Affordable Experiential Marketing Strategies That Will Help Your Business Succeed

With regular marketing tactics, a consumer may walk by your promotional poster or watch your social media ad without giving it much thought. Experiential marketing takes a different approach by, as the name suggests, creating an experience, either virtually or in-person, for your audience to participate in, thus sucking them into the action.

By engaging the senses, experiential marketing turns a passive audience into an active one. Some of the key benefits include:

• Builds strong and loyal customer relationships
• Grows brand awareness
• Generates sharable content for your website and social media platforms

Don’t get me wrong, experiential marketing is a great tactic for small businesses, but you have to be careful – it has a lot of scope for creativity and can quickly get expensive. A few high budget examples include Spotify’s hyper-personalized annual round-up, Spotify Wrapped, and a live enactment of Apple TV’s show Severance in Grand Central Station. But there are many ways to create meaningful experiences without a big budget.

Street Team Marketing

This is the most effective strategy, and involves sending your team or ambassadors onto the streets to interact with potential customers, usually to create a buzz around a new product or encourage people to visit your store.

Your street team could hand out leaflets, discounts, or run giveaways, such as a “spin to win” prize wheel, or a brand related quiz to educate your audience.

And what you give away doesn’t have to cost the world, you can use it as an opportunity to distribute branded merchandise or excess product samples.

Product Sampling Events

If you’ve got a new product or variant to shout about, a product sampling event is the best way to get the ball rolling. By giving customers the opportunity to taste your newest dish or sample a limited edition fragrance, you’re involving their senses and letting your product do the talking.

Product sampling works best in busy public locations where your target audience may be present, such as train stations or college campuses. If you run an ecommerce business, you can include your samples in customer orders.

Depending on your product, this can be costly and time consuming, so it won’t be suited for every business.

Pop Up Experiences

Pop ups events are held for only a short period of time, which creates a sense of urgency that encourages people to visit and take action. For example, a singer could hold an impromptu performance to promote their new album. While there are no hard or fast rules to abide by, they usually take place in unique, unsuspecting locations – Adidas has trialled virtual pop ups on online game forum Roblox!

Since virtual events are accessible for a wide geographical audience, they are a great choice for international stores or ecommerce sites with no specific target location. But, if you’re a local business or have an older demographic that favors offline interactions, physical pop ups will help you foster stronger connections.

Experiential marketing campaigns are a great way to break through to your customers and forge deeper relationships. These budget friendly examples are a good way to test the waters and see if it works for you. Remember, the most effective event will promote your unique values and provide experiences your audience will appreciate.