Key Lessons and Emerging Trends in Experiential Marketing
Exploring the evolving landscape of experiential marketing with Manpreet Kour, Director - Experiential Marketing at Cvent. She delves into the unique challenges and emerging opportunities that marketers face today, and more.
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“Understanding consumer behaviour is essential for tailoring experiential campaigns to achieve maximum engagement. AI is revolutionising event experiences, allowing us to tailor interactions in real-time based on attendee behaviour,” says Manpreet Kour, Director – Experiential Marketing at Cvent.
Measuring ROI in experiential marketing is challenging, but techniques like tracking social media engagement, brand sentiment, and post-event surveys can assess impact, she adds.
With over 15 years of expertise in demand generation, corporate marketing, brand strategy, and consulting, she has consistently driven hypergrowth for SaaS businesses in these markets.
Manpreet’s achievements include executing go-to-market strategies, integrated campaigns, product and region launches, and thought leadership programs.
She is also the visionary behind Cvent Accelerate and Cvent on Tour, two flagship conference brands. Driven by a passion for lead generation and exploring emerging marketing channels, Manpreet empowers sales teams with the tools and insights needed to deliver significant value to customers and stakeholders.
Experiential marketing thrives on the balance between overcoming attention challenges and leveraging technological advances. According to Manpreet, marketers must embrace analytics and emerging trends to refine strategies, with AI and personalisation driving future innovations.
Excerpts from the interview:
What are the unique challenges and opportunities in experiential marketing today?
Experiential marketing, also known as engagement marketing or event marketing, involves creating immersive brand experiences that engage and connect with consumers on a deeper level. There are several unique challenges and opportunities for experiential marketing:
Attention Span & Information Overload: With shorter attention spans and constant ad exposure, experiential marketing stands out by creating memorable experiences that capture attention and leave a lasting impact.
Technology Integration: Incorporating technology like AR, VR, live streaming, and interactive installations enhances engagement and personalisation, creating immersive and shareable experiences.
Measuring ROI: Measuring ROI in experiential marketing is challenging, but innovative techniques like tracking social media engagement, brand sentiment, and post-event surveys can assess impact.
Personalisation & Customisation: Experiential marketing allows for personalised interactions using data-driven insights, making consumers feel understood and valued.
Emotional Connection & Storytelling: Crafting compelling narratives and emotional connections is key, fostering empathy and creating a sense of community around the brand.
Social Media Amplification: Experiential marketing can go viral on social media, increasing brand reach and visibility through attendee sharing, unique hashtags, and Instagrammable moments.
Sustainability & Social Responsibility: Experiential marketing can showcase a brand’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility by incorporating eco-friendly practices and supporting social causes.
What tools and insights do you provide to the broader company to maximise the impact of your marketing campaigns?
Understanding consumer behaviour is essential for tailoring experiential campaigns to achieve maximum engagement. By analysing how consumers interact with these campaigns, we can refine future initiatives to better resonate with our audience. Audience segmentation further enhances this approach by allowing us to personalise experiences based on detailed insights into our target groups, increasing the relevance and impact of each campaign.
Staying ahead of the competition is also crucial, which is why we focus on trend analysis to identify emerging trends in experiential marketing. This enables us to adapt and innovate, ensuring our strategies remain cutting-edge. Additionally, we prioritise continuous improvement through feedback loops, collecting and analysing attendee feedback to enhance event quality and overall effectiveness.
Finally, measuring ROI is key to understanding the success of our campaigns. By aligning our metrics with broader company goals, we ensure that our efforts contribute meaningfully to the organisation’s objectives. Cross-channel integration also plays a vital role, as we develop strategies to seamlessly connect experiential marketing with other channels—digital, social, and traditional—to create a cohesive and compelling brand narrative.
Tools:
Event Management Software: Tools for planning, executing, and tracking experiential events, ensuring seamless coordination and data collection.
Audience Engagement Platforms: Interactive platforms that enhance engagement through live polls, Q&A sessions, and gamification during events.
Data Analytics Tools: Software to analyse consumer behaviour, event performance, and ROI, enabling data-driven decisions.
CRM Integration: Tools that integrate customer relationship management (CRM) systems with experiential campaigns to track and enhance customer interactions.
Social Listening Tools: Tools to monitor and analyse social media conversations and sentiment around experiential campaigns, providing real-time feedback.
What advice would you give to event marketers who want to utilise analytics to refine and improve their marketing strategies?
For event marketers looking to leverage analytics to refine and improve their strategies, it’s essential to start by setting clear objectives. Define specific goals, such as increasing attendance, boosting brand awareness, or driving leads, to ensure your analytics efforts are focused and effective. Once your objectives are established, choose relevant metrics that align with these goals, like ticket sales or conversion rates, to accurately measure your progress and success.
Establishing baseline data is also crucial; by collecting data from past events, you create a reference point to assess the impact of your marketing strategies. Utilise data tracking tools, such as Google Analytics and social media analytics, to monitor performance, including website traffic and customer behaviour. Implement A/B testing to experiment with different marketing elements, like ad copy or visuals, to determine which approaches are most effective.
Analysing customer behaviour is key to understanding preferences and optimising your marketing funnel for better conversions. Additionally, monitor social media engagement and sentiment analysis to gauge audience perception and adjust your strategies accordingly. After the event, conduct a thorough post-event analysis, evaluating key metrics and attendee feedback to measure success and identify areas for improvement. Finally, continuously iterate and optimise your strategies based on these insights, allowing for ongoing improvement and better results in future campaigns.
What’s the most unexpected lesson you’ve learned from a marketing failure or setback?
One of the most surprising lessons marketers learn from failure is the value of embracing it as a learning opportunity. Failure offers insights that can lead to future success.
For instance, setbacks highlight the need for adaptability, showing how crucial it is to quickly adjust or pivot strategies when things aren’t going as planned. They also emphasise the importance of a customer-focused approach, revealing gaps in understanding customer needs and underscoring the value of listening to feedback and iterating based on those insights.
Another key lesson is the significance of testing. Many failures occur due to a lack of proper testing, illustrating the need to foster a culture of experimentation to prevent larger setbacks down the line. Additionally, failures often expose issues in communication and siloed thinking, stressing the importance of collaboration and teamwork within marketing teams.
Finally, setbacks build resilience, teaching marketers the value of perseverance and encouraging them to learn, adapt, and move forward. They also serve as a reminder to continuously learn and evolve with industry trends, ensuring that each failure becomes a stepping stone to greater success.
What trends or emerging technologies are you most excited about in the marketing space?
AI-Driven Personalisation: AI is revolutionising how we tailor event experiences. From personalised content recommendations to real-time adjustments based on attendee behaviour, AI is helping create more relevant and engaging experiences for participants.
AR/VR Immersive Experiences: Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are transforming events by offering immersive, interactive experiences. These technologies allow attendees to engage with brands in entirely new ways, whether through virtual product demos or fully immersive environments.
Hybrid Event Models: The rise of hybrid events, which combine in-person and virtual elements, is reshaping how we approach event marketing. This trend expands reach and accessibility, allowing for broader audience participation and more flexible event formats.
Data-Driven Insights: The use of advanced analytics tools is providing deeper insights into attendee behaviour, preferences, and engagement. This data is crucial for optimising future events and delivering more targeted marketing efforts.
Sustainable Event Practices: There’s a growing focus on sustainability in event marketing. Technologies that reduce carbon footprints, such as virtual event platforms and eco-friendly materials, are becoming increasingly important as brands seek to align with environmental values.
Live Streaming and Interactive Broadcasts: Enhanced live streaming capabilities and interactive broadcast technologies are enabling more dynamic virtual events, with real-time audience interaction and engagement.
What futuristic use cases do you see of genAI in experiential marketing?
Hyper-Personalised Experiences: GenAI could create highly personalised event experiences by analysing vast amounts of data from attendees’ past behaviours, preferences, and social media activity. Imagine a conference where each attendee receives a unique agenda, personalised content, and even custom AR/VR interactions based on their interests.
Dynamic Content Creation: AI could generate real-time, interactive content during events, such as personalised videos, 3D models, or immersive environments tailored to individual attendees. This allows for a more engaging and memorable experience that evolves throughout the event.
Virtual Brand Ambassadors: AI-driven virtual characters or avatars could act as brand ambassadors, interacting with attendees in virtual or physical spaces. These ambassadors could provide personalised guidance, answer questions, and adapt their behaviour based on the attendee’s mood and responses.
Automated Event Design: It could assist in designing event layouts, creating themed environments, and even suggesting optimal lighting, sound, and visual effects to evoke specific emotions. This could streamline event planning and ensure a cohesive brand experience.
Real-Time Sentiment Analysis: Using AI, marketers could analyse attendee emotions and sentiments in real-time through facial recognition, voice tone analysis, and social media interactions. This data could be used to adjust the event experience on the fly, enhancing engagement and satisfaction.
Predictive Engagement: It could predict which activities, sessions, or content will resonate most with different audience segments, allowing event organisers to tailor the experience dynamically. This could lead to higher engagement rates and more impactful brand connections.
Immersive Storytelling: Could craft immersive, branching storylines within an event, where attendees influence the narrative through their interactions. This could turn events into personalised adventures, where each participant’s journey is unique.
AI-Powered Networking: AI could facilitate smarter networking by analysing attendee profiles and suggesting connections based on shared interests, goals, or complementary skills. It could even simulate conversations to break the ice and make networking more comfortable.
Post-Event Content Generation: After an event, AI could automatically generate personalised highlight reels, summaries, and follow-up content for each attendee. This keeps the brand experience alive and extends engagement beyond the event itself.
Interactive AI Art and Design Installations: GenAI could create interactive art installations or designs that respond to attendee actions or emotions, making the event space itself an evolving, participatory experience.
