Capture the Hearts of Consumers Through Experiential Events
For nearly two years, the COVID-19 pandemic put our lives on hold. Our travel plans were canceled, we transitioned to a fairly sedentary lifestyle, and we ultimately missed out on many experiences. However, as infection rates of COVID-19 have slowed, consumers are dying to get back out there and make up for lost time.
Photo by Wendy Wei: https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-having-a-concert-1190297/
This eagerness on behalf of buyers to try and experience new things makes experiential marketing the perfect solution for companies looking to connect with their target audience on a deeper level. An experiential event is your chance to highlight what makes your brand unique and different, beyond the products and services you offer. Through an experiential marketing event, you are offered ample opportunities to give your target audience a first-hand experience with your product that they'll find relevant, memorable, valuable, and engaging. When consumers find that your brand is tangible and fits into their everyday life, they are much more likely to make a purchasing decision (or even be repeat customers).
In addition to building on this brand-customer relationship, experiential events can generate real-time feedback on your product or service, promote a positive brand image, drive sales, and offer an ROI unlike any other marketing tool. If you are interested in learning more about experiential marketing and what it can do for your brand, do not hesitate to contact our team at Alpha Tango Media. With our extensive network of partners and experience working with top brands, we can provide you with the best programs that fit your specific needs and budget. Call us today to get started.
What Are Experiential Events?
Experiential marketing is a type of marketing that utilizes real-world experiences, rather than relying on traditional advertising or word-of-mouth. It can be in the form of an event or a campaign that encourages customers to experience a product or service firsthand.
The best way to understand experiential events is by understanding their history. In the 1990s, marketers started using experiential events as a way to get people's attention in crowded trade show exhibits or at conferences. Vendors would set up booths with interactive games or activities for people to play with. As technology advanced, so did these events—nowadays, significant technological advancements have allowed marketers to even use virtual reality and augmented reality technology to create more immersive experiences for their customers and prospects.
Photo by Expect Best: https://www.pexels.com/photo/wine-glasses-and-wine-bottles-on-top-of-brown-wooden-table-1243337/
There are three main types of experiential events: live, virtual, and mobile. Live events are physical experiences that consumers can attend in person. Virtual events are online experiences where people can participate remotely by interacting with content through their computer or mobile device. Mobile events take place at multiple locations simultaneously through smartphones and tablets. The event can be anything from an interactive workshop to a live product demonstration. It can be B2B or B2C, and it can be anything from a one-time event to an ongoing series of experiences. A popular tactic among marketers is to center the event around a competition or game, making it more fun and engaging for the audience. The opportunities are truly endless when it comes to experiential events, and the media experts at Alpha Tango Media are here to help you determine the right fit for your brand.
The Benefits of Experiential Events
Our experience has shown that an experiential marketing campaign can help a company achieve numerous goals. These include improved market share, increased sales, more brand buzz, and favorable consumer perception. Some of our clients have leveraged their events to create lasting relationships with key influencers and brands. Experiential events are also a fantastic way to introduce new products or services to current and prospective customers.
Whether you're planning a trade show or just hosting an intimate dinner, experiential events are an excellent way to build brand awareness and connect with potential customers who may not have considered your company before. Customers who attend your event will be more likely to support your cause or buy from you in the future, so it's important that you create a memorable, quality experience for them in order to reap these benefits. Here we have compiled some of the benefits of experiential events:
Engagement With your Target Audience
The goal of experiential marketing is to make people feel like they are part of the brand story and to leave them with a positive feeling about your company. These events allow you to create an unforgettable experience for your audience while also allowing them to see your product in action.
Let us take the lead in creating and executing a successful experiential event that aligns with your company’s values and goals and tells a story that resonates with your target audience. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.
Generation of Real-time Feedback
Everyone knows that getting to “try before you buy” helps instill confidence in potential buyers before they make a purchasing decision. Allowing consumers to see, hold, and experience your product in person can significantly impact sales—not to mention, it gives you valuable real-time feedback on how your target audience feels about what you’re offering. If your company does not sell physical products, you can still take advantage of in-person demonstrations by offering discounts, free trials, exclusive content, setting up consultations, and answering any questions that a prospective buyer may have.
Increases Brand Awareness
We don’t want consumers to just recognize our brands anymore; we want consumers to trust and turn to us when they are in need or in the market to make a purchasing decision. To get to this level with buyers, it is very important that they know your story, values, and mission, and experiential marketing is an excellent tactic to help accomplish this. Talking to people in person creates relations and authentic connections with consumers, which in turn boosts brand awareness.
Now this example may go down in history as one of the most impactful and successful experiential events to date— and it took place in the metaverse. Fortnite, the world-renowned battle royale-styled video game, began hosting virtual and immersive ‘concerts’, in which some of the industry’s most famous celebrities would ‘perform’ via a virtual character.
While it may sound crazy, the Travis Scott concert on Fortnite attracted over 12 million live attendees and then racked up hundreds of millions of follow-up views—and that is just one of the performances from the concert series, as there have been multiple to date. This just goes to show that there really are no limits when it comes to these events. Whether in the physical world or an immersive digital experience online, the opportunities are endless with experiential marketing.
Positive Brand Image
The goal of experiential marketing is to make people feel like they are part of the brand story and to leave them with a positive feeling about the company. Every aspect of your activation, from the visual elements to the conversations and activities, will factor into how consumers perceive and remember your brand. First impressions are everything, and experiential marketing can help you make an unforgettable first impression.
The experience you offer should be tailored to your brand’s identity—think about the following: What is your brand or company's personality? What are the key values of your company? What do you want consumers to remember most about your brand? Catering to these interests and building a powerful, memorable experience for buyers will help create a positive brand image in the minds of your target audience.
The ROI Speaks for Itself
Traditionally, brands associate return on investment (ROI) with a quantifiable impact on the business, such as a spike in sales or an increase in website traffic. However, the impact that experiential events make on your brand as a whole is much deeper than that—and may not be immediately visible.
When assessing your experiential event and its success, it is important to understand the difference between “hard ROI” and “soft ROI”, and what these terms mean when it comes to your brand.
Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-fireworks-display-2526105/
Hard ROI is quantifiable results—the sales, the site visits, the followers, and the numbers. While this type of return is more immediate, soft ROI has more to do with long-term marketing efforts and how consumers feel about your brand at the end of the day. Soft ROI focuses on your campaign's intangible or qualitative aspects—awareness and association, brand loyalty, customer experience, brand perception, and all things emotions. Experiential events play more into the soft ROI-returns – which can help you recover the hard returns in the long run. Soft ROI should not be overlooked as it almost always directly feeds the success of the more tangible returns your business will experience in the future.
Discuss Experiential Events With a Media Expert at Alpha Tango Media Today
No more passive advertising—consumers want real, new experiences. Experiential events may be one of the most effective ways to engage with your audience and build genuine relationships. If you want your brand to resonate with consumers, you need to connect with them for more than a few minutes. Experiential events are tailor-made for active engagement, and they can help to humanize your brand beyond just words on a page or a figure on a screen.
Ultimately, experiential marketing is a great way to get your brand name out there and make your target audience fall in love with it. Participants will remember the experience for years to come because they have a deeper connection with your brand. Let our team help you make this connection with your target audience and elevate your brand today. Contact Alpha Tango Media today to get started and learn more about how experiential events can fit into your marketing strategy.