Rethinking Experiential Marketing

Increasingly customers and the consumer public more widely are changing the way that they shop. Not purely are shopping habits changing, with a greater emphasis on online rather than the high street but consumers are changing the way in which they research products, talk to and trust brands and companies.

The result of this changing behaviour is that brands must now work significantly harder to earn consumer trust and instil purchasing behaviour. In the past this was traditionally achieved through television advertising and print media although today online and experiential marketing are playing an equally important role. Whilst the online domain has been widely explored however, experiential marketing is becoming an increasingly large consideration for all marketing managers.

The reason experiential marketing has come to the fore is because such marketing activities allow consumers to touch, feel and experience a brand and its products. This ‘experience’ provides valuable interaction, and because a brand is investing their time into a single customer the sense of being offered something for nothing, and a more personal, entertaining and worthwhile experience. Ultimately this perceived value is delivered through the experience, with the potential outcome of a long lasting brand/customer relationship.

To be successful however an experiential marketing campaign must be effectively planned, using key foundations and principles. First of these founding principles is that effectiveness of a campaign relies upon targeting the right consumers through holding your events in the right places, at the right time and with the right people.

 Equally however, targeting must be backed up with a good idea and an experience that delivers value to consumers. Finally, no experiential marketing campaign can be considered successful or effective unless it is built upon foundations of accurate measurement, using metrics and key performance indicators that are relevant and worthwhile.  

 Experiential should no longer be thought about as an add-on to your wider marketing campaigns as simply an afterthought. The value that experiences can deliver, not purely immediately but over time makes them highly worthwhile if used effectively. Subsequently, experiential should be a consideration from the outset, an element within a wider, integrated marketing campaign that combines online activities, traditional advertising and of experiential.