How Experiential Marketing Can Take Your Brand to the Top

Experiential Marketing Helps Brands Be Remembered

What would make you happier; buying a brand-new car, or going on a vacation of a lifetime? While there are a lot of reasons you might lean toward the car (it's more practical, it lasts longer, you've wanted that model for years, etc.), according to Forbes the vacation may actually be something you consider the better buy when it comes to long-term value for your money. The reason for this is that the pleasure we feel from a new acquisition fades relatively quickly (the old saying about how your new car will never look better than it did on the showroom floor just before you bought it), while experiences stay in the mind and last significantly longer.

This is a quirk of human psychology that has led to something called experiential marketing, and it can take your brand all the way to the top if you get a solid grip on what makes people tick.

How Experiences Drive Spending

The goal behind experiential marketing is to get people to interact with your brand in a noteworthy, memorable way that goes beyond simply buying or consuming it. To, in other words, give people an experience that will cause them to think of your brand positively, making them more likely to purchase your products in the future.

The key thing to remember is that, while experiential marketing is often focused around events, it is different from event marketing. Sponsoring a concert or a beer garden is event marketing, since it gets your name and brand associated with a particular event. Experiential marketing, on the other hand, is something that's geared expressly toward your brand, and the kind of messaging you want to send to your customers and potential customers.

As an example, HubSpot talks about Lean Cuisine's Weigh This campaign. The company, typically associated with dieting and weight loss, set up a curated gallery of scales in New York City's Grand Central Station. However, the scales were simply boards where people could write down what qualities they wished to be weighed by, instead of simply being reduced to the number of pounds they weighed. Things like, "being back in college at 55," or, "being the sole provider for four sons," which the participants felt was more important.

On the one hand, that gallery of scales was an event in and of itself. However, it was also specifically geared toward a particular experience, which was then tied in participants' memories to Lean Cuisine's brand. That is what can make experiential marketing so effective; even if someone participated in that event years ago, as long as that positive memory sticks with them, that is positive social currency that will buy brand loyalty.

Online, Offline, and Otherwise

When it comes to experiential marketing, most companies focus on in-person, offline experiences. However, while there is no doubt that these experiences are very effective, it's important to remember that online events can have positive effects as well. Redbull's Supersonic Freefall event, where Felix Baumgartner broke the world record for a sky dive by leaping from the stratosphere, was a major event. It was, however, a digital event streamed from 24 miles above the Earth. That didn't lessen its impact, though, or dilute the draw it had for all the people who watched it happen live.

It's important to remember that people can have experiences from anywhere. The question is what experience are you providing them, and how is it going to cement your brand in their minds? Once you have that, you're ready to go!

For more information about experiential marketing and what it can do for your brand, simply contact us today!