How to Get Your Brand Experienced (Not Just Seen)

 

Traditional advertising communicates with your target audience visually and verbally, reminding them that your product / service is around and provides them with great value. While there’s nothing wrong with that approach, the advertising playground is getting highly concentrated with several brands vying for the same spotlight. That…is where experiential marketing comes into play.
 

Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing is about establishing an emotional connection with your target audience, by triggering or engaging as many of their senses as possible. The logic behind this is the more they feel and understand, the easier it is to remember (or harder to forget) your brand. Naturally, this affects their likelihood of purchasing your products / services.
 
You’ll see this logic at work when you think back of your most memorable moments, which can include movies you’ve watched, food you’ve eaten, places you’ve visited, products you’ve tried and the list goes on. When you shared them with your friends and family, do you remember how enthusiastically you did it? That’s what experiential marketing can do for your own business!
 
The benefits that experiential marketing can bring include customer satisfaction, retention, word-of-mouth marketing, referrals, customer loyalty and repeat sales.
 

Applying Experiential Marketing to Your Business
Now that we’re a little more familiar with the effectiveness of experiential marketing, how does it apply for your business?
 
The following are some points you can consider without blowing your marketing budget:
 

Get Them Involved
In July’13, Adidas opened a DRose ‘jump store’ named after NBA star Derrick Rose. Visitors here could get free shoes if they jumped the height of a basketball rim (10 feet) and grabbed the shoes from a shelf. Whether “customers” got the shoes or not, the store created an experience they were unlikely to forget. If you want to see the video, click here.
 

The focus here is to get your potential customers involved in something associated with your brand. For instance, a tuition centre can post online quizzes and give the first 10 correct answers free classes or tickets to a museum. The winners will remember your company fondly while others will look out for more quizzes on your website or social media page. This converts into higher recognition for your brand.
 

Ensure Interactivity
During the Valentine’s in Feb’14, Google allowed users to create an interactive Valentine’s Day card that they could send via email or social media. Users could make a box of chocolates using a blend of ingredients, which would later be taken apart by the recipient. The experience is simple, but definitely memorable.
 
So you don’t need a physical store to interact with your clients. It just takes a little brainstorming and some creativity. As long as your target audience pays attention and interacts with your brand in some way or another, the impression created will last much longer than traditional marketing.
 

Give Gifts
Receiving a gift makes most people feel special and important, which are emotions you want your target audience to feel. We know a copywriter who gave Christmas log cakes to his top clients during the holidays. This is rare even amongst established companies, much less freelancers. However, guess who they thought of every time a project required copywriting?
 
It’s not the size or cost of the gift that matters, but the value it creates. Every time your client receives a practical or meaningful gift, your branding is reinforced. Your brand will be recognised as the one who stands out, and the one who bothers. These traits are always appreciated by clients seeking quality products / services.
 

Time to Pull the Rabbit Out
In summary, it’s about getting your target audience to experience and feel your brand, instead of just seeing it on advertisements. If they can bring something home to remember the positive experience, it’s pretty much a home run for your branding efforts.
 
Not sure which experiential marketing efforts will support your brand? Drop us a message and we’ll arrange for a non-obligatory consultation.