The conventional forms of marketing have undoubtedly been very helpful where brand and product promotions are concerned.  But like every other field, marketing has also changed over the times for adapting to the needs of the contemporary audience. And the contemporary target profile demands something more than simple audio-visual or print promotional strategies.

Marketing strategies now a days are evolving not just to meet the technological upgrades but also to satisfy the ever-growing expectations of the audience. One such strategy level-up in the field of marketing for gaining loyal customer base is ‘Experiential marketing’ which is mostly used for fulfilling the prospects’ hunger for experience and sensory input.

All individuals desire to feel and experience things more than just seeing them or listening about them. Why does someone travel to an exotic location when he can get to know everything about it online? It is the ever-increasing hunger to experience something first hand that makes them travel all the way to the said location.

Experience is a primal need of the contemporary audience.

Utilizing this need for the benefit of marketing and engaging the audience into interactive promotional activities for gaining their loyalty is known as ‘Experiential marketing’, ‘immersive marketing’ or ‘Engagement Marketing’. In Experiential Marketing strategy, events, games or demonstrations are used to provide the target base with the main experience of using the product or to educate them on the ‘Why?’ and ‘What?’ aspects of the product. This modern marketing tactic falls under integrated marketing communication as the brand directly connects with their prospects on a personal level.

‘It allows the audience to live and breathe the brand into their senses and experience it on a very personal level.’

 

Experiential marketing makes use of various factors for gaining the attention of the masses. From brand storytelling, entertainment to interactive and communicative events, experiential marketing strategies focus on the emotional aspects of feeding the client curiosity by developing product awareness and harnessing positive perception and good brand value.

 

Experiential Marketing is a huge success for –

  • Gaining Loyal Customer base – As it is an integrated process where the audience gets to experience the product or service first hand, a certain level of trust is established among the prospects/customers and the brand. Trust in turn help in lead generation, increasing the conversion rate and sustaining the current patrons.
  • Increasing Brand Awareness – As an integrated marketing tactic, immersive marketing strategies contribute immensely in developing brand awareness and generating the desired perception in the conscious of the masses.
  • Guiding the audience – Many a times advertisements fail to instruct the target audience and patrons on the use of various products. The amount of information that can be communicated through the adverts and other promotional strategies is limited. Experiential marketing strategies enable the businesses to thoroughly guide their target audiences about the products/services, use of the products and even the benefits of the products.
  • Forging a Customer-Brand relationships – Experiential Marketing is an excellent medium of forming customer-brand relationships and creating a positive perspective of the brand in the minds of the masses. It also contributes in improving the brand image and in turn increasing your brand recognition and recollection. All of which leads to an increase in the sales and lead generation.

 

 

How to frame a successful Experiential Marketing strategy?

Engagement marketing has more to it than carrying out an exuberant event or flawless one to one interactive sessions. These marketing strategies need to be curated to flawlessly convey your brand’s message and any intended information. The important things to remember while forming an experiential marketing strategy are:

  • Set a goal –A brand needs to first and foremost work on deciding a goal to be achieved through the campaign. The marketing strategy can focus on anything from creating brand recognition to generating sales. The brand should be clear on what the purpose of the marketing strategy.
  • Deciding the Target Profile – A business must first be clear about its Target audience. A brand should be able to form a demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioural market segmentation and understand who are their main prospects.
  • Be able to Focus on Customers – A brand needs to think form the customer’s perspective to understand and analyse his needs, wants and demands. Only then can they work on forming a strategy which is effective in demanding the attention of their masses and targeting their minds.
  • Construct a creative strategy – Work on forming exciting, innovative and engaging strategies which will create a memorable experience for the attendees and the audience. The strategy needs to work on satisfying the wants of the target audience and creating a perception that the brand offerings are exactly what the prospect desires.
  • Promote the campaign – Heavily promote the campaign on various media vehicles for gaining a large audience base and a great exposure. Making use of social media sites is a given as most of the modern day influencing happens on those media platforms.

 

So now that you are aware of Experiential marketing, utilize your knowledge for creating a successful marketing strategy.