How Experiential Marketing Fits Into the Customer Experience

Consumers are hard to please. The digital revolution has changed how consumers interact with brands.  They want to be engaged at all sales points; they yearn for a unique brand experience. This explains why brands are after hosting immersive, live, and one of a kind campaigns.

Experiential marketing can be confusing to brands looking forward to trying it for the first time.  We have explained the importance of experiential marketing and given some examples so as to give you a clear picture of how you can carry out this type of marketing effortlessly.

What is experiential marketing

Experiential marketing is a strategy that is aimed at engaging consumers with a brand; the whole idea is to create memorable experiences.

Some brands are already creating amazing experiences for their customers.  The most common ones include product activation, live event, and more.

Why should you try experiential marketing?

Experiential marketing can help you create an experience that is memorable and long-lasting for your customers.

By using OnSpot Social, you can get your leads to opt-in for an email list by only using the apps’ digital signage feature. During the events, set up your iPad with the app and watch leads flock at your stand. This app simply offers you unique marketing ideas to make your event one of a kind for your customers.

What about Social media engagement?

Experiential marketing experiences are real- life and in person. Successful brands find the need to extend their marketing to various platforms where most leads spend their time. It is essential to understand that experiential marketing goes beyond hosting an event.

Experiential marketing looks into creating better customer engagement for the customers. That also includes segmenting your email list and sending out emails addressing your audiences’ needs.

OnSpot Social app triggers messages from your smart device directly into your potential customers’ mobile phones and also enhances the mobile web experience for your potential and existing customers.

Research shows that most consumers are likely to buy from a brand with an existing online presence. Once a brand successfully creates and executes an experiential marketing campaign, the campaign can attract other forms of marketing that are also vital for business growth.

During events, OnSpot Social app lets you collect social media signups.  Allow your prospects to scan a QR code text or email themselves a link to your social media.  This allows you to turn your event leads to social media followers.  A successful experiential marketing campaign will have a positive effect on your digital marketing strategy. The result is increased online visibility.

 Build brand affinity

As a brand, you probably have hundreds if not thousands of competitors out there!  It is usual for customers to switch between brands.  For this reason, you have to find ways to retain them and build trust with them. One of the best unique marketing ideas for your brand is to encourage genuine customer engagement at each point.   Experiential marketing campaigns make it possible for your customers to test your services or products for free. Remember, they want to feel special and be part of your brand growth. This is the only way to attain customer loyalty and increase your conversions.

Types of experiential marketing you can try

Here are the two common types of experiential marketing as explained:

 A. Workshop

Workshops are popular. An expert is needed to guide your customers through the sessions or a practical workshop. It may take time to execute a workshop properly, but the fact remains this type of experiential marketing is effective. Your brand gains visibility due to word of mouth marketing, your existing customer can talk of a successful workshop with your brand, and this will attract a more extensive customer base.

 B. Product testing

This is the most common type of experiential marketing. It entails giving out free products to your customers.  The products usually come packed as small samples. This is the best way to attract potential customers because people just love free stuff.

Experiential marketing examples

Here are three best experiential marketing examples to give you the idea of how this type of marketing is done.

1. Refinery 29’s 29 Rooms

The lifestyle company Refinery 29 has been hosting its 29 Rooms events for the last three years. They have a collection of 29 rooms that have curated and branded experiences; all these rooms are connected by a common theme to create a multi-sensory playground. This company has been able to create fantastic experiences for its customers and has seen a significant increase in sales and customer engagement.

2. Burger King – Mc Donalds

The most recent experiential marketing is by burger king. The whooper Detour campaign had hungry customers walk into McDonald’s and use their Burger King app to order a whopper for a penny.

The Mc Donald app offered directions to the nearest Burger King as long as it geolocated the customer within 600 feet of any Mc Donald’s. Customers are always finding a cheaper option, especially when it comes to food. This experiential campaign recruited people to join Burger King in trolling competition.

This whooper detour was aimed at increasing uptake of the whooper products as well as gets as many people as possible to download the Burger King app.

3. Volkswagen – Commuters make music with their feet

Volkswagen’s Fun Theory is another perfect example of experiential marketing. The brand chooses a universally applicable cause that has nothing to do with its products or services.

Surveillance camera footage at the terminal in Sweden showed that most commuters take the escalator rather than taking the stairs. Volkswagen was looking for a way to get people to adapt to health behaviors. In 2019, Volkswagen hired engineers to convert staircases into piano keys. Each piano key played a different amazing tune as people walked through.

Once again, Volkswagen’s theory worked. People are likely to do something if it looks fun. About 70 per cent of commuters chose the stairs over the escalator.

 Conclusion

There is no doubt that experiential marketing is the future of customer experience.  The key to a brand’s success is in understanding how experiential marketing impacts business. This type of marketing lets you build long-lasting relationships quickly so that you can increase your return on investments as well as stay ahead of your competition