Experiential marketing: 10 tips to drive effective campaigns

Experiential marketing focuses on bringing brands to life and immersing consumers into a brand universe.  In the past few years, we’ve observed an exponential growth in the use of experiential marketing. According to Pearlfinders Global Index 2016, there is a global increase of brands seeking experiential marketing services (+1.6 between 2014 and 2015). In Asia, +10% of brands are looking to invest in experiential in 2016.

Clearly, it’s effectiveness is evident in the results. According to the fourth-annual report of EventTrack – 2015, 65% of marketers are seeing a direct sales growth as the result of experiential marketing campaigns compared to only 59% in 2014. Whilst 87% of consumers say live product events reach them more effectively than TV advertising, 65% of consumers say they would purchase the product or service promoted at the event or visit.

To those who are looking to jump on the experiential bandwagon, here are 10 tips to drive effective campaigns.

10 tips to run successful brand experiences

1. Give a taste of your brand There are many different ways to deliver a brand experience: consumer events with product testing and live demos, pop up store or outdoor performances. Whatever you choose to do, always keep in mind to invite your consumers to try and experience your product and its benefits.

2. Interaction and engagement Experiential marketing is not only about delivering product samples, it is also about engagement. Consumers should not receive messages passively; they need to engage with the brand. They can try your product, interact with brand ambassadors, share content on social media or participate to a brand challenge.

3. Involve as many senses as possible Senses are engrained to our memories and emotions, making them a powerful component of any experience. It’s easy to think of sights and sounds for the big idea, but smell, taste and touch should not be underestimated (see our infographic about the power of senses).

4. Make it personal Engaging human senses, emotions or interacting with consumers will bring a personalized brand experience, making it more memorable and shareable.

5. Well trained ambassadors Aside from the experience itself, it’s also important to consider the key people who will represent your brand and relay the messaging to your target consumers. Hence why it’s important to invest in well-trained brand ambassadors, to bridge a lasting relationship between the consumers and the brand and cultivate loyalty.

6. Be quick and relevant Engaging people on the go is quite challenging, you will only have a couple of seconds to catch their attention. Brands are facing a constant decrease of consumer attention span, so make sure your message is simple, yet impactful.

7. Don’t forget to utilize new technologies From photo booths to new technologies like wearables, virtual reality and augmented reality (check out our white paper about VR and AR), innovation can bring experiential marketing to a bold new level and captivate consumers easily bored.

8. Get Social Take the experience online and engage consumers through social platforms, encouraging them to share their offline experience. To further maximize the campaign’s reach, KOLs can also contribute to the success of the campaigns.

9. Give your consumers a reason to come back To build loyalty amongst consumers, they must have a reason to come back for more. Giving incentives in forms of vouchers, discounts or points are usually effective ways in driving loyalty and continuously engaging consumers.

10. Be ROI driven A campaign’s success can only be defined by its metrics. Having clear and measurable goals will enable marketers to curate an impactful experiential campaign. From driving traffic to website or physical stores, social media engagement, voucher redemption or purchases, having clearly defined goals will drive the success of any marketing activities.

Check out the 5 do’s and don’ts to drive successful experiential marketing campaigns in one infographic: