Interns are great. They’re extra hands, fresh perspectives, and new energy. Many of today’s interns are brand new graduates of various schools, equipped with optimism, savvy, and resilience. Undoubtedly, they’re an essential part of your team.
Experiential marketing, like all marketing, is always in the process of change. We’re not quite sure what the evolution point will be, but one universal truth will always remain constant in marketing: If no one sees it, it never happened. Without eyeballs, your brand’s message may as well not exist.
Making the Most of Your Experiential Campaigns
One of the greatest advantages of experiential marketing is its ability to connect companies to consumers on a two-way street. Consumers interact directly with a brand, and a brand controls exactly what the consumer sees at a festival, in an app, or on a social platform. And, brands have the added benefit of hearing directly from their customers in an undiluted way.
So how can you ensure your experiential marketing dollars don’t go to waste? No matter how incredible your experience, the technology, or social network you’ve built, you’ve got to get it in front of people. High foot-traffic activations require prime real estate, meaning you must secure an advantageous footprint on the floor plan. And, you can’t just do it once. Like all marketing campaigns, experiential campaigns must deliver layered, multi-touch brand exposure. How will you know which events are best for your brand?
There are some skills that simply must be learned over time. Expertise in creating the perfect activation schedule for you experiential campaign requires time-honed, primary knowledge of how events are produced, and for which audiences they are produced. That means deep vertical and horizontal understanding of demographics by area, event, and time of year. And while many companies make educated guesses about who and where their customers are, experiential marketing is too expensive and valuable of an investment to risk on gut feelings.
The difference between a high-impact and low-impact experience depends on many factors, some beyond your control. Traffic and engagement are not those factors beyond your control. While interns may try to sniff out low-cost entry points to fairs, festivals, and consumer events, their newness to the space can often mean poor visibility on site, with very little visibility or engagement. What’s more, placing your brand in random, guess-driven event schedules may save you money upfront, but will ultimately cost you in the end.
We may never know the answer to that old question about a tree falling in the woods, but one thing’s certain in marketing: if a marketing experience happens at a fair or festival and no consumers saw it, it definitely won’t lead to a sale. That means more than just lost opportunity; it means major budget waste, revenue loss, and inefficient use of resources. Without good performance of experiential marketing, it’ll be even harder to make a case for your marketing endeavors, your team, and your budget the next time around.
Our Networks encompass state fair and major county fairs, festivals, taste events, cultural events, and lifestyle events. When you’re ready to get started planning your experiential marketing tour, fill out our contact form or give us a call at 301-990-2700.