The rapid influx of emerging media has forced brands to consider a complex myriad of options when selecting appropriate marketing programs to target consumers. Selecting the right partners who have a clear overall vision of your business is key to covering every touch point of the consumer journey.
As consumers demand a more personalised approach from brands, companies are required to shift their marketing spend towards alternative forms of communication such as experience-based marketing, digital and social media. Many brands rely on their own abilities and the expertise of their staff for in-house advertising and marketing needs. However, when looking to incorporate experiential marketing into your communications mix, choosing the right specialist agency that meets your business’ needs can become a complex challenge.
During a Q&A session at the Marketing Week Live event in June, the anonymous columnist The Secret Marketer, expressed his views on the matter of working with agencies. He highlighted that if an agency is great at what they do there is no reason to be threatened by working with other agencies, to the extent that marketers should then treat their agencies as “partners” working within a marketing “ecosystem”. He stressed that agencies need to be good at what they specialise in and have a solid understanding of the business, who the customers are and what they are thinking.
The success in experiential marketing is about crafting an accurate plan and strategy, and making sure that you create the right experience, for the right people. It is then imperative for agencies to comprehend what is driving consumers to purchase and have the ability to provide relevant responsive feedback on the campaign performance.
Everybody can create great ideas, but having the ability to execute it well and within the budget set, is another story. This means that agencies have to be transparent, honest and realistic about what they can deliver to their clients and how. Going for the cheapest, is not always the best solution. If it’s not going to get done properly, don’t do it!
Both clients and agencies can take steps to make experiential marketing more beneficial for their brand. By integrating traditional advertising, PR and digital strategies, you can extend your campaign reach far beyond the consumers who came into direct contact with the experiential activity.
Effective integration is possible when the right parties are working together with clear objectives. Your agencies must understand your customers’ behaviour and decide upon the most appropriate way to effectively create successful two-way communications.
Most agencies claim they can do pretty much whatever the client asks. But whilst assessing the abilities of your prospective agency, it is important to first look at how effective you think the agency will be at helping you achieve your goals, then who is going to be handling your account, and ultimately, you must make sure that the agency loves and understands your brand and products.
Hotcow is a multi-award winning Experiential Marketing agency. We get brands in front of consumers in ways that persuade them to buy. We fully implement our ideas; nothing needs to be farmed out. If you are looking for an experiential partner with a history and commitment for building brands and launching products, speak to Hotcow.