In today’s world, traditional marketing is no longer effective. According to a customer study, approximately 70% of audiences distrust brand advertising. Other than research, it is evident that the modern consumer is smart and like to avoid advertisements as much as they can – people use adblockers online, pay to skip advertisements and get their entertainment streamed to them. Here’s why experiential marketing technology is changing our approach to marketing. The heart of experiential technology solutions is brand experiences, which are authentic interactions between the brand and the customer creating a genuine relationship Event activations have been using experiential marketing technology more and more commonly as brands are understanding the value of experiences and interactive technology solutions in their marketing mix. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at why experiences matter, how experience-based marketing is the new paradigm that is effective for millennials and Gen Z and how brands can effectively utilize the services of an experiential marketing company in their marketing mix for BTL activities.
Why Experiences Matter Now More Than Ever?
While traditional marketing was all about letting your customer know the value of your product, experiential marketing technology and solutions are all about creating a brand experience that’ll attract the consumers to engage in an authentic relationship with the brand.
Millennials and Gen Z differ from the previous generation in the sense that they value experience over everything else. You could explain the true value of a product to Gen Z but using a fun and interesting experience to make them want to know more about the value of your brand would be a much better strategy. Here is the latest marketing trends for Gen Z.
By leveraging modern technology like virtual reality and augmented reality, event activations can become more effective by using interactive technology solutions by an experiential marketing company.
The newer generations like Gen Z and millennials have come to expect brands to have some kind of experience for them. They would rather connect to an authentic brand through well-thought-out multisensory experiences than being convinced by an advertisement from a brand they already distrust.
According to a recent study, 87% of consumers expect brands to act with integrity all the time and authenticity is considered to be highly valuable in today’s world which is why experiential marketing, with its focus on authenticity and experience, has become a game-changer for the marketing world. Learn these 6 ways to succeed in your experiential marketing efforts.
The Four Ps of Experiential Marketing
One of the most well-known concepts in marketing is the concept of the marketing mix. One of the most common tools in the hand of marketers, the marketing mix consists of four Ps that define a comprehensive marketing framework. The four Ps of the experiential marketing is commonly referred to as – Product, Place, Price, and Promotion.
The objective of the marketing framework is to create the perfect balance between the needs of the brand and the consumer – in essence, it boils down marketing into providing the right product at the right place with the price and promotion behind it. Similarly, this can also be applied to an experiential marketing framework to make it more effective.
Product
The product is arguably the most important part of the marketing mix. A thorough understanding of the product is important before starting any marketing activities as it helps in figuring out the needs and requirements of the consumer with reference to the brand. In the context of experiential marketing, the product’s value is not directly demonstrated like traditional marketing but is communicated and expressed indirectly by letting the consumer experience the product in a controlled setting. It is important to highlight the specific main selling point of the product and base experiences around it. Here is definitive guide on how to make your product launch event experiential?
Place
The concept of “place” in marketing can mean a lot of things but usually refers to the product distribution channels and systems of delivery. It can also refer to the place the product has in the consumer’s mind, which is achieved by brand awareness, marketing communication, and advertising. In the marketing mix of experiential marketing, the place component can be defined by the touchpoints in the user’s journey through the experience. Tracking and utilizing these touchpoints can generate a better experiential marketing framework.
Price
The price component of the marketing mix defines the cost of the product. It is an incredibly important component as it can make the difference between the price of the product appearing too high or too low. Marketers have to think creatively about prices in order to find the perfect balance between high and low while keeping the profit margins in line. Within the experiential marketing framework, the price component can be demonstrated and justified via carefully designed experiences.
Promotion
In the marketing mix, promotion is basically advertising efforts like social media, digital marketing, public relations etc. Experiential marketing revolves around making the promotion component more immersive, authentic, and better. By adding experiential marketing to the marketing mix, the promotion component would be affected the most and it’ll lead to a genuine relationship between the brand and the consumer.
Conclusion
For a BTL activation agency, experiential marketing is currently the most effective way of reaching millennials and Gen Z. By focusing on experiential marketing, brand activations can be made truly effective and their impact can be taken to the next level with experiential technology solutions.