Experiential marketing, also known as engagement marketing and event marketing, is a type of marketing that seeks to directly engage potential customers by encouraging them to participate in the growth of a brand. This means avoiding the cliche of the passive customer, and instead encouraging active participation through events and activities like in-store tastings, live demos, product testing, and showrooms.
An experiential marketing firm takes on this added burden of marketing and advertising to help promote your business and leave you free to handle the more day-to-day operations. But before you hire a team, here are the top 10 questions to ask your experiential marketing firm…
1. Is the Experiential Firm an Experiential Firm? This may seem like a no-brainer, but just as you wouldn’t ask your PR Agency to run a television campaign, you don’t want an Ad Agency to run your experiential marketing.
2. Does the firm’s expertise match your needs? This isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Make sure the firm has the skills, expertise, and talent in the industry areas you’re targeting.
3. Are they integrating digital and social techniques in their approaches? This is the age of the Internet. You’ll want a firm that goes beyond one-off approaches and amplifies a digital and social approach.
4. Do they get ROI? Experiential marketing can either deliver some of your best ROIs in your advertising campaigns, or they can be a hazardously expensive side-party. Ensure your agency knows the line and has ROI as its end goal.
5. Do they have an excellent network? A successful experiential marketing program requires a talented network of field staff, transportation options, venues, set builders, and so much more. Check to see whether your firm of choice has the best people in the right places.
6. What measurement tools do they use? You want a firm that knows how to measure its own success.
7. How are brand ambassadors trained? The field staff of your experiential marketing firm will be an extension of your staff. Questions to ask your firm include inquiring about the training of their own staff.
8. Can they create big ideas? While experiential firms are mainly execution shops, they should also be able staffed with a creative thought leadership team to brainstorm new possibilities.
9. Can they bring such big ideas to life? Not only should they bring forth new ideas, but you need solid execution of them.
10. Where do you fit in? Seek a partnership team.
Final thoughts…
Finding the right firm for you should never be difficult. When seeking out the right experiential marketing firm for you and your business make sure to remember to ask these 10 questions and the future of your company and campaigns will be secure!
