WHAT’S RIGHT FOR YOUR CAMPAIGN?
If you’re looking to gain brand loyalty and make a lasting impression, then we’ll say it outright. Experiential marketing can definitely be a good fit for any campaign. But it’s not as simple as one size fits all. So, let’s take a look at a few key themes and considerations that’ll help you ladder up to finding the right opportunities to bring an experiential campaign strategy to life in a way that’s best for your brand.
We thought we’d kick off with a quote from this 2018 article about why it’s important for CMOs to embrace experiential marketing. Here, writer Steve Olenski articulates it well when he says “You’re not advertising a product — you’re letting consumers see and feel what their lives would be like with it. You’re creating an association between your brand and those positive vibes.”
EXPERIENTIAL ADVERTISING AT IT’S CORE
It’s all about bringing the world of your brand to life through tactile experiences. It’s come leaps and bounds from simple event marketing, and now we’re seeing experiential advertising take so many different shapes and forms. We’ve already explored some of the most interesting, inspirational and innovative experiential marketing campaigns in 2019, and we’ve got a strong feeling that there’s a lot more already on the horizon.
And like we’ve mentioned, it’s more about getting a brand message across more so than simply selling a brand’s product. That’s its power beyond traditional advertising. It gives your consumes an opportunity to get to know your brand and connect with what you offer beyond just what you’re selling. Experiential advertising humanises your brand. But to get to the point where you can do that successfully, you’ll need to make sure you’ve got your strategy locked down.
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING: THE RIGHT STRATEGY
It’s more than just a simple stunt or a social media advert online, it’s a way to bring it to life in a tangible, immersive way. Yes, it’s in the moment but it often has the potential to lead to strong connections that’ll last way longer than the actual activation itself. Those strong connections could ultimately be what’ll help you get a competitive edge. After all, when it comes to making purchasing decisions, consumers are often influenced by word of mouth. Starting to see how a strong strat can be a solid use of brand budget if you do it well? Good.
So, when you’re considering your experiential marketing strategy, securitise your broader business goals, plan according to a reasonable and realistic timeline and make sure you’ve reached out to find the right resources. Whatever you do, it needs to be customer centric. Keep it interesting for this reason and really dig into ways you could create touchpoints that’ll engage with your attendees in unexpected ways (surprise and delight is the term that’s used for this). No one said it better than Brett Hyman here, “Well-executed experiential activations turn consumers from passive viewers to active participants.” And isn’t that so true?
A TOOLKIT WHEN APPROACHING EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
Once your strategy is locked down, you’ll have a clearer picture of what kinds of tactics will be best suited. Things are ever-changing with new tech and trends always cropping up to inspire us even further. The way you roll things out should be based on what your strategy dictates. For example, whether you want to allow get up and personal with your brand. Or perhaps you’d like to get your fans involved as a big group, maybe as a collaboratively participating crowd? Maybe it’s more about getting product demonstrations to be super hands-on and memorable? Can you incentivise with a competition? How about personalised merchandise or custom company swag? Is it about inspiring them with new and interesting tech installations, maybe using AR, VR or other multi-sensory approaches? It should come down to what you ultimately what you want to achieve, with all planning stemming from what’ll help you get there. Lean into the right tech that can power your objectives.
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING: THE RIGHT TARGET MARKET
Never discount how important it is to think about your target market. Planning any experiential marketing campaign or event means you’ll need to really give the right consideration to who it is that you’re trying to engage with. And then, once you’re comfortable that you’ve identified who they are, and you have a clear picture, you’ll need to do some further work to get specific about target market research.
If you get to know more about the ways they are used to or are looking to, engage with your product or service you will be able to plan very strategically to make sure your budget is allocated to powerful ways to make the right kind of impact. And why would you do this? Remember that the more you can craft and plan the best experience for your target audience, the more positive their experience. And the more positive experience they have, the more brand loyalty is encouraged. And, we’ve said it a few times but it’s worth mentioning again, brand loyalty can often translate into a genuine rapport being built and turn your consumers from into fans and ultimately brand ambassadors who’ll help you spread the word of mouth and awareness even further.
DRIVE SALES AND AWARENESS WITH THE RIGHT CREW
If there’s anyone who knows how to bring an experiential marketing strategy, plan or event ot life, it’s the Jawbone crew. We’re committed to helping brands drive sales and awareness through experiential marketing as well as events and activations. If you’re ready to chat about a strategy to make your business get more business, we’d love to hear from you. Call us on 011 792 2522 or send us a message on our website.
