If you are in the business world, you know having an effective marketing strategy is essential. Whether you are just building your company and looking for ways to advertise effectively, or whether you are trying to breathe new life into your company with an innovative marketing campaign, why not look into experiential marketing?
What Is Experiential Marketing?
Experiential marketing is often centered around a specific event to promote your product and create a lasting impression on potential customers. There are many ways you can implement this technique effectively, in your brand’s marketing strategy.
Examples of Experiential Marketing Campaigns
Go Big or Go Home:
Some companies host major events to advertise their products and services. For instance, the lifestyle brand Refinery29 holds an event that features a funhouse of 29 rooms representing culture, style, and technology. Each room contains something different, whether it be a musician, artist or display, and each event has its own theme.
Although major events like this can be effective, it is important to remember to always incorporate your brand theme into everything that is being presented. Also, be sure to cater to your audience. Getting big-name acts to play at your event can also be a sure way to get a lot of publicity.
Create Something Attention Getting in Everyday Life:
Another clever experiential marketing campaign was created by Lean Cuisine. They put up a row of scales in New York’s Grand Central Station. Women were to weigh in, but, the catch was the scales were actually writing boards where they could weigh in, not in pounds, but in what they were looking to accomplish or had already accomplished in life.
Here, the product sent the message that there were so many things that women should be measured by rather than their weight. It showed that the brand wanted to send a message of positivity. And, while campaign did not blatantly advertise the product, it was clearly branded on the display, giving consumers enough of an opportunity to make a connection.
The Philanthropist Approach:
Charitable giving is on the rise and can be effective in showing companies that give in a positive light. When Google was at a loss as to the best charities to donate to, they let the public decide. They did this by creating interactive posters that were displayed in bus shelters, food trucks, and restaurants, giving consumers the relevant information.
The beauty of this campaign is that Google gave its customers an opportunity to participate when it was convenient for them. For instance, if someone is waiting to catch a bus, or for food to be served, that is a great time for them to whip out their phones and take a chance to vote. This is a smart approach as opposed to offering an experience that causes disruption to consumers.
An Event With a Cause:
Events are very effective in marketing, and while some are more recreational, others are informative. One example of this is GE’s Healthymagination event where industry professionals learned about how GE’s healthcare technology was helpful in different types of medical situations around the world. This was done through the creation of movie sets where guests could view instances where Healthymagination was effective.
What was nice about this event was that, by creating an interactive experience, the brand facilitated a medium where people could discuss an uncomfortable issue (i.e. the need for health care in impoverished countries).
Create a Cross-Channel Marketing Strategy
So, are you sold on the idea of experiential marketing for your company? If so, here are a few things to remember. Be sure to provide physical documentation of your events like photos and videos so you can share them on social media. This way people can get a taste of the experience you are offering, even if they weren’t able to attend the event. It’s also good to create a branded hashtag to get people talking about the experience.
Experiential marketing can be a very powerful tool when it comes to the success of your company. However, it takes advanced, out-of-the-box thinking to come up with something effective that will not be disruptive to consumers.
