Experiential or engagement marketing refers to a marketing strategy that immerses customers in a product or engages them deeply. In short, experiential marketing allows consumers not just to purchase products or services from a brand but also to experience the brand.
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9 Examples of Experiential Marketing and Key Takeaways for Marketers
Let’s look at the different experiential marketing campaigns and see how these examples can be utilized for inspiration.
1. Co-branding
Co-branding refers to when two or more companies cooperate to make an experience that profits both brands.
Zavvi and Lego
Zavvi refers to an online entertainment retailer partnered with supplier Lego, a plastic brick toy brand.
Takeaways for marketers
Co-branding is a win-win situation, mainly when a retailer and supplier cooperate.
Ahrefs and Buffer
Tim Soulo, CMO of Ahrefs, and Buffer joined to share tactics for getting website traffic via evergreen content (SEO).
Takeaways for marketers
You’ll require a strong brand and extensive marketing to start this type of campaign; it’s a risk but rewarding for your digital marketing company if pulled off successfully.
2. Pop-up Stores
A pop-up shop refers to a place where a business temporarily takes over a material space for a short period to showcase or sell its goods.
Hamleys
Hamleys is a famous British toy retailer that opened a pop-up shop in London in the build-up to Christmas trading.
Takeaways for marketers
There’s plenty of retail space available in most cities and towns. Get in touch with shopping or town center management to analyze retail options.
3. Product Sampling
Product sampling is when businesses deliver free samples of their products to potential customers to promote brand awareness, generate leads, or increase sales.
Ahrefs
Product sampling works online and in person.
Ahrefs delivers multiple free tools and digital marketing services that enable non-customers to sample and experience some of its marketing tools.
4. Solo Experiences
A solo event is where a few people experience a brand, product, or service.
GuitarGuitar
GuitarGuitar is the most prominent guitar retailer in the U.K. and delivers soundproof booths to let customers experience and test out guitars.
Takeaways for marketers
Solo experiences are perfect for high-ticket products, such as guitars, but not very useful for fast-moving consumer goods.
5. Product Demos
A product demo is where a company allows customers to try its products or services.
Apple Genius Bar
Apple’s Genius Bar is another product meetup experience where Apple’s technical staff assists customers in learning how to utilize its products.
Takeaways for marketers
Genius Bars won’t work for cheap retailers such as Tesco or Walmart since Apple has set the in-store product experience.
6. Experiential Marketing in Tours
A tour is when customers see a company behind the scenes and accept product or service models.
Guinness
The Guinness Storehouse is an exceptional brewery experience in Dublin, Ireland, where consumers can tour the brand museum and learn how to pour the ideal pint.
Takeaways for marketers
Brand experiences like those from Guinness and also Nike are the brand or product category leadership models.
7. Experiential Marketing in Conferences
A conference is where people collect to discuss their industry or profession topics.
BrightonSEO
BrightonSEO is the world’s most famous conference for the SEO industry and brings together SEO professionals and practicing search marketers.
Takeaways for marketers
Presenting at a conference unquestionably lets you share your expertise and educate the audience on your topic experiences.
Craft + Commerce
Craft + Commerce is an in-person and virtual three-day conference maintained by ConvertKit that shares content creators to experience keynote speeches, workshops, and meetings.
Takeaways for marketers
ConvertKit markets the conference superbly to its customer base. You’re made aware of the forum on its website and within the application.
8. Augmented reality and metaverse
Augmented reality (A.R.) overlays digital information onto real-world environments, such as physical objects or places in space.
Shopify and IKEA AR
Shopify’s A.R. enables online shoppers to experience products better before purchasing them.
Takeaways for marketers
With the online share of whole retail sales at 28.9% in the U.K. and also 20.7% in North America, product experience is essential to the purchasing process.
Travis Scott and Fortnite
Fortnite is a video game played on well-known consoles such as Playstation and Xbox.
Takeaways for marketers
Gaming platforms are not different from MTV of yesteryears; it’s where big audiences hang out. make sure to follow core web vitals best practices for maximum user experience.
9. Classes and workshops
A workshop or class refers to an event hosted by a professional who teaches a few people how to make or do something useful.
Kirstie’s Flowers – Local florist
Kirstie’s Flowers is a local florist in my hometown that transformed part of its retail space to host flower arrangement evening classes for customers.
Takeaways for marketers
This local florist shows that even the smallest businesses can undoubtedly execute experiential marketing.
SparkToro Office Hours
SparkToro hosted an online workshop to show how content marketers could improve their ROI by utilizing its software.
Takeaways for marketers
This workshop is a course for marketers who desire to add value.