Experiential Marketing with Interactive Technology

Experimental marketing is crossing new boundaries every day and it wouldn’t have been possible without interactive technology. At present, one cannot be imagined or executed without the other. Since setting up a technologically equipped booth in exhibitions and events can draw a lot of attention, more and more brands these days are looking into new technological avenues to incorporate into their marketing strategy.

In this post, we are going to look at some of these new and exciting interactive technologies that can facilitate your experimental marketing campaign.

Wi-Fi Zone Tracking / Event Analytics:
First, we have a Wi-Fi Zone tracking system. This can be used as a valuable event analytics tool. When a device like the iPhone uses the WiFi facility, it sends out a probe request that contains information like its MAC address and also the approximate distance between the phone and the router. One can use this information to see who is within the range and for how long. For your event, this information can be truly valuable as you can receive insight about people and their engagements right to the place, time, and duration.

Creative Photobooths:
Photobooths are always a hit at events and if you can be a bit more creative then you can profit from it even more. You can use different ideas like:

• A centralized photo booth that can capture the environment and everything in it.
• A socially Integrated Photo Booth with DSLR.
• You can make it better with Augmented Reality Integration.
• How about 360 perspective and bullet time effects?
• Create engagement with socially shareable photo experiences and games.

Social Vending:
Social vending machines can be really handy for your marketing campaign. You just have to place them in well-thought-out locations to connect with your consumers in day-to-day life. You can exchange social currency for physical items in the real world. Think about what your brand offers and as per that your vending machine could contain the items appropriate to your particular demographic.

Intelligent Recognition / Connected Experiences:
This new technology can give you the facility to project augmented displays over faces, or recognize an individual by their face or presence in an event space.

Arduino / Raspberry Pi Integrations:
Most of the gadgets that you see on exhibitions like LED light tunnels to robots contain an Arduino or raspberry pi integrated into the mix. Basically, they are just cool little 25 dollar computers that can be custom programmed to do just about anything.

RFID/NFC/BLE Sensors:
Radiofrequency chips are also quite cool. You can do a bunch of things with them regarding proximity and movement as well as tracking behavior. For example,
• You can track any user’s movement through an event space to control a visual component.
• Awestruck your visitors by using it to open doors or pathways in an event.
• You can create permission-based systems base on this.

Custom Made Applications:
Custom made applications allow you to create beautiful things and add magic to your campaign. Be it an iOS device, Android, or anything else, you can easily get valuable insights about your consumers by letting them explore a game or visual experience.
3D Printing:
Want to give your customers freebies? Well, you can install 3D printing systems and let them create their own additions to your products or services. This can be a great option to attract kids and print their own toys.

Interactive Games and Virtual Reality:

Virtual reality is one of the most appealing technological advancements we have these days. But what if you can integrate it with interactive games? Sounds interesting?
This new technology is now being integrated into events such as Racing Sleds, VR, Basketball, Drone Racing, Video Games, E-Sports, Social Media Contests, leaderboards, brainwave headsets, and more. Some other examples include Virtual Reality with Oculus Rift and Red Bull Air Race, XBos Racing Sled and Red Bull NACS, Red Bull NACS 2015, The vintage S.N.E.S at the Adobe Max Conference, Adobe Max Conference Experiential Marketing and Brand Activation, and Interactive Games for YouTube, etc.

So what is your favorite interactive technology to integrate with your experimental marketing strategy? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below.

Technology Ideas for Exhibition Stands

With the current advancement of technology, experimental marketing campaigns are reaching new heights. If you wish to make an even better impact then exhibitions can surely do the trick for you.
These exhibitions can appeal to a wider audience coming from different fields and domains. Technologically aided exhibition stands can help you create a great impression in front of them. These promotional events can really put your brand under the spotlight. And if you can put up a great exhibition stand then the impact will be even more immersive for your customers, both new and existing ones.

Since, competition is quite strict these days, getting a place on the floor can be super difficult. But these exhibition stands can really put your brand’s message across and achieve your objectives. In this, we will be talking about a few ideas that you can incorporate for your booth. Let’s get started.

• Interactive Applications:
Since everyone at the exhibition will be trying to impress the attendees, you need to come up with something unique. This will keep them engaged with your booth for a long time and you will get a better chance at convincing them. For this, cool gadgets like interactive applications can really help. They will help you give a memorable experience to your customers visiting the booth.
If you can use the business interactive applications then you will get a great chance in converting interested visitors into leads. These applications will allow them to know more about the product and what it offers.
You can even place QR codes on your booth display. This will take things to the next level. All they need to do is scan the QR code and all the information about your brand will be at their fingertips.

• Augmented Reality
This is one of the most latest technological advancements. But it holds the potential to completely change the exhibition industry. Once you incorporate this in your exhibition stand, you are bound to see some crowd gathering around your booth.
This will help you stand out in the crowd and attract more and more attendees to your stand. This super impressive technology integrates computer-generated images with the live view. It gives you an interactive experience unlike any other. With this in place, your customers can not only watch prints as reality, but they can also zoom and make changes in them.
Long story short, this is an absolute game-changer and it will help your customers explore your products in real-time.

• Robots In Booth
Very few things can create a buzz like a robot! After all, it’s a robot! It will draw immense attention towards your booth and also keep them entertained. Plus, you can use them as great tools of communication.
A robot can do a wide range of things, like answering the queries of people, collecting information from trade booth attendees, and even motivate people to visit your booth. What can be better than this!
Plus, you can even make your robot hand-out brochures to the trade show attendees!
Needless to say, robots never fail to evoke curiosity among the trade show attendees. So opting for a robot can be the trump card you need.

• Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be best used to collect the data, process it, and deliver the end-result as the most useful response to the customers. It will always give you the facility to create a real-time response.
This is one of the many reasons as to why more and more business owners are using this technology. You can easily use AI to give a great product demonstration to your booth visitors. But make sure to use the latest technology in your exhibition stand design and build.

• 3D Printing Technique
Who doesn’t love freebies, especially during an exhibition? So instead of giving them boring goodies like pens or t-shirts, you can give away something cool and creative, something that they will take home instead of throwing it away into the dustbin. But imagine how cool it would be if you design their freebie right in front of them? Sounds great right?
Well, that’s exactly what you can achieve with the help of 3D printing technology. It will surely attract more visitors to your booth and make them interested in your product.

So do you have any other ideas regarding the exhibition stand? Write down your views in the comments below.

How brands can still thrive during covid-19

Let’s face it, Corona is going to be around for some more time now, it can’t just vanish into thin air, even if we successfully come up with a vaccine. Hence, this is the new normal and all of us, from all walks of life, need to accept it.

But if you are a business owner, you cannot just give up so easily. You need to accept the circumstance and come up with a strategy to help your business recover from this setback and bounce back even further. Remember, the brands that stood the test of time are the ones that can best adapt to changing times. The COVID-19 pandemic has given us an unprecedented situation and we need to do our best to overcome that. In this post, we are going to talk about how our brands can thrive during COVID-19.
So, let’s get started.

Rapid Yet Calculated Response:
You need to remember that even in such a scenario, it’s not too late to regroup, go back to the board and create new teams to tackle the crisis. You just need to rapid yet calculative in your approach. Many experts believe that the faster you come up with an idea or strategy, the more likely it is for your company to bounce back. The idea is to be quick in maintaining positive customer sentiment.

For example, we can look at the restaurant industry that needed to come up with something new during the pandemic. In a time, when most people were only willing to order online, the restaurants that were quick to adapt themselves to this new model, gained a lot of positive feedback and even made a new customer base.
Things can be pretty simple if you think about it. They can be as simple as making a simple declaration that we are taking customer safety as the top priority and we will maintain all the measures necessary to provide food at your door-step.

All they needed to do was to collaborate with a third-party delivery service to keep the system running, ensure the safety precautions, and make their customers believe that they can still safely get their food without stepping out of their houses.

You Cannot Get Left Behind:
From the example of the restaurant industry, you can see that rapid and calculative actions can give you a lot of good-returns in a crisis. But what if you have a business that does not function like the restaurant industry? For instance, the online retailer industry faced quite a bit of a crisis during this pandemic, and most of it owes to their sloth response.

Failing to adapt at the right moment will only increase the chance of your business being left-out. This same thing happened with the online retailers of America when the pandemic was in full swing. The lack of management in handling the incoming shipments and tackling the logistical issues made them go through a real fix.

The biggest hurdle they had to face was the negative reaction shared by the frustrated customer-base. If not anything else then the key take away from this incident is that no matter what your business should never get left out. Being irrelevant in the market is perhaps the worst possible thing that could ever happen to your business. Hence, you need to take all the measures possible to stay in the market and adapt to the situation better and deliver to your customers.

You need to anticipate the crisis and prepare yourself to make the necessary changes. Remember, those who stay relevant against all odds go the distance!

Adapt And Go With The Flow:
Although, it’s true that in the world of business, your own unique identity is very important, however, sometimes you need to go with the flow as well. This is all the more applicable if the situation is completely unprecedented like this pandemic.

Sometimes the straight tree fails to bend down against the wind during a tempest. So, instead of rebelling against the situation, you should follow other business models if necessary who successfully adapted to the situation. This will help your company come out in much better shape when the dust settles.

After reading the previous, I believe, this simple thing is quite clear to you. The companies who will react to the situation fast and in a calculative manner will not only survive but also thrive even after it’s all over. Your decision today will ensure the future of tomorrow.

So what’s your plan to keep your business afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic? Let us know your views in the comments below.

Experiential Marketing – What you need to know

So you have heard about experimental marketing, but do you know the prime goal behind experimental marketing? Well, you have probably guessed it right; it’s about improving the customer engagement levels through various events or competitions that they can relate to.

This kind of interaction, if executed correctly, will indefinitely create a strong and lasting bond between your brand and your targeted audience. If you wish to target “Customer Lifetime Value”, then experimental marketing can help you a lot since the effect will be long-lasting. So What Does It Look Like Exactly? Well, frankly speaking, there is no hard and fast rule to plan your experimental marketing campaign. You just need to come up with something that makes sense regarding your brand.

With a limited budget, you can try something modest or low-key marketing techniques like product demos or free samples. You can just set up a pop-up booth at a good location and surprise your customers with these. You can also put up a booth at a trade show or event. This can really attract a lot of attention.

These are definitely some helpful techniques to make your customers convinced about your product. But with the recent development of technology, the execution of experimental marketing campaign has gone to a new level. Thanks to the experience created by virtual reality, you can incorporate elements that can truly make the customer understand what your product offers. This is surely a game-changer!

Traditional marketing vs. Experimental marketing

We all know that traditional marketing has its own set of limitations. This is quite evident because you can only create so much of an immersive experience for your customers. But on the other hand, the experimental marketing techniques give brands the opportunity to create authentic and original content that can penetrate a wider base of digital audiences. One can use mediums like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other useful and popular digital and social outlets. On these platforms, you can use video, imagery, and more to launch an experiential campaign that can present itself right at your customer’s fingertips.

But Why Should You Take The Risk Of Trying It At All? Of course, trying out something new involves some risk factors. So why should you try it at all? Well, this type of marketing campaign has to be fun and creative and must make your customers excited about the brand. And believe me; all of it will surely pay off! Because it will give them such an immersive experience that will stay for long. Your campaign will be in front of them, right on their mobile phones, even if they are stuck in some traffic. Once such an experience is delivered, a strong bond between the customer and the brand is bound to happen.

How To Plan Your Experiential Campaign?

For better execution, you need a solid plan and actionable strategy for your campaign. Firstly, you need to decide your budget for the campaign. This will be dependent upon the size and the scope of the campaign you are willing to go for. The planning stage might seem time-consuming and tedious, but, you need to be patient since, without it, your campaign isn’t going anywhere. Next, you need to chalk out the overall strategy of the campaign.

You need to have an expert team that can carry out this job on multiple levels. The best way to do this is to sit together and work towards the strategy to reach a common goal. Once you have the budget and basic objective chalked out, you can now move on to the execution part. Since you will be working with a big team, it’s imperative that everyone stays on the same page. They should work towards the goal without setting false expectations.

The chain of command should be in place to ensure the well-execution of the campaign. Also, make sure you have the right staff in place based on the event you are planning. You might require specialized personnel for a particular event which should be sorted out beforehand. Without proper staff, not only there will be a chance for your campaign to go completely berserk, but you will also create a bad impression before your customers. So keep well-organized right from the beginning.

So what’s your strategy for an experimental marketing campaign? Let us know in the comments below.