Marketing is a discipline that’s evolved a lot in the last few years and now more than ever its focus is intrinsically linked to the customer. The digital era continues to challenge traditional marketing to adapt to new technologies and the changes that these imply in the behavior of its consumers. Experiential marketing provides an approach that invites companies to move away from the invasive promotion of their products and services and moves towards the creation of authentic experiences that bridge the gap between brands and their consumers. There is a strong relationship and balance that needs to be respected as it relates to connecting with the consumer Online and Offline. Experiential Marketing is more than just “retail therapy”, it enhances the retail experience, attracting your customers and leaving lasting impressions.
Customer satisfaction is now the leitmotif for any business that wants to achieve sustainable growth and keep a competitive edge. Building the relationship with your customers is indispensable to create an experience that relates the brand and the user through emotions. This is the essence of experiential marketing. So, what exactly is experiential marketing?
Experiential marketing is a marketing technique that is increasingly leveraged by companies to reach the heart of their customers in a less intrusive way. The objective of this strategy is to reach customers in a creative way in order to build emotional bonds between brands and customers.
It includes everything from street teams to corporate events to pop-up stores to mobile tours and much more. It requires the right balance between brand strategy, technology, design, staffing, communication, content development and production. This approach paths the way to a long-lasting relationship between your brand and its consumers.
Instead of focusing on the product, service or brand, experiential marketing puts the customer and its emotions at the center of the stage. The idea is to offer unique live experiences that use emotions as a fundamental basis for communication.
One way to enhance experiential marketing is through neuromarketing, which analyzes how certain inputs such as colors, sounds, smells or spaces affect our perception and what reactions they provoke in us.
Experiential marketing is a proven technique that generates a higher level of engagement, conversion rate and ROI. If you want to differentiate yourself from the crowd and get a competitive edge in today’s digital era, you have to incorporate experiential marketing in your company’s marketing strategy.
To appeal to the feelings and senses of a brand’s target audience, it’s important to know that the two essential ingredients of a good experiential marketing strategy are emotional experiences and technology:
Most decisions are driven by emotions and the purchase decision is no exception. A brand that is capable of creating personalized experiences, which generate emotions, is able to connect with its customers on a deeper level and add massive value to their brands through differentiation.
Experiential marketing and technology go hand in hand. Using the right technological tools is key to creating memorable experiences that meet your business objectives. Technology helps brands properly segment their audience through big data and other tools. This helps them perform actions that match their public’s interest and effectively communicate.
Thanks to experiential marketing, companies can create branded experiences that are much more impressive and that could not be achieved without the use of virtual reality, mobile devices, touch devices, etc. Not to mention that technology helps brands measure the performance of their events (ROI, engagement, etc.).