Experiential Marketing 201 – 6 Best Practices to Create Experiences that Get Results

We recently unpacked the definition and purpose of experiential marketing. The truth is, experiential marketing is only as effective as the strategy behind it. So implement these six best practices in to create experiences that increase impact and improve performance.

6 Best Practices To Create Experiences That Get Results 

 1. Make sure the message is clear before embarking on experience design. Determine the experience’s ultimate purpose. What will success look like? What is the biggest takeaway you want consumers to walk away with? Once you are clear on that, then build an experience around the message.

 2. Make it about values. Often an emotional connection created through experiential marketing illuminates shared values between a brand and consumer. Incorporate the ideals consumers might aspire to, how they want to perceive themselves, and the ideas and feelings you want associated with your brand.

 3. Make it memorable–but relevant. It’s easy to get off course by dreaming up an elaborate experience, but if it is not relevant to your brand AND relevant to your audience, it will not help you achieve your goals.

 4. Make the experience so compelling that the audience comes to you.Experiential marketing does not hunt down the consumer and corner them in order to force an experience. It should be so compelling that, like the Lean Cuisine “Weigh This” experiential marketing campaign in Grand Central Station, consumers stop and choose to engage because they are so intrigued.

 5. Make it convenient. Just as it is important to make experiential marketing compelling so the audience comes to you, it’s also important to make it convenient. Place your experience where consumers already are: the workplace, public transit locations, conferences, etc.

 6. Make sure you have a digital strategy that pairs with the experience.A meaningful, emotional experience is great but it needs to be paired with a digital strategy. Make it easy for the consumers to share about their experience online. Include relevant hashtags and social accounts in displays. Consider creating picture-perfect moments where consumers will be compelled to share photos online.

If your company has not yet tapped into experiential marketing, what are you waiting for? Consumers continue to get more distracted. Attention is more and more difficult to come by. Create a unique, compelling, and emotional experience and you will build a long-lasting connection with consumers.

Related Resources

Experiential Marketing 101: What Every Marketer Needs to Know [article]
Digital Experience On the Rise in Product Marketing in 2018 [article]
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