Experiential Marketing: Creating Meaningful Customer Experiences

Also referred to as engagement marketing, experiential marketing may be comprised of a variety of marketing strategies geared toward immersing consumers within the product and brand by engaging them in as many ways as possible. Ultimately, companies utilizing this strategy want to help customers develop lasting, emotional connections with their brand to strengthen customer loyalty and enhance the customer experience.

One of the best examples of companies who are excellent at developing experiential marketing campaigns is Red Bull. How can something like an energy drink be made to mean so much more? I am sure most of us are still able to recall when Felix Baumgartner skydived from the stratosphere back in 2012. Whether you watched form Red Bull's live stream or saw it from a shared link someone sent you, it left a lasting that still exist to this day. This event is one of the many tactics used in Red Bull's catalog of tactics has helped make them who they are today. Other companies are starting to do this more and more as well, creating opportunities for them to showcase some really creative ideas. At times these campaigns can be more effective at being spread than traditional campaigns.

The keys to successfully creating an experiential marketing campaign are originality and the continuity to the brand. To be able to take a step back not to sell your product or service and instead create something memorable for the consumer to be a part of, while also showcasing your company’s brand is what takes for it to be effective.

As previously mentioned, customer's today are tired of being sold to by marketers gimmicks, and other selling tactics do not persuade them, they crave brands with personable traits that align with their own. Finding the right balance between sharing these traits while also drawing a connection back to the brand itself can be very difficult. You can push all the creative content that you can create, but if you cannot connect it with your brand at the end, it's not effective.