Today’s marketing revolves around the idea that the customer is in charge of the brand, not the other way around. As such, the user experience is the primary focus in today’s business world, and companies are spending a lot of time and resources trying to figure out why people pick one brand or product over another.
Sure, prospects may choose a product out of curiosity first, but they won’t repeat the purchase if the solution doesn’t deliver on its promises. More often than not, customer satisfaction largely depends on how well your brand delivers experiences.
The idea is rather simple: if you want to win over your audience and turn them into loyal customers, then you need to do more than just advertise to them. You also need to ensure that they’re having the best possible experience when using or interacting with your brand.
That’s where experiential marketing can come in handy
Message Broadcasting Is Slowly Turning Obsolete
Every brand has a message, but that’s not enough for the 21st century consumer. Sick of the same old “buy from the best there is” advertising tune, customers will slowly turn their eyes to wherever some new, fascinating experiences may arise.
That’s because experiential marketing is all about engaging all five senses and not merely sending a message. Consumers care more about having their senses caressed than they care about what you are trying to tell them. They’ll surely understand your message better if you give them an actual taste of it.
Focus your brand strategy on how and what your prospects feel. Align your business with your audience’s expectations if you want to deliver great experiences.
The Benefits of Experiential Marketing
Young consumers view experiences as more valuable than things. As such, they are more likely to buy products from someone who engages with them directly rather than a business that uses advertising to communicate. Experiential marketing is all about creating peer-to-peer interaction and engaging audiences in ways that will make your brand stay top of mind.
That’s not to say that you should ignore conventional tactics, such as social media, content marketing or email marketing. These are still beneficial and will bring impressive results to your business. However, make sure to mix these strategies with experiential marketing tactics and create interactions that will enable your audience to connect to and absorb your brand’s values.
For example, you could organize events where people can taste, hear or feel your products and get a close look at what your brand is about.
Another excellent and simple way of putting experiential marketing to work is by giving away product samples. Just think about it: what protein bar are people more likely to buy – the one they see advertised on TV all the time or the one that organizes funky events at their local gym?
It’s not that hard to guess the correct answer.
Keep in mind, though that this type of marketing is not just about food samples and parties. Due to recent developments in technology, you may also lure your prospects into your brand’s narrative through virtual reality. If you own the right infrastructure, you can have worldwide expositions of products or services and grow your customer base in ways that couldn’t have been possible otherwise.
Conclusion
Whatever the case, sharing positive experiences with your prospects builds trust and deep relationships that can ultimately translate into loyalty. Nowadays, your value relies on what your audience feels about your brand. Make sure they get it right.
