I always liked the expression, “you just don’t know what you don’t know.” It applies to innumerable situations, but the one I’d like to focus on today is the realm of experiential marketing. With any key business strategy, words and phrases become imbued with power— buzz, if you will. We run around throwing these terms into conversations; blog posts, articles, and books surrounding every aspect of the topic are written, and suddenly if you don’t know, you’re just not in the know.
The path to knowledge can however, be misleading. How do we know what is a trustworthy source of information? Well, again you just don’t know what you don’t know— but as I was thinking about experiential marketing, it seemed easier to first list out what I did know:
I know experiential marketing is not one specific marketing tool; one tool can fail. Experiential marketing must be a focus. An idea. A mindset.
Within this mindset, companies should focus on the creation of synergy between their specific brand, and those who consume the branded products. Now, where does experiential marketing come into play, you ask? The creation of synergy between the brand and consumers happens in many instances— a cheese sample to a foodie at a local festival; wine varietals to young professionals networking at a gallery opening; popsicles handed out to a harried mother and her brood at the regional 4th of July celebration… the possibilities are endless.
These possibilities become relevant AND memorable experiences which connect consumers to a brand. If you ask me, that is way more powerful than a thirty-second ad via Hulu, or the like.
I’d like to continue this conversation, so please feel free to let me know what you think!
Twitter: @bellebocal
