Experiential marketing is an important approach to bring a brand to life and to create an emotional bond.
Imagine going into a shoe store who doesn’t sell shoes. Instead, you can try on every style and type available and experience the brand. But if you want to buy, someone will order the shoe online and send it to your home. The store is designed to experience the brand and to allow online to live and breathe in front of your eyes. Shopping patterns are changing – how are you adjusting?
M.Gemi, an NY based high-end shoe retailer, needed to find a way to allow consumers to engage with their products in a more profound way than if they just went to the website. They “drop” new shoes every Monday, not only seasonally like other shops. But e-commerce doesn’t allow for tangibility or to touch, feel and interact with real human beings. Customers would spend a few minutes online, but the owners thought they needed a way to enrich the brand’s experience.
They opened a physical store in Soho and one in Boston. Each store is not transactional, and you can’t walk out with shoes. They call them “fit shops” that allow you to try before you buy. The store allowed the online retailer to bring a human and personal touch to life that pixels can never do. By blending digital and physical, they created a more satisfying and successful shopping experience.
Parachute, a Santa Monica based e-commerce home furnishing company, also wanted to bring the Parachute lifestyle to life by creating both a storefront and a rental apartment filled with their sheets, bath towels, and robes. The apartment provides a customer with a place to rent for the night like a hotel room, which gives them a first-hand experience with the brand. You can sleep between the sheets, wear the robes and experience a Parachute lifestyle.
When the apartment isn’t rented out, they hold parties and events in the space that showcases their goods to the general public. They do this with other brands to help gain exposure to new potential customers.
Experience – The Future of Marketing
How can your customers and clients experience your brand without focusing on making an immediate sale?
- What happens when on online retailers of wines creates partners with pop-up restaurants in different cities to get new customers tasting and trying their wines? Or maybe they do free tastings in offices working with HR departments to bring their brand to the customers for Friday afternoon experiences? Can you bring the experience of your tasting room to potential customers instead of waiting for them to come to you?
- Can a software company who typically brings demos to tradeshows, instead bring a masseuse to their booth? So instead of focusing on the transaction, you create a visceral experience and benefit that working with the tech company will help you feel more relaxed as they eliminate unnecessary processes? The implied message, our brand is going to help you relax and feel good.
- How can you bring your products and services to life in front of new audiences by imagining unusual but targeted settings for you to experience their service? What happens when an auto repair shop brings a podiatrist to a half-marathon so that runners can get their feet cared for after the race? This foot massage brought to you by Bob’s Auto Repairs. Suddenly, consumers see Bob’s as a place to help heal and fix your injured vehicle.
How can you bring your brand somewhere unexpected, so consumers get a chance to experience it anew? If you focus on experiences, not transactions – you’ll find many new ideas to help you bring your brand to life.
Let’s brainstorm together to find unusual ways to bring your brand to life through a different kind of experience. Text or call me at 919 720 0995 or email me at jeffslater@themarketingsage.com
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
