How to Leverage Experiential Marketing for Business Growth

Traditional advertising, including display advertisements, banner advertisements, and native advertisements, has lost a significant appeal to consumers. In reality, these advertisements are producing a major issue called “ad fatigue,” with symptoms ranging from boredom to exhaustion, and the situation goes downhill from there.

According to MaketingDrive’s research, up to 81% of customers claim that they find the numerous ads they see online tiring. In comparison, another 67% believe that the bulk of digital advertisements are inappropriate. It is probably why the use of adblockers while using the internet has become more prevalent.

Marketers need to remember a crucial fact when marketing to Gen Z and Millennials: their values differ significantly from previous generations. The most significant distinction is that they place a higher value on experiences than on items. According to Eventbrite’s research, 78% of Millennials would choose to spend money on a desirable experience rather than a desirable thing. This is a tendency that will continue with Generation Z.

This issue drives the search for better options. Although traditional ads are failing to produce desired outcomes, marketers understand that marketing remains the foundation of any effective business strategy. It is the means to meet project objectives and find more prospective customers in your region. According to the experts at iDEKO, experiential marketing is a necessity in today’s corporate world—it is unquestionably a solid alternative to dull traditional advertisements.

Although digital marketing is more important than ever for businesses looking to grow, concentrating all of your marketing efforts and resources on reaching customers through their smartphones is not a winning plan. Consumers nowadays, especially those who are connected, demand more than simply online interaction. They want to engage with the businesses they follow. They seek new thrills and experiences. This is the inspiration for experiential marketing.

What Drives Experiential Marketing?

CMO magazine defines experiential marketing as “a mutually beneficial interaction between customer and brand in an authentically branded engagement.”

People’s emotions create memories, and their experiences motivate buying decisions, so marketers must create scenarios that people can feel or connect with. It is not as simple as it sounds. Innovative marketers can take advantage of psychology when it comes to creating memorable experiences. The Propinquity Effect is a complicated psychological concept for a basic truth: as interaction increases, so do the chances of building friendship. When you have an incredible event, you will most likely draw people into engagement.

A peek into the minds of your target audience is the first building block towards creating a memorable and engaging experience. To know what drives someone, you need to look beyond their age and income bracket. For now, shun any data you have on your audience and get psychoanalytical. Imagine your fictitious consumer is right in front of you and make inquiries. You want to know how your product affects them, whether they feel satisfied, excited, uneasy, connected to others, transformed, or if it is problem-solving. Marketers that have recorded success with experiential marketing use this information to create an experience that emphasizes the benefits and settles skepticism.

Marketers can create clever and compelling experiences that stir people’s emotions while also achieving their brand goals by concentrating on the feelings triggered by their activations. You do not need a humongous marketing budget; you can organize an event that completely encapsulates the benefits of your product in a dynamic, experiential manner. Simply put, an experiential marketing campaign allows your customers to connect with your business in a unique, entertaining, educational, or (ideally) all three ways. It should provide value to both your customers and you as a business.

Creating Impactful Experiential Marketing

Giving your audience a real, branded experience is what experiential marketing is all about. There are certain facts you need to know to develop something engaging, attractive, and authentic. The first and most important point is understanding your brand, from your values and mission to the things that set it apart. Although you can tailor your message to fit the audience you are targeting, the fundamental principles of your brand should be consistent.

Furthermore, you must figure out your target audience. While demographic breakdowns are useful, psychographic segmentation may provide more accurate details about your target. Psychographics is related to your audience’s views, beliefs, and habits, and this information is beneficial when planning an experiential marketing campaign.

The next part, which is probably the hardest, is now to decide the nature of the experience you plan to offer.

The Link Between Experiential and Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is excellent at communicating brand messaging and personal communication. Experiential marketing provides an immersive connection with the brand. This strengthens consumer interactions and imbues them with a positive and long-lasting impression of the brand or product

Instead of being a substitute for experiential marketing, social only augments it. As the world becomes more digital by the day, live events present an incredible opportunity to develop in-person interaction. The fact remains that experiences have supplanted many other types of advertising.

Sharable Experience Is Important

The first thing that comes to mind after a mind-blowing experience is to spread the word. Connected users want to share their activities, experience, and engagements with other people online, which applies to both branded and organic ones. Therefore, the inclusion of social or digital components in live events is vital. Experiences with smart social media integration can significantly boost reach. The live feature on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat allows users to share events with others. Also, with social media as an intrinsic part of the marketing activation, people will feel compelled to share and spread the word.

Millennials and Generation Z, in particular, use social media to communicate with one another and form communities. When this sharing occurs in the context of a branded experience—your branded experience—you present your followers with a means to strengthen their bonds with one another and with your brand. This will increase brand loyalty and aid in the development of long-term connections with customers. Branded hashtags, as well as video and photo content, simplifies sharing experiences with your business online.

Measure the Results

As you work on creating positive experiences, you also need to have a way to measure the results. You should not overlook the quantitative part of your engagement, as you focus on the positive impact of your efforts. Develop a method of calculating ROI to optimize your next experiential marketing campaign.

The process is not exactly complex. Your ROI indicator in some campaigns might be the number of participants, so find a means to naturally gather email addresses (add giveaways, or have people “sign up” as part of the engagement). If that is ineffective, you can assign an employee to keep track of how many individuals interact with your experience.

Another important metric for determining ROI is the number of individuals who take action after connecting with your brand, as well as the type of action they take. This may be measured with various methods, including hashtags and content shares. Every branded experience will be unique; however, there are a few typical metrics to consider, including the number of new followers after a day and up to one week, number of new orders, number of unique visitors to the landing page designed for the experience and the number of donations.

Finding a genuine approach to integrate a measure of ROI in your brand experience may take some time, but you will not have the data you need to determine if the campaign was successful without it.

Pointers for Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing campaigns, when properly executed, can provide excellent returns on investment. The few pointers below can help you create remarkable experiences.

Identify what your target audience expects from your company. This will help you create experiences that meet the demands of both new and existing customers this way.

For better outcomes, divide your campaigns into phases. To do this, look for suitable project management software.

Collect information from customers at engagement events, such as their names, phone numbers, occupations, and email addresses. This information will allow you to learn more about your target audience and personalize your future marketing campaigns to their specific requirements and interests.

To promote your engagement activities, use your official social media profiles and website. Investigate your target market and employ localization marketing to engage them in translated material.

In Conclusion

Since customers have concluded that traditional advertising no longer works for them, marketers must be creative and give genuine value. Marketers must commit to experiential marketing to this end. This marketing will assist you in informing your clients about your products, increasing consumer engagement, and boosting brand awareness.

When brands immerse individual customers or groups of customers in a branded experience, the results are mind-blowing. To trigger pleasant feelings and build brand loyalty, businesses must move beyond public relations stunts, display ads, and sponsored online commercials. Every brand’s experiential marketing will be unique, but launching based on authenticity keeps you on the right track.