New Marketing Strategies For More Aware Consumers

The average person sees up to 10,000 advertisements in a day.

Even those who do not spend a lot of screen time still end up seeing thousands of ads in a day or week. With so many ads running around us all the time, the intrinsic efficiency of advertisements has gone down.

After traditional marketing and digital marketing, now we are heading into the age of experiential marketing. Early adopters have a great chance to capitalise on this opportunity. Let’s find out more about experiential marketing and how to use it.

What is experiential marketing?

It is very difficult, to sum up experiential marketing in one line. The closest definition is this – experiential marketing is a form of advertising that focuses more on providing experience and less on selling something.

People are now more data-aware than ever. 

Studies have shown that people are increasingly becoming aware of their personal data.

The edifice of digital marketing lies in user-generated data. Once the average consumer figures out the tricks that corporations use to sell more, they become resistant to it. For ethical marketers, this poses an entirely new problem.

Traditional marketing through TV, radio, print, etc. has already taken the backseat with digital marketing leading the race. However, it’s now time to move on to newer, more efficient, and more ethical practices.

How to do experiential marketing?

Experiential marketing focuses on giving consumers an experience that is worth cherishing.

While a 10-second ad between YouTube videos might not stick with consumers, a complete event focused on one brand will leave an impact on consumers’ minds.

However, experiential marketing does not approach consumers with the intention of selling something. Instead, it focuses on giving a pleasant experience that will create positive brand awareness.

Before going further, we need to understand more about brand awareness. 

For example, let’s consider Nike. Whenever we see the Nike swoosh logo, it creates an image, a sensation in our minds. We associate it with an active lifestyle, perhaps with a professional athlete, or even with someone who is trying to get physically fit. The Nike catchphrase “Just Do It” also pops into our mind once we see their logo. Experiential marketing seeks to replicate this effect.

How experiential marketing helps with brand awareness

Here, we need to take an example to understand the relationship between brand awareness and experiential marketing.

If you run a consumer-facing business, you can host an event surrounding your products, but not focusing on them.

For example, a tech company can host an event where they invite people to try out their new products.

To make it a truly experiential event, a company can make the event around things that do not focus on selling anything. They can simply ask people to try out their prototypes and give feedback. Couple it up with a personalised hamper, shoutouts on social media, and so on. Combining these different events makes up a complete experiential marketing experience for brands.

Virtual experiential marketing

While physical events are a great choice given the chance to host one, online events can be as effective.

However, a new model for experiential marketing is gaining more popularity compared to online and offline marketing. Hybrid events are slowly becoming popular, and they combine the best of online and offline events.

Many brands and companies are hosting a combination of online and offline events to get the best of both. On one hand, you can connect with people across geographical barriers. On the other hand, people physically present in the event get a more real feeling of it.

Virtual events platforms for experiential marketing

Traditional online events platforms like Zoom and Google Meet do not cut it when it comes to hybrid events. However, new platforms like Events Anywhere facilitate hybrid events with ease. It comes with a complete suite of features that takes care of everything that hybrid events demand.