Let’s face it: as much as we would like to believe that humans are completely rational decision makers, we know that emotions play a massive role in decision making.  

When companies only focus their marketing efforts on the rational components of their offerings, they miss the much-needed opportunity to influence consumers emotionally.  

In a highly competitive marketplace where differentiation is difficult to achieve and consumers are more resistant to advertising, experiential marketing may be the essential missing piece of your marketing mix. 

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WHAT IS EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING?

Experiential marketing is a business strategy that creates impact by allowing audiences to interact and engage with your brand. Sometimes called event marketing or live marketing, experiential marketing works because your audience becomes immersed in a learning opportunity that allows them to discover new information for themselves. It’s meaningful; it creates emotional touch points that benefit the brand AND the customer.  

Experiential marketing is more than a “spin-the-wheel” activity at a trade show. The best experiential marketing campaigns immerse customers, put them into listening mode, and appeal to the emotions of the participant. By creating a sense of  surprise, initiating participation, and immersing consumers in an experience, brands go above and beyond the differentiation tactics of their competition. Setting up a promotion by following the surprise - participation - immersion approach moves your target audience along an emotional spectrum that creates a unique and memorable experience. 

Our customers have found that experiential marketing has helped them realize significant results in both consumer loyalty and satisfaction as well as sales revenue.

Here are three examples of our work that shows the impact of experiential marketing: 

ANIMATING THE BRAND PERSONALITY

Although our digital age presents everyone with millions of brands at their fingertips, consumers can’t connect with a faceless corporation. Experiential marketing gives brands a personality that creates a genuine connection to consumers. Affiliating this created brand personality to a product further strengthens the relationship they have with your company. See how we helped  Anker, a global leader in the charging technology world, host an event for tech influencers. Everything at the event, from the lighting to the food, embodied the brand and gave the participants a chance to experience Anker products for themselves. 

RETENTION AND RECALL, LEADING TO PURCHASE

Much like the science fair exhibit that uses light bulbs to make your hair stand up, experiential marketing establishes an interactive understanding of information—from product functionality to pricing to safety features. Rather than being lectured about fundamental product data, participation creates a positive experience that can increase purchase intent and customer satisfaction. 

With advance planning, your customers’ experience can begin before the experiential event and continue past the event, such as with our award-winning EXHIBITORLIVE  integrated marketing program, which included pre-show social posts, an interactive exhibit, an experiential client event, and post-show dimensional mailers. 

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BUILDING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND BRAND LOYALTY

Creating an emotional connection through memorable brand experiences has been proven to not only increase customer satisfaction and likelihood to repurchase, but turns a brand loyal consumer into a brand advocate. Companies such as Gates have turned their place of business into a customer experience center that tells the story of their past, present, and potential future endeavors. A well-thought-out customer experience center can educate customers and guide them along the path to purchase. 

THE BENEFIT OF PERSONALIZED ENGAGEMENT

Experiential events connect and resonate at a more personal level compared to mass media or digital-only marketing campaigns. Companies that spend more face-to-face time with stakeholders need less time to inspire action and often develop longer relationships. 

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Interested in learning more about experiential marketing?

Explore how our Customer Experience team creates emotional connections through face-to-face experiences for our clients.