How To Leverage Experiential Marketing Research

Posted on March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 by britney

Experiential Marketing

Consumers receive a steady stream of marketing messages every day. Experiential marketing offers a uniquely personal way to engage customers, turning into customer advocacy for your brand. People are savvier today than ever before and adept at filtering out marketing tactics that fall flat. Let’s take a closer look at why experiential marketing research is essential and how to incorporate it for a successful marketing strategy.

Why Is Experiential Marketing Research Important?

In the most classic sense, traditional marketing is dead. Billboards? Consumer drive right past them. Commercials? Who needs them when people can stream instead. Magazine ads? Everyone’s online. Experiential marketing focuses on connecting consumers with brand experiences rather than directly with a product. In that regard, consumers are no longer passive receivers of brand messaging. They’re now actively engaged, and experiential marketing offers a window into the soul of a brand with thoughtful and meaningful engagement.

So, why is experiential marketing research necessary? There are four reasons:

It helps provide insights and information that will help refine your marketing strategy for the better.
It offers a deeper understanding of who your customers are, as well as your competitors.
Research helps you understand who’s buying what you’re selling, who’s not, and why.
Taking a 30,000 ft. view of your industry’s environment identifies new business opportunities.

Breaking Down Experiential Marketing Research

Experiential marketing research is rooted in data, and it needs to be if it’s going to be effective. But, how do you make your campaign data-driven? Here are a few tips to help guide you:

Personalize Campaigns to Boost Sales

When brands understand customer trends, they have a much better chance of striking when the iron’s hot. Not only does personalization have an emotional impact, but it also encourages positive engagement. For example, Versace used data-driven research and found its customers mostly purchased items like wallets and sunglasses. To attract more people to buy its clothing, the luxury fashion company created marketing campaigns to attract high-end shoppers. That helped to deliver a 35% jump in online sales and a 300% average order increase.

Continuously Engage With Consumers

Your customers crave experiences and information that’s either useful or interesting to them. When you use experiential marketing research, your content is more streamlined. That allows your brand to engage with your customers in a relevant, timely, and meaningful way. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, GrubHub and Time magazine partnered with a compelling social media poll to pique its customers’ interest. Based on company data about the number of times customers ordered particular items in 214 congressional districts, poll respondents found out whether their dietary preferences meant they were more likely to be Republican or Democrat.

Invest in the Right Tools

Unless you’re a marketing whiz, you’ll need help assembling your experiential marketing research. But, there are a variety of resources at your disposal. CrazyEgg’s maps can help you boost conversion rates. Capsulink lets you explore your audience’s geographical location and what that means for your online presence. And Survey Anyplace’s creative quizzes and surveys can provide you with innovative ways to receive post-campaign feedback.

The Benefits of Experiential Marketing Research Are Endless

At its core, experiential marketing research is about understanding as much as you can about your customers. When you can predict their behaviors and their needs, you’ll know them as well as they know themselves.

The benefits of experiential marketing research outweigh the effort ten-fold. It helps craft the right messages at the right time and in an organic way. It improves customer experiences because you know where your strengths and weaknesses lie. And it even optimizes your budget. Data-driven marketing allows you to strategically plan how and when you’ll engage with consumers because you’ll know what they want.

Experiential marketing research changes the way you do business. Even the best marketers can’t perform miracles. So, if it’s improvements and success you’re after, planning for them is the way to go. With clearly defined goals and the facts to back them up, you’ll see immediate results.

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Creative Technology in Experiential Marketing

Posted on February 25, 2021 by britney

Experiential Marketing

In 2021, the bar for crafting a memorable brand experience is higher than ever. Gone are the days when a simple ad boosted impressions. Consumers want brands to find new and creative ways of delivering experiences that resonate with them. Enter the magic of creative technology in experiential marketing.

Creative technology offers tools to connect with consumers in exciting ways. Whether VR or interactive photo experiences, integrating creative technology into brand experiences opens endless audience engagement opportunities. Not sure where to start? Check out these three innovative and successful examples in New York City.

What is Creative Technology?

The average consumer sees creative technology every day. But, it’s such a normal part of our world, they may not even realize it when they see:

Motion sensors when they approach a kiosk to start a transaction.
Using smartphones at a store to scan QR codes for coupons or more information on a product.
Going to a restaurant and using a tablet to look at menus and place an order.

Creative technology takes digital design and media and creates multi-sensory experiences that transport consumers into a world that excites and engages.

Mastercard Helps NYC Commuters Travel Smarter

When marketers use creative technology, we think of digital experiences that blow audiences away. But it’s also a way for brands to educate consumers about their products and services.

Mastercard recently launched an engagement marketing activation introducing its Tap & Go™ contactless technology. For New Yorkers, commuting can be stressful. Mastercard let them see how easy their commutes can be with just a simple tap.

Using trained brand ambassadors and branded food trucks to pique consumers’ senses and interest, Mastercard stationed experiences at three New York subway stations. Participants were invited to watch a contact kiosk checkout demonstration to see the simplicity of using Tap & Go™. They also received free Metrocards, and snacks made by award-winning New York chef JJ Johnson.

H&M’s Smart Mirrors Merge High Fashion With High Tech

Retailers are struggling to survive against the domination of eCommerce. That means using creative technology that offers consumers things that won’t find online.

H&M wanted to launch an in-store experience for shoppers and used its location in New York to test smart mirrors that served as virtual personal shoppers. H&M’s smart mirrors were deployed to create a seamless shopping experience that combined voice and facial recognition.

Customers were able to use voice commands to take selfies that integrated with H&M’s catalog to give outfit suggestions in real-time. If customers liked what they saw, they could order their new looks from H&M’s website using a QR code.

The Daily Show’s Interactive Political Satire Wins Big at Cannes

The Daily Show has built a successful brand based on biting political satire. In 2018, the Comedy Central program took its topical humor on the road by blending it with a digital art installation.

Poking fun at former-President Donald Trump’s now-defunct Twitter feed, The Daily Show curated a museum’s worth of his infamous tweets and put them on display in several cities around the U.S.

The show’s use of mobile, interactive creative technology was so popular, it won a Grand Prix at that year’s Cannes Lions Festival.

Build Your Brand Bolder and Better With Creative Technology

The best way to maximize the success of your experiential marketing campaign is to understand your audience. Who are they? What are their interests? What tactic will engage them best? Most of our lives revolve around the use of various technologies. That’s why so many brands are using creative technology to separate themselves from the rest. Successful brands understand using digital technology means they can make their dreams a reality. With the help of creative technology, they can connect the dots between brand awareness and audience engagement.

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Why Experiential Marketing Is a Great Strategy for Small Businesses

Posted on February 11, 2021 by britney

Experiential Marketing

When businesses think of experiential marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the spectacle of activations that are lavish and grand; the largest companies in the world budget millions of dollars each year to captivate consumers with show-stopping and headlines-grabbing events.

But those aren’t the only types of experiences available. Successful experiential marketing doesn’t have to be intimidating because it’s about immersing consumers in the world of your brand to build better awareness and better relationships. And there are many ways small businesses can create that level of engagement because experiential marketing is less about the money spent and more about the experience itself.

Check out the benefits experiential marketing brings for small businesses and some ideas that’ll help introduce you to one of the most effective marketing platforms at your disposal.

An Introduction to Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing creates meaningful connections between a brand and its customers. Unlike traditional forms of marketing, experiential marketing turns a passive audience into active participants who engage directly with a brand, its identity, and its values.

Experiential marketing’s immersive and multi-sensory experiences cement a long-lasting impression in consumers’ minds. And the numbers don’t lie. According to Event Marketer, 74% of consumers say they’re more likely to purchase a product or service because of branding marketing experiences.

For small businesses, experiential marketing is a powerful tool that’s simple to activate and can quickly increase customer loyalty and direct sales. But, a winning experiential marketing campaign isn’t a one-off introduction. It’s a loyalty network that activates new customers and keeps old ones from going somewhere else.

Awareness is a key component of a business’ longevity. The more people who know your brand exists, the more potential customers you can target. Experiential marketing provides a solution to increasing word-of-mouth exposure. In fact, between 50% and 80% of all word-of-mouth promotion comes from experiential marketing.

The Benefits of Experiential Marketing for Small Businesses

Like no other marketing channel, experiential marketing pulls potential consumers through the entire sales funnel with one touch. Driving deep consumer-to-brand connections turns new customers into fans and eventually into advocates for your small business. There are many other benefits experiential marketing brings from small businesses:

Experiential marketing improves your business’ awareness and perception within your community.
Generates shareable content for your business’ social media accounts to increase impressions and word-of-mouth reach.
Boosts earned media from TV, print, and radio, creating more exposure.
Whether in-person or virtual experiences, you get instant face-time with potential customers to build relationships.
Builds your business’ reputation and credibility.
Impacts your bottom line with new leads or data collection.
Creates meaningful experiences that resonate with customers and increase lifetime loyalty.

Experiential Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Something important to note, and something many businesses get wrong, is that experiential marketing isn’t a publicity stunt. While experiential marketing does incorporate surprise and showmanship, experiential marketing is a long-term strategy and not a one-time event. But don’t feel overwhelmed. Your small business doesn’t need a million-dollar budget to execute a successful experiential marketing campaign. Here are a few ideas to help get you started:

Product sampling events are easy to execute and make use of your existing inventory. They’re a great tactic to introduce your business to new customers, launch new products or services, or raise awareness for what you already sell. Consumers like the concept of ‘try before you buy’ and are more likely to appreciate your business’ transparency without any strings attached.
Street team marketing is one of the most cost-effective experiential strategies. These ‘brand ambassadors’ will do all the leg work by hitting the streets and promote your business directly to consumers. Street team marketing is also a great way to distribute product samples and offer giveaways, incentivizing the public to visit your physical or online location.
Event hosting turns your brick-and-mortar space into a creative vessel for a unique experience. Own a coffee shop? Host a morning event where customers can sample brews from around the world. Want to promote your crafts store? Team up with a local artist for an evening workshop where customers can learn to paint while enjoying a glass of wine.

Put Your Small Business on the Map With Experiential Marketing

The most successful experiential marketing campaigns always involve these three elements:

Active audience participation and engagement.
A clear and accessible message that resonates, promoting a brand and its values.
An experience that provides long-term and long-lasting value.

With a host of tools available to reach consumers, both in-person and online, edging out the competition has become a matter of survival. To grow and prosper, small businesses must build strong relationships with customers and engage in meaningful and memorable ways.

The most effective way to make those goals a reality is to take advantage of experiential marketing. When your small business delivers extraordinary experiences, you can capture hearts and minds. And that’s how any business, no matter its size, not only survives but thrives.

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Activate Your Brand Nationwide With Mobile Marketing Tours

Posted on January 4, 2021March 8, 2023 by britney

Experiential Marketing

Are you tired of seeing your brand held back from reaching new heights? Do you dream of bigger things, like expanding your reach to new audiences far and wide? Mobile marketing tours are your answer to exciting consumers, anywhere and anytime. Making an experiential marketing investment across multiple locations allows your brand to increase awareness, boost engagement, and generate higher sales.

Strengthening brand/consumer relationships is fundamental to experiential marketing because people remember emotional experiences the best. It’s a simple rule of human nature. With an indelible campaign that brings your brand to the streets, your brand has the power to make personal connections with a wider audience, targeting new locations and new demographics that were once unavailable to you.

Let’s hit the road with a closer look at mobile marketing tours and how they can put your brand in the driver’s seat of maximizing success.

What Are Mobile Marketing Tours?

Mobile marketing tours are an influential medium inside the experiential marketing universe that lets brands interact with consumers across multiple locations within a fixed time period.

Using branded vehicles, help from ambassadors who can speak to your brand, and interactive activities to foster engagement and participation, mobile marketing tours are designed to target locations where foot-traffic is high to maximize overall impact.

It’s all about “location, location, location” because where your mobile marketing tour goes decides how wide of a net you can ultimately cast. Great for warmer weather months, when people are more likely to be out-and-about, the best mobile marketing tours activate in busy locations like public squares, parks, beaches, shopping centers, arenas, and more.

When your mobile marketing tour aligns with people’s vacation plans, you can turn your campaign into an event people plan their schedules around. Timing your tour with popular music festivals and sporting events is a great way to instantly become the highlight of consumers’ year.

Make Your Mobile Tour Match Your Destinations

The best kind of mobile marketing tour is one that captures the hearts and minds of new audiences previously unavailable to your brand. But, no two destinations are the same and your activation must match the demographics and individuality of each location. Check out these mobile marketing tour ideas for some of the U.S.’ most popular cities:

Miami’s Bayfront Park is one of the city’s most popular attractions located in the very heart of its downtown. Bayfront Park is also home to Miami’s bustling food truck scene. Why not host an outdoor yoga class promoting your wellness brand with healthy food truck snacks and drinks after.
The holidays and New York’s Rockefeller Center go hand-in-hand. Take advantage of one of the world’s most popular destinations with a branded mobile showroom selling your products to holiday shoppers. And keep their attention by offering complimentary cups of hot coffee or hot chocolate to help them stay warm.
The Santa Monica Pier is popular with natives and tourists alike. Both chic and laid-back, it’s easy to find eclectic experiences in this beautiful beachfront city right next to Los Angeles. Why not launch a fashion show for your brand’s summer collection with the iconic Pacific Wheel as your backdrop.
Just off the famous Las Vegas Strip is Freemont Street, in the heart of the city’s old downtown. Under a canopy of colorful lights, you’ll find a host of activities every night. With the help of an energetic street marketing team, you can engage visitors in this pedestrian-friendly location.

MULTI-STOP FOOD SAMPLING ACTIVATION TOURS

One especially popular way of using a mobile tour is to sample your food or drink products. Mobile tours accomplish what other more traditional marketing methods (like commercials and ads) can’t: getting your consumers to fall in love with your product in real-time. Sampling your food and beverage items takes confidence, and it makes consumers extremely more likely to trust your brand.

Take a closer look at how other brands have used creative mobile food sampling tours to drive business goals and win over their target audience.

Nespresso’s Mobile Marketing Tour Stirs Nationwide Buzz

Nespresso is a stand out example of a sampling tour. In 2019, the brand wanted to reintroduce consumers to its boutique locations by bringing the experience directly to them: with a branded, vintage E-tuk vehicle customized into a dual mobile showroom showcasing their line of coffee and espresso machines, and pop-up coffee shop launching their “Nordic Limited Edition Coffee,” Nespresso went on a six-week, mobile marketing tour stopping in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

In the U.S.’s most bustling cities, thousands of consumers were treated to complimentary cups of Nespresso made by professional baristas and offered exclusive giveaways and prizes. Nespresso’s multi-sensory experiences helped boost sales of its coffee and machines while also cementing the brand’s unique in-person experience that consumers can’t find anywhere else.

Alpha Foods Cross-Country College Tour

Alpha Foods customized a food truck and headed on a food sampling mobile tour to different college campuses across Los Angeles and New York, including NYU, Cornell, Columbia, FIT, Fordham, USC, and UCLA. Students had the option of choosing between breakfast sandwiches, spicy maple BBQ chick’n nuggets, chick’n fajita burritos, or steak ranchero burritos.

As they waited for their food, consumers also had the opportunity to sign up and enter for a chance to win a fully stocked Alpha Foods freezer. All they had to do was scan the QR code, sign up, and hope for the best! What’s more? They had the chance to snap a pic with the Alpha Foods branded photo frame and post it online using the #AlphaOnTour hashtag. This extra interactive element made all the difference, helping drive brand awareness of Alpha Foods in the digital landscape and taking the product sampling activation to another level.

Forager Project Hits San Fran in Ice Cream Van

With our help, Forager Project’s vegan ice cream line made its way to nine different locations across San Francisco in a fully-stocked branded food truck that gave people the opportunity to sample Cookies & Cream, Chocolate, and Vanilla. For a simple and effective consumer experience, guests had the choice of signing up for the Forager newsletter or following Forager on Instagram to get their choice of an ice cream sample and a coupon code to buy the delicious, dairy-free product in-store. In total, the brand was able gave out as many as 500 samples a day, which meant that the brand directly reached an astounding 4,500 people, not even to mention the growth that the activation sparked on social media.

Westgold Butter Bar To Honor Line Launch In USA

Westgold drove a branded food truck around southern California and created a 12-day, one-of-a-kind mobile butter bar to launch their butter in the USA. In addition to sampling Westgold butter, guests were welcomed to an interactive photo-booth moment, given bounce back cards and tote bags, and invited to enter an exciting raffle with the chance to win a kitchen supply set accompanied by a whole month’s worth of butter. With all of these elements sewn together, there’s no doubt that southern California was left knowing just how delicious Westgold Butter really is.

Leverage Your Brand’s Reach With Mobile Marketing Tours

From tour ideas and location scouting to securing permits, handling logistics, and training staff, working with professionals who’ve executed complex mobile marketing tours can help ensure your own campaign’s success. Now that you know more about mobile marketing tours and how they can help your brand find new customers or connect closer with existing ones, now is a great time to start planning your own adventure.

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Give Your Brand the Human Touch With Street Team Marketing

Posted on December 30, 2020December 30, 2020 by britney

Experiential Marketing

Street team marketing is all about getting boots on the ground, engaging with consumers, and putting a human and friendly face to your brand.

By reaching your audience where they are, you can create memorable moments, receive real-time customer feedback, and inspire people to invest in you.

It’s easy to plan a street team marketing campaign. It just takes the right amount of strategy and skill to pull off these one-of-a-kind events.

Let’s dive into what street team marketing is, why it’s so effective, and the most important tips you need to know.

What is Street Team Marketing?

Street team marketing is a form of experiential marketing that deploys brand ambassadors to engage consumers with in-person experiences. In fact, street team marketing is one of the oldest forms of live, experiential marketing.

By targeting busy, high-foot traffic locations, street team marketing gives brands the chance to directly influence people by informing and educating them, distributing samples, conducting live demos, and more.

Street team marketing impacts awareness, consumer engagement, and sales. When your brand is able to launch a memorable experience in-person, your creative options are endless. All you need is your imagination and a solid plan to fully harness the power that a street team marketing event can deliver.

How Street Team Marketing is Effective

Street team marketing gives your brand a personal touch and inspires face-to-face interaction. Even as digital forms of experiential marketing rise in popularity, consumers still crave human connections.

Whether your event is held in a major city or small town, you can reach hundreds or even thousands of consumers.
In-person events create positive brand impressions.
In competitive environments, street team marketing increases your brand’s chances of standing out from the crowd.
Street team marketing gives your brand the fluidity and mobility to move where consumers are throughout your event (i.e. outside subway stations, college campuses, business districts, etc…).
Street team and social media marketing go hand-in-hand, allowing your brand to further enhance quality brand/consumer content and engagement.
Unlike most experiential marketing activations, and depending on your location, permits are not generally required for most street team marketing events.

Plus, street team marketing is relatively cost-effective compared to other types of experiential marketing, while yielding similar results.

At World Pride NYC in June 2019, Zara and JustWater partnered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. With a three-sided glass mobile showroom displaying a 3D Pride flag created from nearly 10,000 bottles of JustWater, Zara’s friendly street marketing team livened spirits and kept parade-goers hydrated with a rainbow selection of complimentary drinks.

That same year, Twitter celebrated the U.S. Women’s National soccer team’s historic fourth World Cup championship with a three-day branded promotion tour around New York City. Transforming a food truck into an immersive, branded vehicle and creating a soccer-themed, interactive experience, Twitter’s #StartWithThem campaign was led by a street marketing team who greeting passers-by with French-themed culinary delights and a chance to win prizes from lounge chairs to Apple TVs and Airpods.

Types of Street Team Marketing

Street team marketing comes in many forms and is completely customizable to your specific goals:

Product sampling marketing teams give brands the opportunity to showcase their products by allowing consumers to engage their senses with the help of knowledgeable, day-off event staff.
Experiential street marketing teams use interactive mediums to connect consumers with a brand. Whether props, games, digital apps, or other activities, these teams thrive on building authentic audience participation.
Guerilla marketing teams are built to capitalize on the element of surprise in headline-grabbing ways. Think flash mobs that perform dances and sing songs or costumed characters dressed in eye-catching outfits.
Retail street marketing teams are brand ambassadors that promote brick-and-mortar retail stores and highly effective for generating same-day, in-store sales, and attracting attention for nearby in-store events.

Tips For Street Team Marketing Success

There’s a lot to consider when planning a street team marketing event, especially since you’re utilizing a staff meant to enhance and advance your ultimate goal of reaching more people, and raising awareness and sales:

Have a clear and concise message that’s memorable and aligns with your brand.
Know your target audience and know where they can be reached.
Work with professionals who can provide you with the right staff and can handle event logistics.
Secure necessary permits and insurance not only for your event but your street marketing team as well.
Provide your street marketing team with proper training and dress them in branded uniforms.
Leverage your in-person event before and after with a compelling call-to-action on social media to boost engagements.
Post-event, evaluate your performance, gather feedback from your street team, and make notes on how you can improve future campaigns.

Breathe Life Into Your Brand With Street Team Marketing

If you think about it, all live marketing campaigns require staff to play a critical role in helping you reach your goals. On the front lines, these brand ambassadors are the ones who will make that always-important first impression on consumers.

In order to ensure you have the best people representing your brand that can handle the nitty-gritty, it’s important to work with an experienced team that has proven success under its belt, allowing you stay focused on the big picture of executing a remarkable campaign that lets you reach your goals.