When I was growing up as a young marketer, just a few years ago, this was called grass roots marketing. We would reach out into the community to allow targeted consumers to "consume" our product/service first hand. It is often referred to as a push / pull strategy. The primary difference between experiential marketing of today and grass roots marketing of yesterday, I suppose, is that a great deal of product consumption is now done online, versus in brick and mortar structures, or as was in my case, through terrestrial radio channels.
Many marketers still confuse experiential marketing with product sampling. While product sampling can be a component of experiential marketing, it is NOT experiential marketing. When sampling a product, all a consumer is doing is trying a small, free, one time "taste" of your product. However, they are not emerged in your product or your product benefits as is the goal with experiential marketing. The job of the experiential marketer is to make sure that the emersion results in a positive experience that will convert a consumer into a customer, and goes well beyond just passing out free samples.
BMW has a fantastic experiential marketing program called the BMW Performance Driving School. It gives anywone who is interested the opportunity to drive a BMW in racing conditions...which for any true car enthusiast is like an addictive drug.What better way to convince someone on the fence about spending a little more money for a BMW, that the investment is worth it, than giving them a racing experience behind the wheel of a BMW? I imagine their conversion rates are pretty high!
Goodwill of Greater Washington is one of many organizations who are purchasing faux store fronts inside the new Junior Achievement Finance Park that is opening up in Fairfax County, VA later this year. This "store" will give the charitable agency an opportunity to introduce the true Goodwill retail experience to every eighth grader in Fairfax County before they become fashion influencers themselves. DC Goodwill, who is reinventing its retail brand, is attempting to help young consumers form positive perceptions of Goodwill Retail Stores before they are negatively impacted by other forces who simply view Goodwill Stores as old thrift shops.
Experiential marketing can be an incredibly effective tactic for building perceptions and driving consumer to customer conversions when properly executed. It also works best when integrated with other more traditional or digital marketing efforts. However, if the experience is anything less than ideal, it can also kill your efforts. Therefore, before practicing true experiential marketing, make sure that you have a tried and true formula, or you'll wind up damaging your brand more than enhancing it.
