Every day, new brands are coming up trying to make their presence felt in the market. The competition is becoming stiffer with each new presence. Many of the new businesses compete for the same customer base. As a result, marketers have to think outside the box to secure their target market and outdo their competition, in one way or another. If you are trying to make a dent in today’s saturated market, you may want to try something other than traditional marketing and PR techniques. Experiential marketing is an effective way to increase your brand recall value. An unaided recall is what any brand needs to become relevant and prominent. People pass by billboards and LED OOH advertisements on their way to work and back home. How many of them actually see the content of these adverts and make an effort to remember them? Unless the material is something exceptional like the “Lightbulb” for The Economist or the “Penny Billboard” by Chevrolet Aveo, people are likely to ignore them.
Packaging is as important as the content
The content of the advertising and marketing campaign makes a lot of difference in the impact. However, the packaging is equally important as the content. For example – we have mentioned two highly successful and memorable advertisements in the previous section. Although they are for vastly different brands and they convey utterly different messages, there is something very uniquely common between the two – both the advertisements encourage people to interact with the ad and indulge in an immersive experience. There are several such examples of new-age engagement marketing and interactive adverts that have made emerging brands household names for years.
Break down the limitations of traditional marketing
The only challenge with interactive billboard adverts is their limited reach. Only the daily passersby or the occasional tourist is likely to come across the sites of stationary billboards and product activation. That limits the scope of a potentially brilliant advertisement that could rock the world. If you have an idea that could break the boundaries of traditional marketing, you need to think bigger and think mobile. Today, it is possible to reach out to a broad market with the help of mobile tours and mobile activation ideas. Once, this was a costly and labor-intensive process since it involved the marketing and branding team working on branding the vehicle and hiring people to take it out on the road. Today, it is much easier with dedicated mobile branding and marketing teams, which spruce up a dedicated tour truck, marketing bus or a trailer. They have the faculty to drive it to location, reach out to customers effectively, collect data and spread the word.
Don’t wait for the people, go to them
Hiring a mobile tour bus, branded truck or marketing trailer can help you reach a new market during music festivals, college events, and carnivals. You can be where the crowd is. With a fully branded mobile tour vehicle, you do not have to wait for the audience to come to you. You can drive to the audience. Have you ever seen the suave and inviting food trucks parked near office buildings and subway entrances? New coffee shops, breakfast bars, and snack bars find it beneficial to introduce people to a slice of their quality while these people are running on their way to or from office. These businesses target the millennial and Gen X office goers to a significant degree. Therefore, to attract their attention, these brands often set up shop (or a food truck) directly on their way. It allows them to collect valuable customer data directly from the live pool and it enables the new brands to increase their recall value significantly.
Go the full way with live event marketing
When brands put up hoarding and get a person to distribute flyers, chances are, people are going to take notice. There are thousands of brands doing it in NYC right now! Experiential marketing adds an extra touch to your marketing ideas that make the campaigns unforgettable for the target audience. The extent of the impact will depend upon the competence of your marketing team. Always go with an engagement marketing team, who has professional training and experience in the advertising, marketing, and PR fields. Setting up a mobile tour is no easy task. It might sound simple, but designing vehicle wraps, branded equipment, setting up shop and executing the campaign with perfection is more than what a traditional team of marketers and PR professionals can handle.
Think branding: inside-out
As for the mobile tour vehicle, designing the outside is not half as tricky as designing the inside. Your customers will judge you “inside out,” from your mobile truck décor. Some brands prefer to give the target customers a sneak peek of the truck interiors to seal the memory with a positive impression. It is a great idea, especially if you are offering interior landscaping services, kitchen appliance, and modular finish services, andVR and AR technology. The key to successful interior design is simplicity. There is not enough space inside a truck to install appliances, set up a workstation and entertain guests. That is one more reason you need to consult professional ground marketing services for promoting your brand and product.
However, the only way you can attract as many people as you dream of is by opting for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter promotions. Do not discount social media outreach before your mobile truck tours. Build a sound follower base and let them know exactly where they can meet you on a given day. That will ensure that your promotions and activations are always happening. Social media is still one of the best ways to expand your reach, and it should always precede an effective experiential marketing campaign. Do not forget to speak with your marketing group about the collection of real-time data from the customers on-spot. Data adds meaning to marketing. Without enough reliable and reproducible data, marketing and advertising remain all but fruitless, even with the best ideas.
