Every new generation brings new challenges for marketing experts. Brand experiences and experiential marketing are the answers to the challenges faced by marketing experts in the world of Gen Z and millennials.
Traditional marketing doesn’t work on young people these days. In fact, traditional marketing tactics and methods repel them. This is where experiential marketing fills the gap.
Instead of focusing on the key selling points of the product or the brand, experiential marketing is about creating and fostering a genuine connection with the customer.
In this blog, we’re going to take a look at how brand experiences and experiential marketing can deepen the customer connection leading to better marketing results and higher revenue.
The Power of Authenticity
The key to effective marketing for millennials and Gen Z is authenticity. Most of that target market prefer brands that are authentic in their communication which then makes them want to pursue a relationship with the brand.
Experiential technology services have made it possible to create brand activations that are truly authentic and allow the customer to immerse themselves in the carefully crafted brand experiences.
Brand activations and experiential marketing play a huge role in cementing the authenticity of a brand in a customer’s mind. However, even though both terms are related, there is a difference between brand activations and experiential marketing in general.
Brand Activations and Experiential Marketing
The basic idea of experiential marketing is to engage the customers in immersive experiences that are authentic to the brand.
The objective of experiential marketing is to create a positive impact on the customer mind through various experiences, including brand activations. There are several different approaches to creating brand experiences for the customer including, an entire event, a part of an event, or even pop-up activations which are not related to any event.
Brand activations are the tools through which the strategy of experiential marketing is executed. They are the perfect tool to humanize a brand or a sponsor and leave a lasting and positive brand impression in the minds of the consumer.
This ties into the demands of the millennials and Gen Z, who value brand authenticity more than anything else. Going through a positive experience with the brand leaves a more lasting connection in their minds which isn’t possible with traditional forms of marketing.
Deepen Customer Connection With Brand Activations
Now that we have understood how brand activations work and how experiential technology services can help you in leaving a lasting, solid impression on your customers. Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to deepen your customer connection with brand activations.
Here are some key pointers when it comes to deepening your customer connection with brand activations:
- Always ensure that the product is the centre of attention!
While most marketers think of grand, visual events when they think about experiential technology services, they often forget that the most important thing, the product.
While a brand activation has to be interactive, memorable and paradigm-shifting, it is also important to ensure the product is the very centre of the activation. This makes them associate that experience with the product and deepens their connection with the brand. - Inspire the customers to act and react!
One of the core ideas of brand activations is to create genuine engagement. Even the most brilliantly designed brand activation using experiential technology services can fail if they’re too self-indulgent and do not give the customer a chance to interact with it.
The most successful brand activations are multilayered and take place across a number of platforms and channels. The more opportunities you give to the customer to interact with the brand, the more are chances of getting bigger coverage. - Promote across all platforms
As mentioned in the previous header, the best activations are often multilayered and are available across all platforms. To truly deepen your customer connection with brand activations, you need to ensure that you’re reaching them not only through one channel or platforms but through all the platforms. - Don’t show off and build around brand values
Lastly, the most important thing to keep in mind when creating a brand activation is to control the impulse to show off with the latest experiential technology services but to try to keep the brand experience as close to the brand values as possible. This makes the experience more authentic and allows you to create deeper connections with your customers by brand activations.
Conclusion
The world of experiential marketing is not new, but it has finally matured, with companies providing experiential technology services getting a lot of limelight lately. Another factor that largely contributes to the rise of experiential marketing is the demands of millennials and Gen Z.
In today’s world, the use of experiential marketing is a must and learning how to use it properly can provide excellent marketing results and creating lasting customer connections for years.