The global expansion of experiential marketing spend proves the value of face-to-face customer engagement to make lasting brand impressions.
Immersive, multi-sensory experiences create unique brand associations by activating all the senses and etching memories at multiple levels. Premium prizes, gifts and rewards, when selected and delivered with thoughtful intention, are powerful mementos that reinforce and support memory and motivation.
More than premium prizes and giveaways
Most companies don’t have the internal capabilities to pull off every aspect of an experiential campaign. That’s where partner expertise comes in.
Look for a supplier who can procure a wide range of prizes and giveaways at competitive prices; ideally with an automated retail supply chain system that makes the whole experience as seamless as possible for your attendees or winners.
They’ll need to have an order and receipt management structure in place, and facilities for merchandise packing and delivery. Plus, contact centre support for people who may need information or help with big sweepstakes prizes, like large appliances or consumer electronics. If you’re giving away travel experiences, people will definitely need help booking tickets. It takes a reward expert to handle all
of that.
Why experiential rewards are essential
Rewards play a critical role in completing any motivation cycle (need, drive, incentive, goal). Simply put, they answer a need, and so drive positive behaviours. Not to mention encourage repeat performance of those behaviours (repeat purchases or brand interactions in the case of business objectives). So, when you include prizes and gifts, as part of an experiential campaign, you turbocharge customer engagement and set the stage for ongoing dialogue and long-term relationships.
Support your experiential goals
Research has shown that well-curated rewards respond to the individual’s need to know, ‘what’s in it for me?’. The right rewards, at the right time and place, engage, inspire and motivate long-term relationships. Including a rewards infrastructure in your experiential campaign is a simple step to take. And one that speaks to most marketing goals:
- Lead generation. Do you want to capture names and emails? Social media handles? Rewards can help you achieve this goal. Staff working an event can easily engage participants when there is a giveaway involved. Add a surprise and delight element (digital vouchers on the spot, maybe?) and you’ve made a brand connection.
- Brand awareness. Trying to break into a new market, or reach a new demographic? Make a powerful first impression with creative, meaningful giveaways at your promotional event, or run a pre-event competition to generate interest. Prizes don’t have to strain your budget to be effective. Make them fun and functional with extended brand life.
- Increased sales. Are you selling products during the event? How long will you be measuring sales after the event is over? How about including a discount voucher redeemable by short code activation? Or an accessory in line with your product that carries high perceived value.
An expert reward partner can manage logistics, procurement, after sales support, travel ticket bookings and details, which means you and your team members can spend more time on the creative aspects of your marketing campaign.
Measure and assess your experiential campaign
Measuring the success of any customer-facing campaign is part of the process. Start with your goals, create KPIs, then compile KPIs to measure your ROI. Rewards can help you with this step.
- Brand sentiment. Rewards give you a mechanic for capturing participant data at your experiential events. For example, fill out this survey and you’ll get this prize.
- Brand awareness pre- and post-event. How did your event change attendees brand awareness? It’s tricky to measure this aspect of any campaign. Rewards give you a way to talk to your participants after they’ve left your experience with post-event support, ticket bookings and communications.
- Social media brand awareness. Measuring social interactions is that much easier when you have great prizes and rewards that people want to share and brag about. Wouldn’t you talk about winning the latest mobile in a lucky draw?
Augment your experience and reinforce your
brand message
There’s a solid body of scientific evidence around why rewarding customers is so beneficial. More and more, we’re seeing our clients using holistic, hassle-free incentives and premium prizes to make emotional connections and forge brand bonds through shared experiences.
At GET Rewards, we innovate, manage and curate all aspects of the rewards process. That kind of end-to-end fulfilment service is essential, really, so you can focus on your big picture marketing strategy and brand campaign.
If you’d like to find out more about how rewards can help you increase growth, help retain customers, and improve brand reputation give us a call today.
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