Experiential Marketing: The Key to Long Term Client Relationships

Let’s take a moment and think of marketing in some more familiar terms. Marketing is after all merely a form of abstracted inter-personal human relationships. So let us see marketing in terms of two people, interacting in everyday ways.

Imagine there is someone walking towards you in the street. They walk by and don’t say a word. Are you going to be friends with that person? Perhaps this person was great in every way and you two would really hit it off. But because they said nothing and did nothing, you will never really know. Now what if they asked you for money? Would you give it to them?

Imagine this second scenario: You are walking down the street and someone comes up to you and says they have a watch for sale, and they claim it’s really nice. Are you going to trust their product? If you really wanted the watch, you might buy it on a whim, but it would require a leap of faith. Maybe you would get lucky and maybe you wouldn’t. If you somehow got a great deal, you might try to seek that person out again, but unless that person keeps coming through with great products at cheap prices, you won’t really have a long term relationship there.

Imagine this third scenario: A person tells you they got your name from a friend and calls you up. They say they heard you were looking for a watch and they happened to have one for sale. You don’t know this person but since your friend referred them to you, you listen to them, though you aren’t a hundred percent trustworthy. They have your attention and you’ll give them the time of day, but if they don’t sound entirely convincing, you will write them off without a second thought.

Imagine this fourth scenario: You are walking down the street. Your friend, who you met through a mutual friend, stops to chat. They’ve given you a few trinkets here and there, a water bottle, a key chain, a picture frame. You’ve gone to concerts with them. You’ve shared laughs. You stay in touch. They mention they heard you have been looking for a watch and they know where you can get a great one. Will you heed this friend’s advice? Most people would.

Here you can see the difference between marketing strategies. Obviously, the winning strategy is to build a long term, trusting relationship with a customer through constant visibility, communication, and a mutual relationship of give and take. Experiential marketing is most effective when a customer feels like they have a relationship with a certain brand or product. Making your presence felt in a physical sense, where you are a sharing in the day to day life of a consumer, will reap the most benefits when it comes to the bottom line of making sales.

Marketing Werks
Chicago's premier experiential marketing firm.