Your experiential marketing campaign immersed consumers in an experience that embodied your brand and left them wanting more.
Now it’s time for the follow-up. Like any good campaign, it doesn’t end after the information has reached the consumers.
There’s still work to be done, to ensure strong and lasting consumer relationships.
It takes more than just one event.
Just like it takes time for people to form habits, it will take repetition to create an impact that people remember for a long time afterward.
Holding one event in February won’t be enough. People will want to know where you went in March before they’re ready to get deeply involved with your brand.
Additionally, flexing those marketing muscles and really creating multiple levels with your campaign will help you integrate with the community you’re trying to target.
Customer retention takes trust, and even first-time customers will trust you when they see that you’re active in their sphere.
Pay attention to the immediate reactions.
With experiential marketing, you can get feedback right then and there as people come and go. Let them know you’re listening.
Your event is a chance to open communication with consumers. If they have issues, you can let them know you’ll work on the kinks for next time.
If they’re enjoying a part of things, think about how you can get them even more involved in that. Be open and responsive during your campaign, as each consumer’s experience is happening or ending.
Remember to do the wrap-up work.
After an event, you’ll probably have lots of immediate follow-up to do. You might have new names to add to the mailing list, individuals to reach out to, businesses who are interested in partnerships, and more.
Some of this you can predict before your event even gets started. So delegate how your brand will take care of this post-event wrap-up, and make sure it all gets done promptly.
This is the work that should happen without a second thought, to leave people with a strong, reliable impression of who you are.
Evaluate your ROI
When you set out on your experiential marketing campaign, you had measures by which you would evaluate the success of the campaign.
Make sure to go back to these and assess them. What specifically did you wish to accomplish with this event? Did you reach your goals?
If not, where did you fall short? Looking at where you didn’t meet your goals can inform you about how to shift for your next attempt. Examine what you did well, not so well, and how you plan to do better the next time around.
Communicate!
Be open to the different ways you can communicate with the consumers who experienced your brand during the campaign. If appropriate, send out surveys or questionnaires to get evaluations from them.
Some consumers prefer to send feedback through social media, via your website, by calling the office, or through a text message. Pay attention to the ways different consumers might choose to communicate and be prepared to assess the feedback from all of those different outlets.
The experiential campaign helps you leave a lasting impression on the consumer. But consumers need reminding and courtship. Careful post-campaign action will help you set yourself apart from other brands.
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