Hubspot puts it best, “Experiential marketing, also called ‘engagement marketing’, is a marketing strategy that invites an audience to interact with a business in a real-world situation. Using participatory, hands-on, and tangible branding material, the business can show its customers not just what the company offers, but what it stands for.”

As you can imagine, the methods to creating an experiential activation is limitless. All you need to do is create an interactive space. While some brands knock it out of the park, others struggle to find an effective technique. While it doesn’t always have to be original, there are some experiential marketing tactics that are less engaging, causing participants to forget the experience and most noteworthy, your brand. Review our 6 experiential marketing tactics we encourage you to leave behind in 2020.

Lead Generation

While we know the purpose of any marketing campaign is to promote a company goal such as brand awareness and ultimately sales, it’s important not to come off too pushy. At majority of brand events, there is some type of lead generation that requires participants to leave their email. The most ineffective way to collect these leads is to ask the consumer without any type of reward.

If you are looking to collect emails, consider giving the participant branded swag, a gift card, entry to your ‘exclusive’ activation or as part of a waiver to participate in your event. Many people are cautious of revealing their emails as they are hesitant to receive spam. Using one of the tactics mentioned above may alleviate any hesitation moving forward.

Time Consuming Experiential Marketing Tactics

Everyone is always in a rush – somewhere to go, someone to see! Therefore, no matter how engaging your booth or product is, you want to ensure you relay all key points to the consumer as quickly as possible. By walking up to your team, they should know right away what you are promoting. Sometimes, people may not even have the time to engage, so it’s important to include large branding so that you are noticed even by those simply walking by. Large signage and promotional flyers help make a big impact in a short amount of time.

Boring Swag

Be cautious with the dollars you spend – especially on things people will simply throw away. If you are giving out branded swag, be sure to hand out something useful. We like to avoid branded pens, stickers and key chains. Give out an item people will be excited to keep! Branded items that remain popular include glass water bottles, tote bags, bottle openers, touch screen gloves and fanny packs. Be creative and aim to tailor your swag to the season.

Nonstrategic Guerrilla Marketing

While we are big fans of guerrilla marketing, there are many factors that make this technique unsuccessful. This includes focusing on high traffic locations but not taking your audience into consideration. While there may be hundreds of people at Union Station during rush hour, only a small portion of these may be potential consumers. Depending on the brand/product, it may be more beneficial to target a specific event VS area.

If you have a roaming street team, it’s crucial to take weather into consideration. We encourage clients to activate in the warmer months to ensure the most foot traffic. In addition, if the street team is roaming, having a mapped route is crucial to success. Hit popular/busy intersections and areas that are close to hot spots where you will run into your target audience.

Unbranded Events Staff

Regardless of the brand or event, it’s crucial to ensure your staff are clearly branded. Not only is this additional advertising for your company, but it makes the event staff have more credible. Many consumers will believe the events staff work directly for your brand!

Branded elements include jackets, t-shirts, hats, pants, mittens, etc. The options are limitless – so make your team attractive in branded apparel.

No Clear CTA

What do you want the participant to do when they interact with your experiential marketing tactics? Do you want them to have a positive brand impression, increase your social media following or purchase your product? Ensure all tactics included in your activation space make sense and drive home a specific call to action. There is nothing worse than spending money on an expensive campaign with no tangible results.

Are you looking to create a unique experiential campaign in 2020? Contact Tigris today for a free quote on our event planning and staff services, available nationwide across the country.