Keep the conversation going

Not only does experiential have the power to reach broad audiences and create brand advocates from day one, but it also particularly insightful - something marketers must capitalise on

The true value of experiential marketing is its ability to provide two-way communication.

Rather than simply persuading the consumer that your product is for them, you can obtain powerful insight from that same conversation.
If an experiential proposition is designed well, you can instantly differentiate those consumers who are truly interested in your brand or product. Let's call this the 'cream' rising to the top.

If consumers engage in two-way communication, they are more likely to say what they think of you.

We know that trial equals conversion, but trial in an environment that allows consumers to ask questions, to receive guidance or to overcome preconceived notions is an opportunity to really create advocacy.

So why, despite being able to easily pinpoint these potential advocates, do we often decide not to continue the conversation with them post-event?
Consumers are tired of being marketed to; they are looking to have personal relationships with brands. There is no better place to begin that journey than when a consumer has participated in a positive experience with your brand in the live space. Think of it as Pareto's 80/20 theory: ensure that you spend 80% of your effort on the 20% of consumers that have truly shown themselves as advocates/potential customers.

Be sure to create experiential platforms that do not end when the lights go down. For marketers to truly leverage the power of fully integrated experiential marketing, they need to create a series of engage-ments and metrics that, once connected, form a higher-performing experiential marketing formula.

Thankfully, experiential has grown up. We have earned a seat around the planning table and specialist agencies are now seen as strategic partners that can deliver exceptional results. In our experience, this means working together from an early stage to ensure that we build a loop of sustained engagement.

The goal is identifying a target customer and then building a platform that delivers repeated, relevant and measurable interactions - think of it as a 360-degree loop built around the consumer.

This can be achieved by communicating early with key influencers about your event and building a digital-live platform that continues your live message long after the participant has returned home from the event. Consideration should also go to developing strong CRM strategies that stay in touch with attendees and sales promotion tactics that drive consumers from all areas of the engagement strand to purchase.

A recent campaign we executed for BlackBerry demonstrates this. The activity sought out consumers in shopping malls who were interested in a demonstration of the BlackBerry smartphone device. Once their interest was established, they were invited to participate in a Facebook competition, which involved writing a message about the smartphone on a branded blackboard.

We then photographed them beside their message using the device and uploaded this to our Facebook fan site. Consumers were asked to log on to Facebook, find their photo, tag themselves and ask their Facebook friends to comment. The consumer with the most comments won a pair of smartphones.

The key was not just the identification of the desired target group, but the building of a community of potential advocates who we could talk to on an ongoing basis.

A recent study by Jack Morton Worldwide revealed that, despite pressure for short-term results in the current economic climate, 96% of marketers agreed that the most important benefit of marketing is to build customer relationships for the long term; a further 89% identified the ability to do so as experiential marketing's biggest asset. Experiential has the power to reach broad audiences and create brand advocates from day one.

To maximise cost efficiencies and ROI from campaigns, it is imperative that experiential marketers ensure their activity is targeted; identify advocates early and make every conversation count.

In short, don't let the conversation end.

Claire Stokes is managing director of The Circle Agency

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