How Experiential Marketing can Grab Your Customers’ Attention

Consumers today are literally bombarded by advertising and marketing messages. From the billboards at the roadside to the radio and television, marketing is everywhere. For the consumer this overexposure has according to some, led to a reduction in engagement with advertising messages and a growth in the importance of experiential marketing.

As brands and companies search for ways to capture the imaginations of their customers’ experiential marketing provides a very real opportunity to grasp and hold onto the consumer’s attention. It does this by delivering a multi—sensory experience, that if done well, can create positive brand image, purchasing behaviour and advocacy.

Interactivity and delivering experiences are key components of experiential marketing. When used effectively they help brands to bridge the gap left by traditional advertising by showing members of the public a brand personality instead of a faceless corporation.

That is not to say however that experiential campaigns have to be wholly removed from traditional marketing channels. Increasingly within the marketing sector the importance of integration is highlighted and this also applies to experiential. For example, the worth of an event can be amplified through traditional means: Take the well known phone network that used “flash mob” dances in a recent campaign. Not only did this provide an experiential event on the day, but television and print advertising as part of a wider, elongated integrated marketing campaign.

The success of this campaign showed how through integrating traditional channels, with online (particularly social media) and experiential events it is possible to run a highly effective campaign  that captures the attention of not only existing customers but also potential customers as well. A recent study showed that an engaged customer is likely to tell around 15 people of their exploits and whilst it is impossible to determine how word of mouth spreads, with the right campaign it is possible to guide it, so that positive advocacy is built.

Experts have argued that experiential marketing is most effectively used by big electronics brands, mobile phone operators or the automotive industry as these “high consideration” purchases are where positive brand image has the greatest effect. However, for a wide variety of companies across disparate industries and market sectors, experiential can be a potentially successful marketing strategy that delivers something that little bit different to consumers and helps to build a brand, its products and image.