Surveys show that brand managers are increasingly turning to experiential marketing to drive sales rather than just increasing awareness. According to theAgencySelect 2013 special report from the Event Marketing Institute, “a separate survey of brands found that increasing sales was the number one event marketing goal and strategy. Just a few years ago increasing awareness was considered the primary goal. The focus on sales indicates the growing importance of events as a revenue generating marketing tool.”
In the past, the objective of many event marketing programs was to gain awareness for products and services. Rather than driving sales these programs were designed to grab the customers’ attention and provide a positive impression. This could be to introduce a new product or provide promotion for an existing product. While creating awareness and generating positive impressions are great, in today’s economy marketing dollars need to provide a more solid ROI.
We have a saying around here at Pro Motion, “what gets measured gets funded.” We always look for ways to leverage our event marketing programs to increase sales. The closer you can tie the experience to an opportunity to purchase the product the better. For example, activating experiential marketing programs at retail locations can make it easier to incent and measure sales. Of course there are pros and cons to retail promotions to consider when planning your next event marketing program.
When developing your experiential marketing program keep your objectives in mind. Develop your program with the goal of increasing sales. Be sure that you have a way to track the program’s success and make sure that your activations support your objectives. For some tips on planning a sampling program to increase sales check out our blog article, Sampling: How to Increase Sales by 368% (Not Kidding!)
Check out some of Pro Motion’s experiential marketing programs that drove sales and provided a positive ROI! These programs actually funded themselves!