The Ultimate Guide To Pride Month Marketing in 2023

Posted on March 21, 2023April 23, 2024 by Claudia

June marks the beginning of Pride Month. Over thirty days, Pride Festivals pop up across the country in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and more, creating a series of local events where thousands of people are invited to come together and show their support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Because there is so much built-in excitement and emotion attached to Pride Month, from a marketing perspective, June makes an excellent time to execute a campaign that communicates your brand’s inclusivity and successfully connects with the LGBTQ+ demographic (consumers that hold an estimated 9.7 billion to 1.4 trillion dollars of purchasing power in the US alone). The challenge, however, is tapping into this target demo authentically and memorably.

As we head into Pride Month, here’s everything you need to know about developing a marketing strategy that leaves a positive, lasting impression on your queer consumer base. We’ll begin by covering why Pride Month marketing is essential, and then dive into the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ that will act as your ultimate guide for Pride Month marketing in 2023.

WHY PRIDE MONTH MARKETING IS ESSENTIAL

Pride Month marketing is essential because it’s an opportunity for your brand to show empathy, creativity, and authenticity. Not only does the LGBTQ+ community make up a significant percentage of consumers worth marketing to, but the queer community is also a historically marginalized group that should be championed by institutions, your brand included. When it comes to empowering the LGBTQ+ community, you don’t want to be the company that misses out.

Pride Month is the ultimate opportunity to flex all of your muscles and create a campaign that truly stands out.

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE LEVERAGING PRIDE MONTH

As effective as Pride Month marketing can be, it’s crucial to know what not to do when you’re leveraging this time of year to drive business growth. Rule #1? Don’t be inauthentic.

Many companies have experienced first-hand that any kind of perceived inauthenticity can be detrimental to your brand image, as in the case of these 7 brands in 2022.

There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging the LGBTQ+ community as a sizable part of your consumer base and creating marketing tactics that specifically target this audience; however, appealing to this demographic can be seen as problematic when companies are simply monetizing the rainbow (and other gay imagery) instead of demonstrating actual inclusivity— a practice otherwise known as ‘rainbow washing.’

WHAT IS RAINBOW WASHING AND HOW CAN MY BRAND AVOID IT?

Rainbow washing refers to a phenomenon in which companies “use or add rainbow colors and/or imagery to advertising, apparel, accessories, landmarks in order to indicate progressive support for LGBTQ+ equality but with a minimum of effort.”

It’s a type of performative activism, in which companies support a cause or issue to garner attention, support, or monetization from others rather than actually caring about making a difference in the cause.

The best way to avoid falling into this marketing mishap is by ensuring that your campaign checks off one, or all, of these things:

BE PERSONAL.
SPOTLIGHT GENUINE PRO-INCLUSION COMPANY POLICIES.
INCLUDE A CALL-TO-ACTION.
DONATE TO RELEVANT ORGANIZATIONS OR CHARITIES.
DON’T IGNORE THE QUEER COMMUNITY THE OTHER 11 MONTHS OF THE YEAR.

EXPERIENTIAL PRIDE FESTIVAL MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR BRAND

As mentioned before, being personal is one of the best ways to avoid rainbow washing, which is why experiential marketing is the go-to Pride Month marketing strategy. The face-to-face nature of experiential marketing, via pop-ups, showrooms, marketing tours, mobile billboards, etc. can be extremely impactful, especially during a time when so many companies are executing their own campaigns.

Going beyond just branding your products or logo in rainbow colors for the month, developing an experiential marketing strategy shows you’re making an effort to meet and connect with your LGBTQ+ consumer base. This goes a long way.

ZARA WORLDPRIDE 2019: HYDRATE AND CELEBRATE

Take the case of Zara at WorldPride 2019. The brand made an appearance at the NYC Pride Festival with a glass truck display of rainbow water bottles. However, instead of simply adopting the rainbow aesthetic, the brand had Zara brand ambassadors on-site to hand out the JUST water bottles to the parade-goers, helping people “hydrate and celebrate” while meeting their LGBTQ+ consumers face-to-face and creating meaningful connections.

The practical (who isn’t thirsty on a hot summer day in NYC?) and interpersonal nature of Zara’s Pride Festival activation made all the difference: the brand played an active role in the festival, instead of superficially or overtly leveraging the hype to their own advantage, and that showed through in over 1M impressions.

Pride Month Marketing Wrap Up

Though Zara’s appearance at WorldPride 2019 is an excellent example, there’s no one size fits all to Pride Month marketing. In fact, a large part of what makes this time of year so exciting is that it’s an opportunity for brands to showcase their creativity by developing and executing unique marketing initiatives that truly resonate with an often misunderstood and historically marginalized group.

One of the absolute best ways to target your LGBTQ+ consumer base is through experiential marketing. The face-to-face and completely customizable uniqueness of experiential marketing is inherently emotional and genuine, and it gives you the chance to connect in real-time to your LGBTQ+ consumers, especially when you make an effort to appear at a Pride Festival with a contribution to the day/cause.

Interested in producing a brand activation this June? Reach out to our team.

Sensory Marketing: Who is it right for and how to set up your campaigns

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Claire Kelly

What makes a memory? When you feel the rough texture of wool, what makes you think of winter? When you smell fresh cut grass and the playful aroma of daffodils, what brings you back to spring? How can the smell of chocolate-chip cookies remind you of the laughter of grandparents? The answer is sensory memory.

Sensory memory is one of the more powerful ways our brains associate thoughts and emotions with a memory. Memories are most commonly associated with what a person sees, closely followed by what one can hear. The marketing industry has nearly reached the limits of what it can do with these two senses, and those efforts are what makes up the majority of traditional marketing strategy.

But what about the others? What about engaging potential customers and clients with other senses, like taste and smell? The true depth of sensory marketing has only begun to be explored.

The Science of Sensory Marketing

In recent years Sensory Marketing has been extensively studied by the country’s top research scientists to see why the senses are such a powerful advertising tool. What they have found is that our brain’s unconscious desires and innate decision making can be powered by something as simple as the temperature of a beverage, or the scent of a room. With sensory marketing, you have to look at details previous generations wouldn’t even think to tinker with.

The best part of these subtle choices is that they aren’t seen as marketing at all. You wouldn’t enter a building that smelled of chocolate and become annoyed by the obvious olfactory sales pitch. You’d be delighted by the aroma of cocoa beans, maybe get lost in the memory of some family vacation where your parents bought you a delightful bar of chocolate, and before you know it, you’re walking out with a pound of fair-trade confections.

That’s the power of sensory marketing: you aren’t smacking consumers over the head with a bulky advertisement, you’re allowing them to enjoy a taste of nostalgia in a comforting environment. The way to do this is to engage those less focused on senses. Let’s start with the one that is often overlooked: your nose.

Scent Marketing: Why it works, and how you can use it

When you think of senses, smell is often an underrated feature of the human experience. There is great importance to seeing, hearing, and feeling something, but what about our noses? With more and more studies showing that people’s sense of smell plays a large role in how they develop and solidify memories. A close connection has been found between the sections of the brain that dictate emotion, memory recall, and our olfactory senses. What does this mean? Basically, a smell can not only bring you back to some cherished moment in the past, but how you felt when you were there.

The chocolate example above does well to service this point, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Scent Marketing, or Aroma Marketing, is about choosing a fragrance that puts the customer in that buying mood. Depending on your product, you have to strategically set up what scent environment works best for that particular item.

With businesses like a candle shop, this may be more obvious. If summer is around the corner, having an apple-pie scent wafting from your shop will draw in customers with memories of pies cooling on window sills. But with other products, it may not be that simple.

If you run a car dealership, smell may be the last thing on your mind. You want to show potential customers the car’s features, the benefits of an extended warranty, and the safety rating of a given vehicle. But by creating a pleasant scent in your dealership, you can increase the amount of time car-buyers spend in your shop.

The longer they stay, the higher chance they will make a purchase. An enjoyable aroma causes those walking the showroom floor to positively associate that smell with your brand, giving them an overall better experience inside your business.

Taste Marketing: Tip of the Tongue Tips

Along with smell, taste is not always thought about when developing sensory marketing campaigns. For food brands, taste marketing is the name of the game . Having a unique flavor that your consumer can associate with your brand is paramount to establishing a connection with those all important memory centers in their brain.

Classic examples of these connections exist throughout popular culture: a certain soda brand conjuring images of childhood birthdays, the crunch of a french fry leading us back time and time again to the golden arches, the list goes on. Positioning the taste of your product to invoke that valuable nostalgia present in all consumers is important.

But what if you don’t have a food related product? Can you still utilize taste marketing in your campaign or strategy? Absolutely! Let’s look at a common practice you’ve probably seen in auto body repair or tire stores, and never thought twice about: Popcorn machines.

Car tires have absolutely zero to do with taste, but somehow brands like Les Schwab have found a way to associate the delicious salt and crunch of popcorn with their brands. Customers get the comfort and enjoyment of a tasty snack, and are subconsciously drawn back to that shop when it comes time to buy a new set of tires.

Examples like this show that Taste marketing can be approached from a number of angles. Whether it’s offering samples to get those hooks into customer’s taste buds, or having fresh brewed coffee available for any who come through the front door, taste is one of sensory marketing’s strongest tools.

The future is Sensory Marketing

The world of marketing is a constantly shifting and changing landscape. Keeping up with new trends is difficult, but absolutely vital if you want to remain ahead of the game. Newer forms of sensory marketing are growing at a rapid pace, and the need to employ these tactics for successful campaigns is becoming apparent. If you want your brand to succeed, and your product to reach the masses, the answer is clear: Sensory Marketing is the future.

Top 10 Best Pop-Ups of 2023

It’s been a big year here at Food Truck Promotions. With the holidays on the horizon and the new year quickly approaching, we’ve been looking

Creating Experiences That Drive UGC

Why UGC is a Key to Successful Modern Marketing If you are interested in modern marketing, you already know that the advertising world has dramatically

Rendering of a Barbie themed pink airstream with a water slide a pool and people enjoying the event.

Come on, Barbie, Let’s Go Market!

There’s no doubt about it — Barbie is back. Everyone’s favorite childhood dream girl is hitting the big screen on July 21, and the hype

5 Fundamentals of Successful Event Marketing

Posted on June 28, 2021June 29, 2021 by Claire Kelly

Hosting any type of event— a conference, seminar, workshop, or something else— needs a proper plan. Successful event marketing is the most effective channel for achieving business goals. But, what’s the difference between a good experience and a great one? Here are the five fundamentals of successful event marketing that will transform your brand’s awareness and reach with consumers.

What Is Event Marketing?

Event marketing— at its core— is the promotional strategy of a brand, product, or service. It’s a tactic that involves in-person, face-to-face interactions. Every event, however, is different; it has various audiences, content, and values. For example, brands can use event marketing to build relationships or educate consumers. But, regardless, successful event marketing leverages the power of live experiences to achieve brand goals.

1. Knowing Why You’re Hosting an Event

Successful event marketing always needs a reason to exist. Therefore, it’s critical to know its primary purpose. Once you understand that, you can better plan and properly allocate your resources. To achieve maximum success, ask yourself these two questions before you begin:

Why is this event important? This question is the framework for your event’s key objectives. Answering this question is the defining factor that will help you decide and communicate your event marketing strategy.
Why should people attend this event? While you may feel your event is important, it’s not about you at the end of the day. It’s about your target audience. So, what’s in it for them? How does your event benefit them? Your event must add value, solve a problem, or offer a solution.

2. Deciphering The Consumer Perspective

Answering that last question leads us to the next fundamental of successful event marketing. Take a step back and think like a consumer. Look at your event from the consumer perspective. Often, there are compound motivations for attending an event, but they’re all equally valid. For you as an event marketer, it’s your job to figure out ways to appeal to these competing rationales. Why? Aside from the fact that 82% of marketers believe audience engagement is an important KPI for success, attendees will disengage if your event’s purpose is unclear. In a hyper-media ecosystem, audiences are savvy and disinterested in spending time looking for a reason to attend an event if the advantages aren’t clear. On the flip side, if you offer them benefits to invest in your brand or solutions to their problems, they’re more likely to take notice.

3. Stand Out With Unique Venues

More and more, marketers are turning to unique locations to launch successful event marketing that stands out. But there should always be an alignment between your brand’s values, your audience’s expectations, and your event’s goals. Having said that, demand for non-traditional spaces is on the rise. So, let’s look closer at some of the benefits of unique venues:

They help you leave your comfort zone: Depending on your brand, pushing the envelope may make your event more memorable versus traditional spaces.
They boost attendee engagement on and offline: When you host an event in an unusual space, you’re going against the grain while giving attendees something to talk about and post about.
They’re customizable: Because of their uniqueness, non-traditional venues are often more versatile. This allows you to transform your space to suit your event’s needs.
They are complementary: If you don’t want a unique venue as your primary location, they can be an extension of your event. Instead, use non-traditional spaces for offsite receptions or as a venue for smaller, test events.

4. Ensure Your Timing Is Right With a Great Plan

Now that you have defined goals, understand your audience’s wants and needs, and have a unique venue in mind, it’s time to draft a detailed plan. This will help you stay on track, execute efficiently, and achieve your event’s goals. But when should you start creating your plan? Depending on its size and complexity, it’s crucial to start as early as possible, so you have time to understand logistics, requirements, and necessary actions. Your plan should also be fluid, meaning it should hold up to revisions that will likely happen during the planning process.

Along with a solid and sturdy plan, successful event marketing also depends on the right timing. What does that mean? Several factors to consider include; weekdays vs. weekends, holidays, event type, and location. As you progress through your plan, mark significant milestones and critical deadlines, so your plan is always current and updated.

5. Create Delicious Content That Satisfies Audiences

No matter how much planning you put into your event, if it’s boring, you’ve lost the war before it even started. Creating compelling content that captivates your audience increases engagement. For example, when German luxury goods brand MCM wanted to promote its Global Creative Platform, they partnered with street artist SAMBYPEN to launch an experiential marketing pop-up. Recognizing South Korea’s youth culture and Berlin’s dynamic street art scene, the MCM x SAMBYPEN campaign blended the artist’s graffiti style into the brand’s apparel and accessories.

MCM invited consumers in New York and Los Angeles to immerse themselves in the collection in a multi-city experiential marketing mobile tour. Using a branded food truck, attendees received complimentary cups of La Colombe coffee and sweets from LA’s Sprinkles Cupcakes and cookies from NYC’s Chip City. As brand ambassadors showcased ready-to-wear items displayed on the food truck, MCM executed successful event marketing using a non-traditional platform that added value for its target audience.

Elevate Your Brand With Successful Event Marketing

The benefits of event marketing are far-reaching. They give your brand the ability to increase awareness, visibility, engagement, and— of course— sales. In addition, your brand can boost its presence on social media and in the press. When you tap into the fundamentals of successful event marketing, you can turn target audiences into loyal customers. So, give them something special with an event that can be enjoyed, shared, and remembered.

Tag: Event Marketing Tips