Marketing may seem easy until you actually have to do it; but when you have your own business, you will feel the effects of marketing every step of the way. Marketing will be important to introduce your brand, to distinguish your brand from your competitors, to give you a competitive edge, to keep your brand relevant, and to expand your brand—just to name a few examples.
Experiential marketing is a type of marketing strategy that aims to create immersive, (most often) live experiences for customers. Think: pop-up stores, brand activation events, product launch events, trade events, interactive installations, etc.
Whether your goal is to generate leads, strengthen customer relationships, or increase sales, experiential marketing is becoming a more and more valuable tool to achieve your business objectives.
So let’s talk a bit about these events and why they are worth it.
1. Return on investment
According to Marketing Charts, the average return on investment for events is 25-34% (Boschier). That said, almost half of all brands see a 300-500% return on investment (Jifflenow). It is no surprise then, that 41% of marketers consider events as the most effective marketing channel (Bizzabo).
2. Achieving key business objectives
Events can be used to achieve various business objectives. Most often, they are used for lead generation. Not only do they provide an opportunity to get information from potential customers (emails, contact information, feedback), they lead 38% of attendees to visit the company’s website after the event (Event Marketer). That said, the benefits don’t stop there, as events can also strengthen brand loyalty, increase brand awareness, and increase sales.
3. Complementing content marketing
75% of marketers consider events as the most effective content marketing strategy (Content Marketing Institute). This makes sense, as events can create a lot of high-quality content that can be further dispersed by social media channels.
“Live content-sharing from the event by your business and by attendees can boost social media presence and start trends. Consider, for example, a content contest, where users are encouraged to post with a certain hashtag, like and follow certain accounts, or post certain photos to get a prize,” Matus Horak, Managing Partner at STL SOLUTIONS.
4. Appealing to ethos
Hosting an event can give your brand a great reputation. First, it can “establish your company as a thought-leader and go-to educational resource in the process” (MeetingPlay). People like to attend events to get business or industry insights and learn about new trends. Thus, when you organize such an event, they will consider you a credible and knowledgeable source. Furthermore, hosting an event can make you look like a well-established and reputable brand (MeetingPlay). After all, events are a big marketing investment. A company that undertakes such an expense must consider the long-term reward of the event and spend a lot of time and effort on its organization. People realize the resources that go into organizing an event, so they consider the company that organizes it as dedicated, legitimate, trustworthy, and hard-working, all of which strongly appeal to ethos.
Thus, it is undeniable that events are useful experiential marketing tools in more ways than one. So as the pandemic restrictions begin to ease, and physical stores and business venues begin to open up again, you should definitely consider rejuvenating your brands with a cool event.
To begin your brainstorming and planning process, we added a few tips.
Organizing an Event
1. Determine your target market and plan your event accordingly.
2. Make it photogenic: make people want to take photos and videos there!
3. Invite interesting speakers or celebrities
4. Make it interactive: include various Q&As, contests, or games. Consider, for example, the effect of a MultiBall interactive wall on your attendees. They might be absolutely thrilled to have a fun, relaxed, sporting experience at the event. What’s more, MultiBall allows you to customize its software such that your brand can be featured in-game. Thus, your customers will have fun, but they won’t forget why they are having such fun: your brand.
For more on MultiBall as a great tool for marketing events, visit our products section; and don’t hesitate to reach out to us if this sounds like something you’d like to try in your upcoming event.
