Street Sampling Blog

[experiential marketing psychology]

Major advertisers like Levi’s, Volkswagen and Harley-Davidson are embracing experiential marketing as their preferred advertising medium. Instead of attempting to appeal to a prospective customer’s rational side alone to inspire a purchase, experiential marketing techniques get deeper inside the head of the prospect. Emotions are tapped, logic is tried and general thought processes are challenged to drive sales and establish instantaneous relationships between consumers and given brands. Connecting with the customer in a memorable and interactive way is the goal of experiential marketing (aka guerrilla marketing).

“Some people distinguish the psychological aspect of a brand from the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is known as the brand experience. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the brand image, is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consists of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.” – Wikipedia.org

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Here’s an example of one of our experiential marketing campaigns in action (for Lord and Taylor of New York) – enjoy!

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When potential consumers are temped on both rational and emotional levels, the percentage of sales conversions skyrockets in comparison to simply attempting to appeal to the rational side. When those secret areas of the brain are stimulated that control the ideas for pleasure and comfort, and the consumer’s sense of practicality is aroused, the results are increased sales and instantaneous branding success. For this reason, it is important for the experiential marketer to firmly understand his or her target. The brand representative needs to be “in-touch” with the individuals that are being presented to.

Part 2 …. Coming Tomorrow – Stay Tuned!

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Experiential or guerrilla marketing relies on interactive communication with prospective consumers rather than passive persuasion techniques. Feelings of pleasure and comfort are invoked leaving the prospect naturally curious to learn and/or experience more about the message or product at hand. Likewise, the experiential marketer offers the prospect the opportunity to avoid discomfort by accepting the promotional endeavor. Unique brand image and value is driven into the minds of prospects and effective relationships are developed between the brand and the prospects.

Whereas traditional product-centered advertising methods serve to stimulate the rational thought processes of a given consumer, brand marketing (experiential marketing) affects the consumer’s decision to purchase far more effectively by generating emotional responses. The field of experiential marketing has blossomed since its introduction in the 1980s as a powerful alternative to traditional advertising methodologies. Mainstream marketers now readily and excitedly embrace these unconventional tactics because they understand the effectiveness.

Engaging, entertaining and interactive experiential marketing makes prospective consumers take notice and appreciate a given brand. Some of the world’s largest advertisers including Harley-Davidson, Levi’s, Nokia, Wells Fargo and Volkswagen utilize experiential marketing techniques predominantly now. In addition, many small business save years of frustrating effort trying to increase their branding success by implementing these unconventional marketing techniques. Experiential marketing firms offer big results for small fees as well. Comparatively, businesses of all sizes can vastly benefit from taking this ultra-modern and highly-accepted approach to promotion.

If you desire to enhance the effectiveness of your future advertising campaigns, explore experiential marketing. The instant surge in sales and the increase of your ROI will demonstrate exactly the effectiveness of these psychological techniques.

[experiential marketing]

I’m a subscriber to AdvertisingAge, and while reading the November 3rd issue, I came across an article by Laurel Wentz titled, “Experiential Media No. 1 Way to Influence Latinos.” She’d subtitled it, “Word-of-Mouth, TV Much More Effective Than Print, Survey Finds.”

Wentz targets a lot of her advice at the Latino market, but easily that same advice can be applied over a wide range of demographics (what makes YouTube such a hit with everyone? A redundant question, yes, but proves my point.)

Since Laurel Wentz does such a fine job presenting surveyed details, I’m going to quote her entire writeup here. The only thing I have done is move the graphic to the top. Enjoy!

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Experiential marketing is the medium most likely to persuade Hispanic consumers to buy a product, according to a recent survey commissioned by experiential-marketing company Jack Morton Latino, but respondents had strong opinions about how events should be organized.

Respondents said they shun a hard sell, with people representing the sponsor brand and expect a live event to be complemented by social networking, blogs and mobile-phone activities.

The online survey of 500 respondents focused on acculturated Hispanics, typically U.S.-born and bilingual. Of those surveyed, 39% said they had participated in a live brand experience in the last year. Asked which medium would be mostly likely to drive their purchase of a product, respondents ranked experiential media first (30%); followed by word-of-mouth (24%); TV (23%); and the internet (14%). Print media, direct mail and radio all got responses of 4% or less.

Word-of-mouth is especially important in the Hispanic market; 68% of survey respondents said they interact with between three and 10 family members weekly.

Just 2% of respondents said they preferred hard-sell “active interaction” with people representing the brand; most preferred a softer sell and a more passive message at an event, conveyed through signage or video presentations. The main technologies respondents expected live events to be linked to were social-networking sites and blogs (25%) and mobile phones (18%).

Isabel Villegas, senior Latino-market specialist at Jack Morton Latino, said the live-concert series the agency created for client Alltel in key Hispanic markets in the Southwest also involves Facebook and MySpace pages, as well as pictures taken of attendees at the concerts to be put on “find yourself” screens during the events and posted later.

Whether you call it experiential marketing, guerilla marketing, word of mouth marketing, or just spreading the word through media, this powerful form of marketing and advertising is one you and your company should be exploring – now during the holiday season and into 2009.

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[influence of spheres, word of mouth marketing]

While attending the Chicago conference, I’ve taken some notes that mean a lot to my business, and hopefully will bring meaning and life to yours.

MARKETING ZONES

Zone 1 – The Impact Zone

Stepping right up and engaging an active participant. Demonstrations are designed for this type of zone. After engaging individuals in a lively, fun, interactive way, chances are pretty good they, in turn, will share your business with 4 of their friends.

Zone 2 – Residual Zone

This zone involves the transfer of information from a trusted authority. Messages delivered in this medium hold power.

Zone 3 – Loose Talk

Who wouldn’t want a ton of people doing nothing but talking about your business, right?! This type of zone marketing can significantly reduce the “cost per touch.” However, this is one of the hardest zones to accurately measure.

So with all that in mind, let’s consider a few key points to…

WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING

Word of Mouth Mindset

Be sure to put the customer in charge! It is not your conversation, but theirs that is most important. Always be sure to listen. If there is a shortcoming in the selling world, it is one’s inability to know when to keep silent and let the potential buyer do the talking!

Word of Mouth Message

Focus on the product fundamentals as the basis of messaging. Understand the role the product plays in the user’s lives; deliver the message in unexpected places.

Word of Mouth Messenger

Your proper selection of your product’s brand ambassadors has, of course, a hugh impact on your message. Properly selected brand ambassadors typically are advice influencers (inclusive), and have social networks 5 to 6 times larger than the average trendsetter (exclusive).

Again, these are just a few of the keynotes I made as reminders to myself. They may very well be applicable to your business, too.