Ask any marketer what the principle objective for any of their campaigns is, and the reply would be the identical. It’s to face out from the gang and foster a significant reference to their viewers. Nevertheless, in a world the place thousands and thousands of manufacturers are competing with one another, that is proving to be simpler mentioned than executed.
Enter experiential advertising and marketing, a method that focuses on creating memorable and immersive experiences for patrons. This recent method has been confirmed to be efficient, significantly in dwell occasions. However can this be built-in into e-mail campaigns as properly? The reply is a convincing sure.
On this article, we’ll take a deeper have a look at what experiential advertising and marketing is and the way it may be used to remodel your extraordinary emails into immersive journeys that go away an enduring affect. Let’s get began!
What’s experiential advertising and marketing?
Experiential advertising and marketing revolves round creating an expertise for patrons. Not like conventional advertising and marketing, the place prospects passively obtain a model’s message, experiential advertising and marketing encourages prospects to actively have interaction and take part. This may be executed by means of hands-on experiences, bodily occasions, interactive video games, inventive shows, and different direct approaches.
The objective of experiential advertising and marketing is to offer a buyer with a enjoyable and immersive expertise that may assist kind a deeper connection and funding within the model. This can result in elevated model loyalty and, in the end, conversions.
Kinds of experiential advertising and marketing
Experiential advertising and marketing is available in totally different varieties. Some examples are:
1. Stay occasions
Stay occasions are one of the vital widespread kinds of experiential advertising and marketing. This consists of commerce reveals, activations, product launches, pop-up outlets, or any sort of occasion the place a buyer can instantly work together with the model.
2. Product demos and samples
Making a multi-sensory expertise is what makes experiential advertising and marketing actually interactive and immersive. This may be executed by means of product demos or samples the place prospects can see, hear, really feel, or style the product.
3. Guerilla advertising and marketing
Guerilla advertising and marketing focuses on utilizing unconventional strategies that encourage public interplay to advertise a services or products. One instance of that is Coca-Cola’s Hug Me Machine. When individuals “hug” the merchandising machine, it would dispense a free Coke for them. This marketing campaign went viral as individuals had been delighted with the expertise of hugging a machine in addition to getting a freebie out of it.
(Supply: Coca-Cola YouTube channel)
Guerilla advertising and marketing depends on the component of shock and the sense of disruption in a public place. This tends to provide a number of buzz, as individuals get curious and have a tendency to discover their set-ups as a substitute of simply passing by.
4. Digital and augmented actuality
The rise of know-how has given rise to VR and AR within the discipline of experiential advertising and marketing. Manufacturers can now harness the facility of know-how to present their prospects an immersive expertise by giving them inventive visible worlds, providing to nearly strive on their merchandise, or transporting them to locations they in any other case must journey to.
Take, for instance, McDonald’s VR Zodiac Exhibition. They created a digital corridor the place individuals can discover a world the place they’ll be taught concerning the Chinese language Zodiac, strive on particular McDonald’s merchandise, and ship lanterns into the sky.
(Supply: McDonald’s Corridor of Zodiacs)
5. Electronic mail advertising and marketing
Whereas experiential advertising and marketing is often related to bodily occasions, it doesn’t imply that it might probably’t be utilized to e-mail advertising and marketing.
Experiential advertising and marketing might be utilized to e-mail advertising and marketing by specializing in creating interactive emails. These are emails that comprise parts, options, or eye-catching visuals that subscribers can have interaction in inside the inbox. This may be executed by means of video games, quizzes, dwell polls, or perhaps a 360° picture that subscribers can click on round to discover.
One instance of that is from Litmus, the place their subscribers can see how their mild and darkish mode seems to be with a fast click on of a button. This enables them to “expertise” the product inside their inbox.
(Supply: ReallyGoodEmails)
Advantages of experiential advertising and marketing
1. Offers prospects with a enjoyable and memorable expertise
Experiential advertising and marketing gives a extra partaking and entertaining expertise versus conventional advertising and marketing. It additionally provides your prospects an opportunity to see your product in motion and perceive the way it advantages them as a substitute of simply studying about it. Experiences additionally create a extra memorable reference to you and your prospects, fostering a deeper emotional bond.
2. Presents a recent and distinctive tackle advertising and marketing
Do you know that a median American sees a complete of 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements day by day? Seems like lots? It’s. And inside these excessive numbers, simply what number of repeated ideas and concepts do you assume you’ll see?
Experiential advertising and marketing affords much more to your prospects who’re overexposed to advertisements and bored of repeated concepts. It may be a singular expertise, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, or only a enjoyable break from their day by day routine. Both approach, it’s undoubtedly extra impactful in comparison with one more web site banner advert.
3. Boosts model consciousness
Model consciousness goes past simply having a cool brand design or a catchy tagline. It’s about making your prospects conscious that your model exists within the first place. And experiential advertising and marketing simply does that. A enjoyable and interactive expertise can undoubtedly make a mark on prospects’ minds and make them need to know extra about your model.
This could additionally assist in constructing a powerful model identification. Who wouldn’t need to be often called the model that does a number of cool and distinctive advertising and marketing?
4. Promotes social sharing
Experiential advertising and marketing is a must have if you wish to drive buzz and free PR to your model. Individuals who attend a enjoyable occasion are likely to take tons of pictures or movies about it and share it on social media. In the meantime, a enjoyable recreation or quiz on an e-mail will result in individuals sharing it with their household and pals.
What are some examples of experiential advertising and marketing in emails?
Now that what experiential advertising and marketing is and its advantages, let’s check out how one can incorporate it into your e-mail advertising and marketing campaigns. Some examples are:
1. Interactive pictures (carousels, accordions, and scratch-offs)
Interactive pictures are likely to generate greater engagement in comparison with static ones as they encourage individuals to click on extra. They’re additionally helpful in cell, as they’ll present extra data and content material even with the restricted area out there.
One instance of that is picture carousels. An picture carousel is an interactive e-mail the place subscribers can “flip” by means of a collection of pictures with a easy click on of a button.
B&Q has included carousels into their e-mail to nice success. This e-mail marketing campaign, the place their subscribers can faucet every field to see particular summer time suggestions, has garnered them an 18% improve in open charges and 42,000 click-throughs.
(Supply: Motion Rocket)
One other instance of an interactive picture is accordions. By clicking a component or merchandise, it would broaden to indicate extra data. A enjoyable instance of that is an e-mail from BBC, the place clicking the “+” icon will broaden to extra content material. However what makes this stand out is that the background picture modifications relying on the enlargement you decide.
(Supply: ReallyGoodEmails)
One other instance is scratch-offs. This provides one other component of interactiveness and shock in your subscribers, as they get to “scratch off” to see in the event that they obtained a prize or low cost coupon.
(Supply: 3radical)
2. Rollover and hover results
One other instance of interactive pictures is those who comprise hover or rollover results. That is the impact when a picture modifications to a unique one while you hover over them.
One instance is from UGG, the place you’ll be able to view their sandals in numerous colours while you hover over a particular swatch.
(Supply: ReallyGoodEmails)
This can be a favourite for eCommerce manufacturers, as they may give you extra particulars and details about a product and even “conceal” a promo code with out utilizing an excessive amount of area in an e-mail. You additionally get to have a full procuring expertise, even within the consolation of your personal dwelling.
(Supply: Stripo template)
3. Quizzes
Elevate your hand in case you took any of these “Which X are you?” quizzes on Buzzfeed. We’re prepared to guess that you just did. It’s because quizzes, merely put, are enjoyable. Plus, they’re straightforward to do whereas supplying you with essential data (akin to discovering what sort of taco you might be 😉).
The identical thought might be utilized to your emails. Quizzes can be utilized to seek out out your viewers’s ache factors and targets to suggest to them a tailor-made answer.
Quizzes are additionally nice for these within the eCommerce business who wish to upsell or cross-sell. Check out Harry’s, the place they match a particular bathe gel to you, relying in your solutions.
(Supply: ReallyGoodEmails)
After all, it’s also possible to go for some enjoyable, random quizzes. Not every little thing must be sales-y, and relying in your target market, they could admire this method extra.
(Supply: ReallyGoodEmails)
4. Video games
It ought to most likely be no shock at this level that folks love video games. For this reason e-mail gamification is so profitable. Pleasure, competitors, and a way of completion after a recreation are nice driving forces for any particular person. Add in a reward on the finish, and also you’re golden.
Check out this e-mail from EmailMonk, the place subscribers want to seek out hidden objects to flee a haunted fortress.
(Supply: ReallyGoodEmails)
Or from our Valentine’s Day recreation, the place subscribers can get a promo code to be taught which Cupid they’re in the event that they discover three phrases associated to Stripo.
In each examples, subscribers had been in a position to have fun an occasion (Halloween and Valentine’s Day, respectively) with out having to bodily exit for a dwell occasion. Our Valentine’s Day marketing campaign additionally noticed a 25% improve in open charges (from 30% to 37.5%) and a whopping 11% click-through price.
5. Movies
Whereas movies may not be probably the most “interactive” instance on this checklist, it’s truly one of the vital efficient parts in an e-mail marketing campaign.
The numbers don’t lie — 89% of individuals say watching a video has satisfied them to purchase a services or products. To not point out, 91% of individuals need to see extra video content material from manufacturers. If that doesn’t encourage you to embed a video in your subsequent e-mail blast, I don’t know what is going to.
There are some things to remember — individuals have a tendency to look at movies with the pontificate, so ensure your video can nonetheless be understood even with out the sound. A method to do that is to offer captions. Additionally, the success of your video depends on the primary three seconds. It’s good to seize your subscribers’ consideration in these valuable seconds. In any other case, they’ll simply scroll over.
You don’t want to only be restricted to at least one video, both. Take, for instance, this e-mail from Royal Caribbean, which comprises an interactive map. Relying on the placement that you just click on on the map, it would present you a brief video that provides extra details about every location.
(Supply: ReallyGoodEmails)
Wrapping up
Within the ever-changing world of promoting, staying forward of the curve is essential if you wish to seize your buyer’s consideration and construct significant relationships with them. One of many methods to do that is thru experiential advertising and marketing.
Whereas it’s historically related to bodily occasions, the development of know-how makes it potential to present an immersive expertise to your e-mail subscribers as properly.
The principle factor to remember is to retain the essential parts of experiential advertising and marketing – that are interactiveness, leisure, and creativity – and incorporate them into your subsequent e-mail marketing campaign. Do that, and also you’ll be capable of rework your boring emails right into a extra immersive expertise.
Create wonderful e-mail experiences in your subscribers with Stripo
