What's new in experiential marketing? The latest research suggests that some brands are losing out on ROI because of poor marketing choices. Don't fall into this trap. You can improve ROI this spring by adopting a new approach to experiential. Here are three ways to do it properly.
There's been a major shift from traditional marketing to service-led value creation, according to Markus Wulff, digital business innovation manager at the Absolut Company.
Colin Kavanagh, vice president of global marketing for Malibu and Kahlua at Absolut, somewhat agrees. In a recent interview, Kavanagh points out that recent changes in technology have brought new opportunities that let consumer marketers go beyond traditional boundaries.
"On Malibu, innovation a few years ago simply meant new product development," he told beverage marketing and technology community eBev Series. "Now this has expanded, and we are more focused on developing new services and experiences for our brands."
In the beverages sector, traditional marketing has run out of fizz. Consumers want value, meaning, experiences.
Absolut understands this. Recently, the Stockholm, Sweden-based brand launched NFC-enabled Malibu bottles, from which consumers can access product-related content through their smartphone. It was a huge success for the company, and the campaign captured the attention of tech reporters on social media.
This wasn't the first time Absolut experimented with experiential. A few years back, the company created an Internet of Things testing lab in central Stockholm where sales reps showcased the latest industry tech and collected consumer feedback.
There's also on-premise marketing: Absolut partnered with Nordic Choice Hotels in Scandinavia to bring experiential marketing to hotel guests.
All of these experiences paid off. Absolut shifted 3.6 million nine-liter cases of Malibu worldwide in 2016.
If you're in the experiential game and want to provide your consumers with more value and generate a higher ROI, think about Absolut when you plan your next campaign.
"We tend to be very targeted and that’s particularly important when marketing alcoholic beverages," says Kavanagh. "More recently we have worked with influencers such as The Fat Jewish and the surfer Alana Blanchard, and this has proven very effective for us in driving fame."
Having several systems to measure marketing ROI can be a challenge. Aligning your systems, on the other hand, improves data integrity and provides you with more valuable insights into your current experiential campaigns.
"Specifically, marketing automation and CRM systems must utilize the same fields, populate those fields with common values and pass these details back and forth as data is acquired," says marketing expert Kristie Colby, writing for Marketing Land. "Data in these systems must sync as leads move through the sales cycle."
Colby explains the benefits of data integration. It lets you personalize customer experiences and measure individual touch points more effectively.
"One example of this type of data integration and how it effectively enables a personalized experience is for leads that have been qualified and sent to sales," she says.
There's lots of research that echo these claims. Integrated systems increase mobility, provide you with quick access to crucial information, eliminate data entry and duplication, and improve order, inventory and quote management, says Information Age. Moreover, by the end of this year, 90 percent of new large systems will have budgets that include 50 percent spending on software integration.
If you want to target more customers without having to rely on several systems, integrating your data could provide you with an effective solution. You can access information in one place instead of using several programs.
Brands who don't integrate their multimedia campaigns struggle to connect with consumers, according to research from market research firm Kantar Millward Brown.
In a recent study, 94 percent of marketers in the Asia-Pacific region think they generate well-integrated multimedia campaigns, but only 48 percent of consumers believe these marketing messages are cohesive. This huge disconnect could impact marketing ROI.
The research also suggests that well-integrated, customized marketing messages improve overall campaign effectiveness by as much as 57 percent.
If you find it difficult to connect with consumers, it's probably a good idea to re-evaluate your integrated campaigns.
"Often marketers can overthink things and muddy the waters across different channels," says Allan Breiland, senior media consultant at Kantar Millward Brown Australia. "The lack of a core central idea across channels can be a big part of lack of integration between online and offline. Not customizing effectively across channels is also an issue."
Other research proves the effectiveness of integrated multimedia communications. In short, an integrated approach to marketing ensures creative consistency across multiple marketing channels, reduces costs and provides better results in the long run.
These three recent developments demonstrate the importance of tweaking your marketing efforts for a greater ROI. Aligning your computer systems, integrating your multimedia campaigns and adding real value to consumer marketing should help you generate more leads and turbocharge sales.
