18 Experiential Marketing Trends of 2018
This is my 18th blog post coincidently, about 18 EM trends of 2018, interesting isn’t it? Apart from this series of coincidences, there are a few other facts, which would keep you glued to this post till the time you finish it. To mention a few of them…
- Marketing is an ages old concept and many of us have lost interest in the conventional form of it hence, Experiential Marketing will serve as a tonic for all the experiential enthusiasts.
- The tips & trends you are going to read about will surely help you develop a new perspective and make you step in the shoes of a buyer before you become a seller.
- This role reversal is challenging & interesting because you not only learn to market your products & services but also, build a close bond with your customers thus, making the world a cozier & happier place to live in.
Read on to know what exactly is in store for you…
Selfie: I wrote at length in my previous blog about how Selfie has become ‘the’ tool in experiential marketing arena. All international smartphone brands are banking upon the trend of taking selfies and posting them on social networking platforms such as Instagram & Snapchat. Smartphone companies are working specifically on secondary camera technology to provide better selfie experiences and through the trend, up their market share.
Chatbots: We like interacting with Siri & Bixby, right? If a smartphone or any other device has a chatbot, we are sure to be attracted towards it more than any other device in the market. Chatbots are a new cool in the arena of experiential marketing because the coming together of a human and machine to have a conversation is amusing.
Live Video: The first word to flash through our mind is Facebook, we know about this feature & its popularity. As viewers, we are equally excited as the makers because the idea makes us feel excited about what is it really going to be this time streaming live from some location miles apart. Like Facebook, there are various other platforms through which live videos can be shared. Experiencing a live event is way more superior to looking at something pre-recorded. It is a live experience!
Co-branding: A strategic alliance/ promotional activity, undertaken by brands of different category/ level to collectively boost market share of their respective brands. Also, often used by a parent brand to promote its in-house brands/ their products. There are types of co-brandings like Ingredient Co-Branding; Same-Company Co-Branding; National & Local Co-Branding and Joint Venture Co-Branding. It’s a smart way of attracting customers collectively using individual brand image & making the pool grow for the industry as a whole.
Viral Content: Words have the power to move mountains & change the world, not literally though but on an intellectual level. When powerful content is written/ spoken, it is bound to leave an impact, influence the listener and turn the influenced into an influencer. Scripting the brand image in a way that it connects with users on a personal level and sharing your own user experiences helps in making the brand consumer friendly. Write about it lusciously; serve it temptingly!
Sponsorships: It simply means be a benefactor and be benefitted in return. In other words, it’s a give & take relationship between the supporting brand and a product, service, event, activity, festival, film or dramatic/ sports series, which in turn reaches out to the masses and makes its supporters popular. Brands often sponsor intellectual properties created by some other brand and use it as a platform to reach out to the people who participate in them and further experience the brand.
Artificial Intelligence & Internet of Things: A.I and I.O.T are the next stepping stones when it comes to customer interaction or engagement, customer satisfaction and last but not the least customer-brand experience. Having a connection between all physical as well as virtual information strengthens consumer-brand relationship. Receiving and being able to share developments on real time basis bridges the gap between a brand and a customer, giving rise to a less complex association i.e. experienced association.
Icon Engagement & Interaction: Be it Bollywood or Sports icons, people have always been crazy about meeting their idol or catching a glimpse of them. Getting an icon aboard to endorse/ launch your product gives you an edge over other brands. An event where a popular name is invited to give experience to customers is likely to have greater footfall. With more & more youngsters joining such industries with whom the youth can connect, this strategy has proved to be successful & tangible experiential marketing tool for increasing sales by manifolds.
Loyalty & Retention Programs: Providing loyalty points, cards, discounts or gifts to customers to retain & encourage them to shop more, which means experiencing the brand more. Customers can be retained by making them feel special through putting up exclusive sales driven engagement for privileged/ selected customers by giving them an opportunity to experience the brand at lower cost. Offering huge discounts at store anniversaries can also be helpful in retaining, along with keeping them interested in future opportunities to experience the brand.
SEO & SMO for Growth Hacking: Social media is an inevitable part of our routine and we rely on internet to look up for anything & everything possible. For a brand to do well it is extremely important that it knows the art of working on SEO & SMO. To be popular on a physical level, it is essential for a brand to maintain a healthy visibility on the world wide web as well. The more social media websites keep abuzz about your brand, the more possibilities of experience are made available to a customer.
Mobile Application & Video Advertisement: The devices we usually carry with us and our all-time favorite source of entertainment, that is videos. Featuring an ad amidst a popular video can be extremely beneficial and can be successful in gaining the desired attention of a viewer. This attention can further be transformed into experience.
Customer Connect: With customer connect comes another closely associated terminology, which is customized consumer experience. When sellers connect with consumers, they in a way customize an experience for them, which enables the consumers to feel more secure & sure about the product/ services or the brand in totality. Customer connect helps in developing a bond that helps them turn a first-time visitor into a lifelong customer.
Augmented & Virtual Reality: Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality are the ‘it’ trends of the present generation. Making use of the latest technology to mingle with a generation, which is fascinated as well as comfortable in making use of it is an intelligent idea. A jaw dropping experience, which feels like real despite being set up with the help of technology gives an amazing story to the consumer.
Intellectual Property: These are artistic works/ abstract creations of human intellect having copyrights, patents, trademarks attached to them apart from many other rights. They are highly beneficial as they provide a sense of originality and impart creative experience independence to its builders. IPs serve as an interactive platform where the consumer participates willingly along with his/ her group.
On-page User Experience: On-page user experience should be best in class to keep a customer glued to your website first and company next. For a business to do well, an amazing online experience has become a crucial aspect. Till the time you continue to roll out refreshing changes on the website, fix bugs, enhance the interface, place links at right places & in correct order and improve keyword placement, users are more likely to prefer visiting your website and extend their interaction level with the company.
Storyboarding: Would a visual presentation be your preferable medium for knowing about a particular product/ service over an audio medium? I am sure 90% of you would say ‘Yes’, because we believe more in what we see than what we hear. A pictorial description would leave a more lasting impact on a consumer’s mind than an audio piece of the same product/ service. Having a story behind an idea, product or service grabs the interest of buyers and is thus, preferred by consumers.
Explainer Videos: It is in simple words, a self-explanatory video, which provides in depth detail & information about a company and its ventures, products or services. There is no cache here, the more openly or clearly you propose your view or idea, the more chances you stand of being liked, believed upon and trusted by your consumers.
Big Data Analysis: Last but not the least, in the age where everybody is concerned with numbers, it’s essential for manufacturers to read & track various aspects like hidden patterns, unknown correlations, market trends, customer preferences, competitive analysis and so on to be able to make more-informed business decisions. It would definitely help businesses to do well in a short span of time by introducing innovative experience techniques based on statistics.
Experiential marketing is no rocket science to understand & work upon. The simple trends mentioned above can make a brand lovable. The trick to make your brand popular on experiential marketing lines lies in the fact how far you try to go to provide a marvelous & awe-inspiring experience to your customer.
