How do you get your organization's message through all the filters and past the myriad of competing messages that bombard us on a daily basis, so that your customer, prospect or member takes action in the manner you want? The new kid on the block in the marketing world is Experiential Marketing. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, says that "With emerging media making a growing impact in the marketplace, vying for consumers' attention has become increasingly difficult. Advertisers once saw experiential marketing as an alternative approach to reaching the most media-savvy audience. It offers an engaging, entertaining and interactive brand experience unmatched by traditional marketing. In today's marketing landscape experiential marketing leads the way."
Experiential marketing gives customers an opportunity to engage and interact with brands, products and services in sensory ways. These personal experiences enable customers to connect in a personal and relevant way thereby helping them to make intelligent and informed purchasing decisions. "It's the difference between telling people about the features of a product or service, and letting them experience the benefits for themselves. When done right, it's the most powerful tool out there to win brand loyalty" according to the Experiential Marketing Forum. If your organization can win the hearts and minds of your customers, then it is well on the way to gaining the ultimate competitive advantage.
A marvelous example of experiential marketing is that of Dell Computers Urban Challenge where they sponsored events in major markets across the nation designed to appeal to young professionals. Groups of participants were assigned to teams identified by color tee shirts that corresponded to the new colors of Dell equipment. The, a scavenger hunt pursued that took each team throughout the city in a day filled with excitement and activity. This campaign focused on the target demographic, placed representatives on-site in multiple locations throughout each city for repeated connection to the participants. Prizes and gifts were plentiful, so that winners and all participants left with multiple ways to remember the fun-filled day.
Experiential marketing has been described as the holistic approach to building a brand experience or driving sales, attuned to both internal and external motives, appealing to our rational and emotional sides. This methodology is designed to connect the brand with the intended audience one-to-one in order to connect in a personal and memorable way. In other words it means to reach the customer, grab them emotionally, speak to them personally, and connect them to your brand by communicating the message via a personalized experience. Experiential marketing allows the brand to engage in a dialogue with the customer in order to make a lasting bond, and to get the customer thinking about the product, brand or service long before they are ready to make a purchase or take action.
Experiential marketing is based on the premise that emotionally-generated feelings are more influential than rationally-driven thought. Whereas, traditional mass marketing has been described as the following: "one-size-fits-all mass marketing"; top-down "features and benefits" corporate messaging; product-centric; rational; left brain, and monologue marketing.
This style of marketing campaign moves beyond "features and benefits" marketing, and traditional advertising cast to a mass audience encompassing all those that might be a potential customer and many more that will not. As a result of the sheer number of advertisements or messages aimed at us on a daily basis we now have multiple ways to avoid or prevent those messages reaching us (i.e., voice mail, caller ID, Do Not Call Registry, DVRs such as TIVO, pop-up blockers, or worse yet, discontinuing subscriptions to magazines and newspapers). In contrast, an experiential marketing campaign creates an experience that the customer chooses to attend or participate in once they determine the relevance of the brand, product or service to their needs.
The fundamentals of an experiential marketing campaign are that of being geographically or demographically focused where your intended audience has chosen to attend or be, coupled with agents or ambassadors on-site to engage one-on-one with the customer, and providing promotional products to reinforce the experience when the person leaves the event. An example of where we can increase our effectiveness by incorporating experiential marketing techniques is adding travelling ambassadors throughout the conference floor or the event grounds, and not relying solely on tradeshow booths or exhibits. On-site ambassadors or agents dedicated to engaging one-on-one with the customer, answer questions, demonstrate products, invite the prospect to test products, gain feedback on the products, distribute samples, and leave-behind promotional products.
One of trade associations with which we work chose to have staff roam through conference floor in attention-getting corporate wear, handing out candy bars labeled with the cover of the scientific journal they were promoting, and tasked with making one-on-one contact with the attendees.
So, it is probably becoming very apparent how important promotional products are within an experiential marketing campaign. Your organization needs to draw attention to the on-site ambassadors and then you need to give the customer something that will help them experience and remember the interaction long after the event. That means corporate wearables for ambassadors, and inexpensive promotional products the prospect can take home with them. The more novel and practical the gift, the better chance you have of making the entire experience more meaningful, personal and memorable.
You may be wondering if experiential marketing is just today's version of viral or guerilla marketing? Experiential marketing campaigns are not mutually exclusive of viral marketing, guerilla marketing or traditional mass marketing techniques. But, rather can be an extension of each of those methods to increase the effectiveness of communicating your message and having your customer take the desired action. It is easy to see the importance of word of mouth and communicating through existing social networks which encourage people to pass along your "message" voluntarily (viral marketing), or the energetic, imaginative, grassroots, focused-venue aspects of guerilla marketing, or that of creating a buzz using mass media outlets that correspond with your experiential marketing campaigns. Large brands are focusing on marketing activities that better engage consumers with their messages, and ultimately their products. Much of the buzz concerning engagement marketing practices has centered on new media such as user-generated content, online communities such as MySpace, and viral video sharing. Major marketers are showing their enthusiasm over the opportunity that experiential marketing events afford to get close to their customers and prospects and produce results.
Experiential marketing creates a stronger relationship with the customer by delivering a message that has deep connected meaning and relevance to them. Today's customers want respect, recognition and relevant communication, and they have exhibited that the best way for organizations to deliver that is to provide personally relevant, memorable, sensory, emotional and meaningful experiences. As marketers we must change and meet customers' needs and desires or lose them to our competitors that recognize the influences shaping today's and tomorrow's marketplace. Today's customer wants to be involved and engaged in a dialogue with you and your brand. Mass marketing and traditional advertising still have their place, and along with experiential marketing will result in an overall personal and relevant brand experience.
Remember the importance of promotional products within your experiential marketing campaigns. TheMarketPro can help you communicate your message! Promotional products are widely recognized as the best way to get your message out and with repeated exposure. We have years of experience working with customers that need to communicate effectively while staying within budget. So, the next time you need a way to make sure your message is personal and memorable give TheMarketPro a call at 1-800-905-0073 or contact us at sales@themarketpro.net . And, when you have time, visit us at www.TheMarketPro.net for educational articles in our "Going Green with Promotional Products" and "Coffee Break Reading" sections.