactive, experiential, and specifically tailored.
4. The Beauty of Live Events
Concerts, book signings, exhibitions, trade shows and expos, and more are now appreciated more than ever, given the journey that the world has had over the past two years.
Now, bucket lists are filled to the brim with events that people wish to experience in person, live, and fully immersed in.
The opportunity that brands have in 2023 is to be part of a live-event movement. This can be done by making and creating positive experiences for people who are booking out. Hotels and flights are open again, travel restrictions are lifted, and both professional and personal opportunities are wide open! All that experiential marketers have to do, is take them.
One of the best things about participating in or partnering with other brands on live events is the fact that they don’t have to be completely aligned with your strategy. The only key really is to ensure that the people attending the live event are your ideal target audience. Then, you can hone your event strategy and tactics from there.
Experiential Marketing And Employees
Experience marketing doesn’t have to be only for your customers and your prospects. Allowing employees to experience the brand from the inside out is the perfect way to build an engaged and loyal workforce.
Let’s say your ice cream brand is launching a new flavor with a super trendy pop-up shop! You should bring some of that brand experience to your internal team. Allow your staff to participate and engage with the brand as people outside would.
It will make them feel as valued as your customers, and also, in turn, you create people that are invested in your brand, its values, and its message.
Experiencing Events And Expos!
With experience marketing, one of the perfect ways to implement a successful strategy is through your trade shows and exhibitions. These are the perfect places for you to interact with people in a clever and creative way, simply because it’s the place where people expect it.
Coming up with ideas to make your stand more of an experience is what will help you stand out at your next industry event. Are you not sure how to achieve this?
You’re in the right place; we can help you formulate everything from your USP to your expo stand design; contact us now to find out how.