Have you thought about including B2B experiential marketing in your marketing plan? Most of the marketers who are familiar with experiential marketing consider it a B2C marketing technique, but you can make the most of it to enhance your B2B business’ core messaging and build strong relationships with clients.
Seventy-seven percent of marketers use experiential marketing as a part of their core advertising strategy. All you need to do is identify your target audience, understand what they are looking for and deliver the same. If you get the execution right, you can leverage B2B experiential marketing to quickly grow revenue.
What is B2B Experiential Marketing?
B2B experiential marketing comprises a variety of marketing strategies that are used to immerse the customers in a product or service by engaging them in different ways. Companies using experiential marketing help customers form emotional, memorable connections with their brand to foster customer loyalty, build long-lasting relationships, and improve customer lifetime value (CLV).
The Benefits of Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing has become one of the most effective B2B marketing techniques. In the next 3-5 years, CMOs are expected to spend 21-50% of their marketing budget on experiential marketing.
Experiential marketing is a great way to:
- Educate customers: Learning through interesting experiences is a compelling way to help customers better understand your B2B product/service. You can use experiential marketing to allow your customers to try your products/services and participate in real-time learning experiences.
- Start discussions and drive engagement: Customers are highly likely to discuss great experiences with family and friends. They may also share their experiences on social media. Research shows that customers who have positive experiences with a brand tell 17 (on average) other people about it. Not only this, but 98% of customers are more likely to purchase a B2B product/service after a live experience.
- Improve brand perception: Customers who have exceptional experiences with a brand’s marketing perceive the brand positively.
Proven Experiential Marketing Methods for B2B Companies
Here are some effective B2B experiential marketing techniques for B2B audiences:
- Conferences: Conferences are an excellent way to connect with your target audience in a single location. Conferences provide B2B companies with an opportunity to meet educators, industry leaders, and influencers from their industry. Other opportunities offered by conferences include guerrilla marketing, pop-up marketing, and sponsorships.
- Trade shows: You can take part in trade shows or organize one to provide your prospective customers with interactive experiences. Latest technologies, such as mixed reality, augmented reality and virtual reality provide B2B marketers a great platform to showcase their products/services.
- Company/facility tours: You can schedule short tours of your factory, office space, or showroom with your prospective customers to provide them with a first-hand experience with your B2B brand.
- Recreational events: Who doesn’t love a paid getaway? Recreational events are one of the most sought-after experiential marketing techniques. Take your clients for a casual beach outing or a short excursion. Treat them to an afternoon at a spa. They will never forget your brand!
- Buying journey: Start your experiential marketing activities by improving customers’ buying journey with your B2B company. You can enhance the digital experience by adding live chat to your website, providing how-to videos and tutorials, providing real-time demos, and so on. Also, ensure you don’t limit experiential marketing to the “buying process” alone. Pamper your customers once they’ve bought your B2B product/service. Send them a welcome email or a direct mail with something interesting inside.
If you want to explore B2B experiential marketing ideas for your business, contact us today!
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