The perfect brand story sees target audiences become active participants. Marketing strategies seek to achieve this, but the question is how effective and efficient they often are at it.
Well, traditional approaches have lapses in this regard, which is why marketers have had to think outside the box. Experiential marketing, which is more effective and efficient at this, has been one of the products of this thought process. By the way, it is best engaged when an experiential marketing agency oversees things. Read on to find out more about this.
What Is Experiential Marketing?
This is a strategy that is not just restricted to informing target audiences about products or services but also about creating an immersive experience. On the contrary, traditional approaches usually do no more than inform, especially by stressing the benefits that are up for grabs.
In the spirit of creating an experience rather than just being informative, some key elements are utilized, highlighting the uniqueness of this strategy. The said elements include:
- Physical/Virtual Immersion
- Interactive Participation
- Real-Time Response & Feedback Mechanisms
- Multi-sensory Engagements – Such as sight, touch, taste, sound, and smell
The specifics of how it is gone about are determined by a host of things. Some of them include:
- Those in Charge of Implementation
- Budget
- Kind of Product and/or Services Marketed
- Target Audience
The success stories of many brands that have utilized this strategy bear witness to its effectiveness and efficiency. BMW and Nike are prime examples.
Ways Experiential Marketing Enhances Customer Engagement
Any brand awareness and sales campaign is baseless if the customer engagement rate is ultimately poor. Against this backdrop, the good news is that experiential marketing is very promising in this regard.
For starters, it helps with positive brand creation as about 7 out of every 10 consumers end up having a good impression of brands that engage this approach. Also, about 6 of every 10 target audiences end up making a direct purchase. Furthermore, an additional 3 will most likely purchase in the future.
The numbers are good with this approach, which is a good reason it should be engaged. Some specific reasons for its effectiveness and efficiency include the following:
Social Sharing
Experiential marketing has also leveraged technological innovations and the sharing culture is one of the ways this has happened. In simpler terms, it is very good at making directly contacted target audiences share their positive experience with others.
So, this is a positive ripple effect that benefits brands that employ it. For example, remote audiences can participate when events are live-streamed. Also, hashtag campaigns can be deliberately orchestrated for enhanced brand awareness and other marketing reasons.
Furthermore, platforms like Instagram enable photo-sharing, which is great for social sharing. By the way, some social media platforms have been particularly discovered to be great for business/brand marketing. For more information on this, you can visit: https://www.ucanwest.ca/.
Immersive Experiences
The immersive nature of experiential marketing is the edge it has over the conventional approach. Besides leaving the target audience well-informed about the products and services available, it is about immersing them in a well-crafted brand-infused environment.
Nike is a good example of a brand that has done this as potential customers get to test its products in a simulated environment. The point is that this approach calls for so much intentionality by making the environment very immersive.
Personalized Interactions
It is more personalized and this is largely informed by available data, which is especially the case when a professional agency oversees the process. As a result, customization elements capable of winning over select target audiences will be employed. This is rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Memorable Encounters
Lasting impressions are created with this approach. This is because the memories of the event drive target audiences to do the bidding of brand owners.
Importance of Professional Execution of Experiential Marketing
The decision to employ this approach is a huge step in the right direction. However, it is also important that it is professionally executed.
This way, benefits associated with implementation will be actualized and challenges well handled. Some of the ways professional execution is beneficial include the following:
Value for Money Spent
There is no denying the fact that this marketing option can be capital-intensive. This is both in terms of production and execution costs.
So, the least that can be done is to ensure that whatever is spent is indeed an investment and a worthy one at that. Professional experiential marketing agencies exist for that reason.
In situations where funding is an issue, these agencies may be able to offer cost-saving features that still yield results. You can click here for more information on this.
ROI Measurement
Measuring the success rate of an experiential marketing campaign is possible, but there are complexities involved. Agencies that oversee these campaigns are experts in navigating these complexities.
Consistent Success Rate
The brand awareness and sales campaign may require involvement across various locations and platforms. These professionals are up to the task of ensuring consistent success rates at the various locations and platforms.
Conclusion
Traditional marketing approaches do their bit in winning over target audiences but the question is whether they do enough. This has informed the use of more result-yielding approaches like the experiential option as discussed here. However, proper execution is important and is why the right marketing agency should be hired.
