What is experiential marketing?
At its core, experiential marketing focuses on helping customers do something rather than simply buy something. It allows customers to interact with your brand in a way that differs from traditional marketing, and creates a unique experience that they can’t get anywhere else.
Exactly how this looks differs depending on your business and your customer base, and experiential marketing can be done in-person and online. But no matter how it’s delivered, experiential marketing aims to create an experience that is exciting, unique, joyful and, in some cases, informative.
What are the benefits of experiential marketing?
Experiential marketing can be a powerful tool to connect with customers outside the context of traditional sales.
As a baseline, it fulfils an important customer need: 66% of customers want more meaningful experiences from brands, according to Havas’ 2021 Meaningful Brands Report, and experiential marketing can help your business deliver.
It also deepens relationships with your customers by adding tangible value to their lives, and helps brands connect to their community. Increasingly, customers want brands that take a stand and prefer to shop with brands that focus on purpose as well as profit. Experiential marketing that highlights issues important to your brand, or fosters a community feel, can help attract shoppers motivated by purpose.
Finally, experiential marketing is great for your bottom line. Research shows that 76% of customers prefer to spend their money on experiences rather than material items, and 47% of consumers say they’re willing to pay a premium for an outstanding shopping experience. As a result, businesses that excel at experiential marketing are poised to attract experience-driven shoppers — potentially, at higher prices.
Create meaningful experiences in-store
Canadians are eager to return to in-store shopping, and experiential marketing can help you reconnect with your customer base in person. As you plan for the [return of foot traffic], look for opportunities to add experiential elements to the in-store experience.
Consider creating attractive displays and invite customers to sample or test new products — ideally, with a photo op-worthy backdrop for social media — or set up a personalization bar to allow shoppers to customize their goods. Take part in community fairs, markets and other events with themed pop-up shops that target segments of your customer base. Or hold live events in-store, from private shopping sessions to panels, book readings or live music events.
Take your experiential marketing online
Exceptional customer experiences can also be delivered online. Experiential marketing can help you connect with customers not yet ready to return to stores, as well as with customers across Canada and around the world.
To start, consider live streaming in-store events like panels, book readings and performances so customers can attend online. Consider hosting your own virtual events, like live webinars or streamed panels. And use virtual reality or augmented reality to create immersive showrooms online to mimic the in-store experience.
How to excel at experiential marketing
As you develop your experiential marketing strategy, keep an eye to the following best practices.
- Center health and safety: Design your events to allow for social distancing, make hand sanitizer available, and communicate your mask and vaccination policy in-person and online.
- Put the everyday experience first: Experiential marketing should enhance the customer experience every day. Supplement smaller ongoing experiential elements, like sampling booths, with larger events.
- Promote social media engagement: Consider using custom hashtags for events, and create photo opportunities at in-person experiences to gain traction on social media.
- Communicate your values: Customers crave socially-conscious shopping experiences, so don’t shy away from experiences that center issues that are important to you.
- Stay true to your customers: When it comes to experiential marketing, meaningful should outweigh flashy. Use your buyer's personas a guide to craft experiences that will truly resonate with shoppers.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or an opinion on any issue. It should not be regarded as comprehensive or a substitute for professional advice.
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