Cracking the code behind experiential marketing

During the pandemic, marketers were forced to embrace digital marketing more than they usually would, especially when it came to experiential marketing. Experiential marketing was one of the hardest hit areas in marketing as it suffered a 15.2% decline in revenue in 2020 due to COVID-19, according to 12 Experiential Marketing Trends for 2022/2023: Top Predictions You Should Know. Within this blog, we will review experiential marketing, how to build a strategy featuring experiential marketing, and where the future of experiential marketing is going. 

What is experiential marketing? 

Experiential marketing, also known as engagement marketing, is a strategy that engages consumers and requires participation in an experience created by a brand. ‘Experiential marketing is, in its simplest definition, a type of marketing based on creating memorable and innovative customer experiences to create deep emotional connections between the customers and the brand,’ as stated by Esther Sauri, a marketer at Linkilaw Solicitors said in What Is Experiential Marketing?

With experiential marketing, the consumers are a part of the experience to offer them an interaction within the campaign. This form of marketing creates a connection between the brand and the consumer, allowing them to experience the campaign in full. Connecting the consumers to a brand rather than selling to them means they experience your brand differently. ‘It is through live in-person events that people get to understand products and offerings better. …All things told, experiential marketing is focused on providing sensory, emotional, cognitive, and rational value. Additionally, it generates audience participation in online and mixed settings,’ according to 12 Experiential Marketing Trends for 2022/2023: Top Predictions You Should Know.

The pandemic showed us ways to be creative with our marketing to engage consumers still. Festivals went online, shopping from home, and augmented reality became the new norm. As marketers, however, we had to learn how to have that immersive experience—in a digital sphere. It is crucial to create a connection with the consumer where they associate your brand with a positive value. 

How to build an experiential marketing campaign

When starting an experiential marketing campaign, looking at your current customer data is essential to determine what kind of experiential marketing would resonate with your audience. You can identify your target audience and see what campaigns might suit them. 

Once your target audience is set, you need to determine your goals. Are you looking to find new consumers? Promote a new product? Break into a new market? After selecting the ultimate goal. Then you can start preparing your campaign. Make sure that your strategy is centred on the target audience and measurable. 

Before beginning the campaign, it is essential to determine what success will look like at the end of the campaign. ‘Experiential marketing is a great method to obtain nuanced customer data and to solicit in-person feedback from participants,’ according to What Is Experiential Marketing?

Experiential marketing can be done online, in-person or both. ‘Virtual experiential marketing has five elements: sense, interaction, pleasure, flow, and community relationship. Furthermore, all of these are used cohesively to create unique pleasurable experiences that translate into deeper brand loyalty and evangelism,’ according to 12 Experiential Marketing Trends for 2022/2023: Top Predictions You Should Know.

Experiential marketing isn’t about your brand’s goods or services but about creating a memorable experience that consumers associate with your brand. 

Experiential marketing in the future

AR and VR will likely increase as part of any experiential marketing. Marketers will look for ways to develop the technologies to help them increase productivity while making experiential campaigns easier to organise. 

As always, analytics will be in demand, more so now with the increase in experiential marketing. In-person events aren’t going out of fashion; the digital world will augment to make these events bigger. COVID-19 caused a surge in experiential marketing, especially the digital aspect. ‘Immersive technologies like AR, VR, and AI are being leveraged by brands to redefine the retail experience. This has paved the way for a new normal in purchasing goods and services, so adapting to this trend is the key to obtaining larger returns,’12 Experiential Marketing Trends for 2022/2023: Top Predictions You Should Know.

At GottaBe! Marketing, we can help you through the process of creating an experiential marketing campaign for your brand. We can help identify your target audience, build and execute an experiential marketing strategy, and measure the campaign’s success against your initial goals. To speak to a member of the team