Brands would perhaps do well to focus on experiential marketing if they want to boost their customer base, as the strategy appears to have worked well for The Economist in the past, which succeeded in netting itself more than 10,000 subscriptions by concentrating on this form of advertising.
Writing in the Guardian, chief marketing officer for the magazine Michael Brunt detailed how the team decided to come up with four different flavours of gelato – based on edible insects – to go alongside an editorial feature included in the publication.
Through the use of SMS messages and smartphones, readers in the local area were targeted and made aware of the product sampling opportunity, with a PR team and street vendor sent out onto the streets to engage with people.
“It’s important in experiential marketing to create a window in which to pitch to the customer, so something like making an ice cream or a coffee is the perfect equivalent of an elevator pitch, a key moment to talk about the experience and ultimately the product. ‘Was the gelato real?’ they might ask, to which the promotional team would reply, ‘would you like to read the related article?’,” Mr Brunt wrote.
When considering your marketing campaigns, you should now be asking yourself questions such as what it might feel like to use your products, how your product or services can illicit changes in behaviour among consumers, how your products relate to others out there and how you can use demonstration to clearly showcase the benefits of your products above others on the market.
challenge people and they will accept, create a reason to talk and they will chat, give them good content and they will read. Nice summary of the perfect package and how to win fans…and subscribers!