What is experiential marketing?

In present times, marketing is focused on the client. His/her satisfaction is the focus for any company that wants to have a real impact on its users. A good relationship with the customer is essential to generate an experience that created a relationship between the brand and the user through emotions. And this is the basis of experiential marketing.

To simply transmit the message to users is to remain on the surface of marketing. Brands need to go further or, otherwise, they will not get customers. That is why brands seek to connect with customers and try to offer a good experience, using emotions and feelings as an essential basis of communication.

What is experiential marketing?

To understand exactly what experiential marketing is, also known as emotional marketing, it is necessary to begin with traditional marketing. A way to communicate and sell that has always been based on the product itself, of which aspects such as quality, benefits for the users, or differentiating characteristics are highlighted.

However, experiential marketing places the customer at the center. The focus is on the experiences the customer can acquire with the brand during the sales process, or in the process of using the product that is being shown him/her.

We can say that, when a customer chooses a product or service thanks to experiential marketing, the choice is marked by the experiences that can be achieved through its use, and not so much for the benefits offered by the product itself.

Therefore, experiential marketing is an advertising strategy that focuses on stimulating the consumers’ senses, thus causing some kind of emotion and offering them a unique experience that can only be achieved through a specific brand. The interesting thing is that this experience can be achieved before, during, or after buying the product.

Brands that offer unique experiences

In a market so focused and saturated with products and services the sole purpose of which is to be sold based on their qualities, experiential marketing plays an essential role; and it can be what makes the difference. In fact, with kind of marketing, marketing managers from different brands can see the great importance of opting for a focus on human value. Experiential marketing helps them not to focus their strategies solely on numbers and sales.

Additionally, nowadays, users are more attracted to those companies that offer them more than products. Users will always be more attracted to companies that offer a personalized treatment, dynamic and human attention and, above all, those brands that can offer them a unique life experience.

Therefore, what experiential marketing teaches and remind is that, after all, marketing should always be directed and focused on people. And although this might seem logical and obvious, many brands forget this detail and treat their users as if they were numbers of a homogeneous audience.

4 examples of experiential marketing

1.- Carozzi

This Chilean food industry company created this campaign to connect with its customers in a different way. The objective was to raise awareness about the importance of doing physical activity and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle. Thus, through interesting products and exercise, it was possible to improve the quality of life of its consumers.

Carozzi placed a keyboard on the street so that people could type messages with their legs and post them on their respective social networks. Doing this, people who take part in this initiative also exercised.

2.- Coca Cola

Coca Cola is another clear example of experiential marketing. The well-known soft drink company always creates ads that have a great impact on people. In this case, the brand set up an ATM in which it offered customers a free amount of money, which brought great delight to all users. In return, it asked them to support different projects.

The company did not know whether its customers were going to collaborate, but it clearly brought about a positive experience. Many of those who received money got involved and shared their experiences in this project. In this way, Coca-Cola connected with the sensitivities the users and offered them a unique experience

3.- Ikea

Another example of experiential marketing is the one that Ikea put in place in Japan to celebrate the opening of a new store in the capital city. The Swedish brand decorated subway cars with the company’s lively furniture and accessories, allowing all those who used the subway to enjoy their products.

These colorful subway cars allow a relationship and direct communication between the company and users, and they let users live the experience of enjoying these products without having to travel to the physical stores.

4.- Mattel

Without doubts, the experience was very enjoyable to those who participated in the game and those who witnessed from outside. On the other hand, the participants received a great gift when they reached the end and the game’s answer.

How to apply experiential marketing to your company?

Experiential marketing is a kind of personalized communication that generates a great emotional commitment and a much greater degree of “engagement” from the users. Therefore, it is important that more and more companies choose to apply it on their digital marketing strategies. This is not simple to do. Creating an experience is not something that can be done without feedback. It depends on the feedback provided by the users.

To create an appropriate digital marketing strategy, you should take into account the examples that show situations in which it is possible to use emotional marketing to obtain interesting benefits for your brand:

1. If you have a physical store, try to offer an experience that goes beyond the purchase itself. For example, try offering gifts, creating an area for children to play, offering something to drink… or anything else that gives your brand an additional value.
2. Today, there are many tools that allow you to get to know your customers very well. If you want your marketing strategies to succeed, it is necessary that you use all the data you can obtain about them and segment your audience according to their tastes, interests and behaviors. When you have segmented them in the right way, play with all the information you have to appear as somebody who is more approachable and personal. For example, offer a ticket for the movie they like, a shirt of their favorite group, a discount voucher for their favorite store… Everything is valid if it has value for the user. The important thing is to show the users they are truly important for a brand that cares about them.
3. When creating a campaign, users generally appreciate it when the campaign really shows what is being done in the campaign. This means that companies should not only limit themselves to mention what they are going to do, but that they also demonstrate it. In the same way, it is interesting to play with the customers’ senses. If you have the opportunity to incorporate tact, sight, taste or smell into your campaign, do not hesitate to do it and use this advantage in your experiential marketing campaign.
4. Try to show your customers that your only goal is not sales in your relationship with them. Many times, sales increase in an indirect way when you make an effort to create a good product but you offer it in a different way. It is about connecting with the client. A good way to achieve this is to share common experiences or hobbies, which always creates proximity. For example, try to use social networks to show a more human part and share content for users to comment and share it with you. In this way, if you share content that the users like, they will feel more connected to your brand. Additionally, if you organize a party or event for your company, you have the option to offer users the opportunity to attend and win a new experience through your brand.

Without doubts, experiential marketing is a discipline that will help you improve your relationship with your clients, and through which you will achieve an exponential level of engagement between the company and the clients that participate in experiences that trigger emotions. If you manage to reach the customer’s heart, the connection created will be direct that you will undoubtedly achieve a much greater loyalty than that you might achieve through other digital marketing disciplines.