EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING and Why it Rocks!
Give people a brand experience that they'll remember forever
Participatory events transform people into brand advocates
Generate content of people blissfully connecting with your brand
Experiential events help companies standout in a competitive environments
Leverage social and influencers to reach people beyond the event
Track your experiential marketing event impact via engagement, social, and sales
What is an experiential marketing event?
Experiential marketing is defined as a stand-alone, real-world, multi-sensory events engaging people with transformative experiences to achieve brand objectives.
Often brands and agencies utilize other terms for experiential ranging from brand activations to event marketing.
Experiential marketing events typically include brand demonstrations, product sampling, multi-sensory experiences, and social integrations.
Ideal experiential events provide emotional, meaningful, and transformative experiences.
Experiential marketing events occur outdoors, inside venues, at festivals, sports arenas, beaches, and a host of other locations.
These type of events attract attention, engage people, bring your story to life, plus directly influence brand attitude and purchase behavior.
Experiential events are utilized by Business-to-Consumer (BTC), Direct-to-Consumer (DTC), Business-to-Business (B2B), nonprofits, and healthcare companies.
Experiential activation events can be designed for a single location, a few cities simultaneously, or as a national tour.
Social media, influencer marketing, and livestream elements play an integral role in creating desired outcomes.
How to plan an experiential marketing
1.) Outline your goals
2.) Develop story-centric, multi-sensory ideas people will get excited about
3.) Design your experiences with a brand theme
4.) Scout and secure locations where your audience commutes, shops, or socializes
5.) Allow 2-3 months for permitting and production
6.) Develop experiential marketing event elements that get noticed from afar and spark interest
7.) Build-in participatory and social sharing into each experience
8.) Budget for creative asset fabrication, storage, preproduction, transport, installation, uninstall, and disposal
Experiential marketing services
1.) Story-centric experiential concepts to accomplish specific goals
2.) Brand experience planning and design
3.) Event asset production (e.g., Instagramable displays, tents, stages, booths, lighting, etc.)
4.) Consumer-brand activities (e.g., games, prize wheel, Instagramable installations, etc.)
5.) Event location scouting, negotiation, and contracting
6.) City or venue permit process
7.) Event assets storage, transport, and installation
8.) Securing and training brand ambassadors
9.) Outfits and props production
10.) Experiential event preproduction
11.) Liability insurance certificates
12.) Event safety, security, and insurance
13.) Videographer and photographers
14.) Production of marketing materials and giveaways
15.) Event install, activation, and uninstall (often happening all in a single day)
16.) Performer, press, celebrity, and influencer handlers and management
17.) Track impressions, engagements, feedback, KPIs, and CPIs
18.) Recap and recommendations for future events
Environmental impact and social sustainability
We keep environmental and social sustainability top-of-mind when producing experiential marketing events.
Our goal is to have a regenerative marketing event - creating a new positive impact.
While a regenerative marketing isn't always attainable, utilizing recyclable, eco-conscious materials, and donate one-time-use outfits and furniture to local charities is a part of every event.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Know how experiential marketing choices affects people from the perspective of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
This applies to guests, staff, sponsors, influencers, press, vendors, and local communities.
Ensure you create an event environment where everyone is treated with respect.
A well-planned DEI experiential marketing event includes:
- A bias-free environment
- Paying people a living wage
- ADA compliancy
- Community outreach and contribution
- Culturally and gender diverse talent, guests, and workforce
Being purposeful and intentional with your event planning will create better outcomes for everyone involved.
Availability
Experiential marketing events are possible in every major US city (e.g. NYC, LA, CHI, HOU, etc.) as well as smaller cities and towns.
Process
1.) Share your ideas, inspirations, and brand goals
2.) Receive a complimentary experiential marketing proposal within 5 days
3.) Set a time to chat about how to improve the concepts or explore other ideas
4.) Coalesce around a concept that meets all brand goals
5.) Draw-up a marketing agreement
6.) Start to plan, prep, design, fabricate, coordination process to bring the concept life
Takeaways
Experiential marketing activations create a cycle of brand opportunities.
Focus on concepts that delight as well as communicate why your brand matters.
Smart experiential activations pinpoint multiple desired outcomes.
Experiential activation marketing is an investment; ensure to leverage them prior, during, and after to derive the most value.
Connect
Let us know about your brand and goals for a complimentary recommendation.
Experiences connect us all!
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING FAQ
Experiential marketing seeks to immerse your target audience in a sensorial brand experience, ideally involving sight, smell, touch, listen, learning, movement, and feeling.
The goals are to create a memorable and meaningful brand engagement to achieve specific brand objectives.
Brand objectives can range from branding to app sign ups to onsite product sales.
Your experiential activation should lean heavily on brand visuals, voice, and messages.
Experiential marketing is valuable approach as it creates new customers, deepens relationships with existing ones, and turns people in brand advocates.
Experiential marketing events are valuable as, if done well, they build enduring relationships between people and brands.
People remember in-person experiences far more than any other type of brand marketing.
Positive physical interactions are proven to influence people's brand perceptions and purchase behavior, plus turn people into advocates.
Overall, experiential events are a smart marketing investment as it delivers on about every brand goal; awareness, interest, engagement, advocacy, leads, content, insight, and sales.
An experiential activation strategy is a insight driven plan to bring a brand's story, message, and benefits to life.
It is people-focused and goal orientated.
The best experiential activation strategies are stimulating, participatory, educational, and joyful for your desired audience.
In short, experiential strategies guide a brand's event selection, ideas, interactions, and desired outcomes.
An experiential marketing range from $25,000 to $250,000 depending upon the size, scope, location, and duration.
With the high cost of producing an experiential activation event, it is essential to leverage it in every way available to a brand; promotion, influencers, social media, etc.
For a complimentary proposal, contact ALT TERRAIN with your brand goals.
Experiential activations are measured in a multitude of ways; here are the top seven:
1.) Assess event promotion exposure
2.) Count onsite event impressions, attendance, and engagement
3.) Track sales via event-specific promo codes
4.) Survey social media coverage and engagement
5.) Quantify sign-ups, contest entries, and social media follows
6.) Measure the impact of influencer integration
7.) Survey people before, during, and post-event via Net Promoter
Overall, measurements are tailored to your brand's specific KPIs or goals.
