It is said actions speak louder than words; similarly, in Marketing, experiences speak louder than any promotional strategy when it comes to customers.

In today’s competitive world, the USP of any brand is what highlights its presence in the Market Landscape. Is “Experiential Marketing” a jargon you often come across when you look up for ways to increase your brand awareness and cultivate a loyal customer base?

 Already eager to know the hidden secrets of this successful “Marketing Mantra” and explore its scope in the Indian Market? Want to know about the skills required to build a career in this lucrative field?

 Read on to discover the different elements of this trending Marketing strategy!

What is Experiential Marketing?

Experiential Marketing is an advertising strategy that helps consumers to experience a brand before actually committing to one. Customer loyalty is what will make the real difference. Unlike the traditional modes of advertising through Radio, television, and print which only educate the customers about the brand and product benefits.

Experiential Marketing gives them an opportunity to “experience” the brand. A good brand experience thus results in spreading brand awareness among new potential customers only by word of mouth. This not only increases the credibility but also helps in building a “Brand Persona” in a quicker and easier way thus taking your business to new heights.

Experiential marketing: The process

Incorporating different approaches to engage customers with our brand is important. The idea is to create emotional and strong connections with customers. Implementation of unique ideas to help customers “experience” your brand based on your product or service is certainly challenging but worth. It is more likely to increase in the number of customer conversions.

 Designing a strategy to stimulate, entertain, educate and challenge the audience is extremely crucial. The approach should be such that it gives them an experience that they have never had before and impresses them immediately. This helps to establish a loyal relationship between the customers and the brand. This type of marketing involves a range of approaches like individual sampling and mass advertising.

 Such strategies have become especially important in today’s competitive market. There are multiple brands selling similar products & services, and so keeping up with your competitors’ move is important. The digital space has given rise to independent marketing campaigns. The campaign launched by the chocolate brand ‘Milka’ is a wonderful illustration of a new-age marketing campaign.

Types of Experiential Marketing

In order to build strong relationships with your consumers, you need to prepare a set of varied strategies. It is possible that an approach might work for a particular set of consumers, but might not work for another set of consumers. Proper implementation of a particular strategy is as important as the coming up with an impactful idea or a perfect strategy to reach out to your consumers. The emotion you wish to associate with your product will determine your strategy. Develop the best marketing plan based on the population who will use your brand/product.

 For your new brand of eateries use a mobile stall at a tourist spot. On a weekend it would mean a less expensive and more effective distribution strategy. You can group Experiential marketing on the basis of the:

1.     Types of Reach
2.     Kinds of experiences
3.     Mode of experiences

Types of Reach

1. Direct reach: Engage with your customers. This means exposing consumers to the media. For example, use augmented apps to show customers how the home would look after interiors.

2. Indirect reach: This includes ideas your customers will get through other channels. Give your customers information and knowledge rather than the primary experience. Be very creative and out of the box while designing these. They will be completely driven by word of mouth rather than by practical attendance. For example today, the audience takes part in sports events with the help of technology.

 Kinds of Experiences

1. Showcase your product:When your product is great you can show it to consumers. The tag line used by Ghadi detergent “Pehle istemaal karein phir vishwas karein” – which translates to English as “First use the product, then trust the brand” is a typical example of this.
2. Immersive Experience: Make consumers interact with the product. You do not need to explain anything. Today, with virtual and augmented reality automobile companies are crafting low-cost experiences. They are building products based on the reactions of users.
3. Content generating stunts: Design these for meaningful and secondary reach. Keep a large audience in mind. Your audience needs to be able to relate to the content. It should be interesting and hold layers of meaning for readers to explore and enjoy.
4. Business innovation and services: This category involves adding something to your brand model. Your intention here will be to solve a real-world problem. Your consumers may or may not notice it. A good example would be the Let’s Colour Project.

Mode of Experience

Experiential Marketing campaigns are often merged in other strategies.

1. Event Marketing: Events help establish a face to face interaction with the audience. . all experiential marketing is not always events. But all events are experiential in nature.

2. Brand Activation: This is the launching of a new product or service through a micro event.

3. Guerilla Marketing: This approach involves the addition of a surprise element so as to create a sudden impactful impression on the consumers’ minds. A powerful tagline like Pepsi’s  “Nothing official about it,” has made an ever-lasting impression on masses.

4. Retail Installation: Provide an immersive experience to customers at retail outlets.

The curiosity of customers will transform into sales for you. Your art lies in making the right use of it. Target your strategy around attracting the most uninterested audience. Creating an everlasting impression is important.

What are the prerequisites for Experiential Marketing?

• Start with extensive research on the target market.

• While designing an experiential strategy, set clear and measurable goals and outcomes.

• Grip your customers by going beyond giving attractive offers and free samples

• Provide an enthralling experience to your customers. Display ads and promoted social media alone are not enough. A successful campaign is one that brings back customers.

• Engage customers. Put yourself into their shoes.

• Find the right brand ambassadors. They will do a better job than your sales team.

• Optimize on social media and other channels.

• Give customers something they can cherish.

• Storytelling is impactful marketing. Tell real stories. Involve characters that customers can identify with. Such stories will be retold by customers and attract further loyalty.

Examples/Case Scenarios

• The Lean Cuisine# Weigh campaign led to a total of 204 million impressions

• The GE Health Imagination Campaign won a Business Marketing Association Tower Award.

• Google has built a Better Bay Area Campaign generated more than 400,000 votes in around 3 and a half weeks.

Overview

Around 59% of CMOs believe that Experiential Marketing creates long-lasting relationships with customers. Marketing budgets are being raised for it. One in every three CMOs is allocating 21 to 50 % of their total marketing budget to it over the next 3 to 5 years. The industry has grown at an average rate of 44% in the current decade. This ensures job opportunities globally.

Experiential Marketing is uniting people of all ages. It goes beyond gender, caste, class, nationality, occupation, and ability. The adoption of sustainable products and services is the mantra. Art for impact is being integrated to create memorable experiences for brand loyalty.

Experiential Marketing in India

According to Everything Experiential, India is among the top 10 markets for brand activation agencies. The organized events sector is going at Rs. 6500 Crores expecting a growth of 13 to 14% per year. The growth of experiential marketing is not restricted to the Private sector alone. The public sector has now a key focus on it. The Government expenditure on Experiential Marketing has crossed Rs15, 000 Crores in 2018.

These interesting figures certainly imply that the future of Experiential Marketing in India is a flourishing one. It  would be profitable in terms of both Industrial growth and also in creating a higher number of new, diverse and exciting career trajectories for the youth of the country

Experiential Marketing Companies in India

Today, there are several companies in India providing expert services in Experiential Marketing. Below are the top 5 companies, out of the top 50 Experiential Marketing Companies in India ranked by BW Applause considering the revenue & growth of these companies

1. Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd

2. Percept Limited

3. Encompass Marketing and Technology Solutions

4. SALT

5. Fountainhead Entertainment Pvt Ltd

Career opportunities & Growth in Experiential Marketing

IRL Activations today can take shape of huge campaigns for months. A large number of resources from interns to planners and coordinators are required during these campaigns. If you can connect these to social initiatives, the payout could be great.

Today 3D technology and a global market have enabled far-reaching marketing strategies. Applications and games are your easy road to mass marketing and career enhancement. Wearable techs and biometrics are major contributors to brand building. So if you are someone who is inclined towards technology and interested in Experiential Marketing, you do not have to make a choice between the two. Your efforts can help in enhancing the customer’s experience of any product depending on how well you can blend your technical knowledge with your marketing inputs.

Experiential Marketing is playing a great role in the sports industry too. Fitness, sports, and biometrics blended into marketing mean a range of new opportunities.

Augmented and virtual realities are the new ores of experiential marketing. New media platforms are mushrooming every day. The application of Experiential Marketing is not limited to one industrial segment but is touching varied fields in order to create better experiences for consumers and potential customers. This has led to an increase in the number of job opportunities for different roles in fields of Designing, Technology, Sales & Marketing, and Content Creation, etc. The diverse field lets you explore different job profiles and gives you an opportunity to learn something new every day.

Skill Set for Aspirants

For any job profile, a defined set of skills is required in order to understand the field & scope of work and execute your role in the best way possible. Same goes for a Role in the field of Experiential Marketing. Let us look at some of the most important skills you need to make a mark in the field of Experiential Marketing.

• Be creative, imaginative and innovative

• Strong observation and adaptability

• Understanding customer requirements

• Relationship and Strategy Builder

• Brand champion and Digital Guru

If you are a curious and constant learner then this is the perfect career option.