Experiential Marketing: How to Engage Your Audience

Thanks to the internet, the business world is more crowded than ever. It empowers everyone to go out and take their own slice of success. As a result of this though, there are countless brands and businesses in every niche and interest category imaginable. Standing out is becoming more and more difficult as time goes on.

That’s why today I’m going to show you the secret ingredient that will make your brand stand out from the rest. It’s a little tactic known as experiential marketing and it is going to elevate your marketing to an entirely new level.

4 Tips for Implementing Experiential Marketing

The basic concept of experiential marketing is that it is a form of advertising with a focus on helping consumers experience a brand. There are a lot of ways to do this, but when used correctly, the target consumer walks away with a memorable experience tied to your brand. Most types of marketing such as radio, print, television, and online blogs use verbal and visual cues to present a product’s benefits and features.

Experiential marketing seeks to engage as many other senses as possible, ultimately providing an emotional and memorable connection with the target audience. This type of marketing tends to create a stronger brand loyalty because the consumer has a more tangible and personalized experience.

In order to create this type of experience, you should consider starting a blog as a means of building up your online presence. In addition, here are four tips you should utilize:

1. Ensure That Your Brand is the Focus

The core focus of your marketing strategy should be on your brand. When planning your strategy, always keep in mind that the end goal is to show consumers how your brand positively impacts their lives. They should be able to relate with the brand as well. Based on the audience, you should strive to showcase the brand in a real world situation.

2. Reach out Digitally to Customers

Over 63% of adult phone owners used their phones to go online. On top of this, 34% of cell users go online almost exclusively using their phones and tablets. Connecting to your customers online is a huge way to bring them into your brand. Social media is an especially rich area for marketing prospects.

By targeting your audience through social media, you can seek them out where they are and connect with them in their daily lives. You can also engage them by building a blogging community with your target audience.

3. Build Loyalty Through Brand Association

The ultimate goal of your experiential marketing campaign is to forge an emotional bond between your customers and your brand. Doing this will secure their loyalty as well. Through your marketing efforts, consumers will know your brand and associate it with positive effects in their daily lives.

This leads to them gathering additional information on their own and eventually influences their purchasing decision. It all goes back to that first experience though. It should be a positive one, and it should be associated with your brand’s image and overall message.

4. Make it Newsworthy

Anytime you promote your product or service, make it a spectacle that people will want to talk about. The quality of the experience should be so monumental that customers simply must talk to their friends and family about what happened. This turns your loyal customers into ambassadors who then promote your brand via word of mouth.

3 Stellar Examples of Experiential Marketing in Action!

Now that you’re familiar with how experiential marketing works, it’s time to see it in action. Here are three examples of how companies created that one-of-a-kind experience for their consumers!

1. The Adidas Derrick Rose Promotion

Here’s a perfect example of a simple – but very effective – promotion by Adidas. To promote his new line of shoes, Derrick Rose himself showed up at the D Rose Jump Store in London. Customers who arrived were able to participate in a contest where they had to try and jump ten feet to reach a pair of the new shoes. If they did, they received a pair for free.

Ten feet is of course the regulation height for basketball hoops, which provided the brand with an association that connected the shoes with the sport of basketball and ultimately their guest celebrity, Derrick Rose. The entire event was filmed and include fun moments like Derrick helping a kid reach a pair of the shoes, to visitors performing the impressive jump themselves.

2. Red Bull’s Stratos Jump

Everything Red Bull does is centered on experiential marketing, but possibly the greatest high-octane stunt they pulled was the Stratos Jump. It was during this event that Felix Baumgartner broke a 52-year-old record for the highest recorded parachute jump. During his descent he broke the speed of sound!

What made this so incredible was how Red Bull managed to connect the event, and their brand, to their consumers. They built a great story around the concept and then provided their consumers with tons of high-quality images and videos to share via social media. The event itself was also filmed live for millions to witness. This created an experience for everyone involved that included them in the excitement.

3. The Simpsons Movie

Prior to the release of The Simpson’s Movie in 2007, 20th Century Fox partnered with 7-eleven to turn twelve of their stores into Kwik-E-Mart shops from the TV show. Customers could then visit the redesigned locations and purchase products from the show like KrustyO’s cereal, Buzz Cola, and even Squishee frozen drinks.

Interacting with the brand in the real world was a unique treat for both fans and newcomers alike – something they won’t soon forget.

Final Thoughts

While these examples were high budget campaigns, providing consumers with a unique experience surrounding your brand is the best way to build loyalty and awareness. It can be a huge stunt, or it can be as simple as a small sample of what your product or service offers. As long as it’s memorable and engaging, your strategy will be a success.

What experiential marketing ideas do you have? Has your company run a successful campaign using this tactic? Share your ideas and experiences in the comments below!

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Matt Banner

Matt Banner is the author and lead blogger at OnBlastBlog. He focuses on writing content that helps beginners succeed at blogging.

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• Experiential Marketing: How to Engage Your Audience - October 26, 2015