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Customer relationships are based on the experiences that consumers have with brands, ensuring that experiential marketing engages all touchpoints for marketing campaigns. When marketers began attributing personalities to brands, it allowed for a consumer connection that has entrenched brand loyalty and led to the rise of customer experience as a core contributor for marketers to create campaigns that deliver customer value.

Hubspot describes this blend of art, digital technologies, product placement and psychology to create unique experiences for customers as one of the most effective marketing tools for driving sales and generating leads. In fact, Hubspot found that 95% of businesses think live events provide opportunities for in-person connections; and 98% of customers feel more inclined to purchase after attending an activation.

“Thanks to digital technology, the experiential marketing future is looking bright. However, experiential marketing is not just all bells and whistles. At its very heart, it attempts to endear a brand to its customers, to sear a positive experience into their psyche (including emotions), and to develop a lasting, profitable relationship,” reports Hubspot in 2024.

CMO Council’s Experiential Marketing Center deep dives into converting fans, friends and followers into loyal customers using experiential, event and cause-directed marketing strategies. This online resource center curates third-party content, CMO Council research and domain expert input to further sponsorship marketing precision, predictability and performance, including case studies of brands making fans through structured sponsorship marketing, formalized social media strategies, real-time intelligence gathering, crowd-sourced content, emotive engagement, creative interaction, online events, contests, and so on.

In her expert White Paper published by CMO Council, “What Every CMO Needs to Know About Sponsorship,” author and Power Sponsorship expert, Kim Skildum-Reid, outlines how sponsorship provides one of the most powerful, flexible, and accountable strategies of all marketing media.

“First, there’s been a huge shift in the value put on remote fans, because during Covid, all we had were remote fans. But those people were still having a fan experience that could be leveraged; they still had passions to be nurtured. And when restrictions lifted, many companies have continued to nurture those valuable remote markets – markets that had been ignored before the pandemic,” says Skildum-Reid.

“The area I think is going to really take off in 2024 is around DEI, ESG, and organizational purpose. I’m not talking about just throwing money at charities to tick some box. I’m talking about investing in well-selected, closely aligned sponsorships, and leveraging them in a way that is both meaningful and demonstrates the company/brand commitment,” she adds.

DOWNLOAD: What Every CMO Needs to Know About Sponsorship

While events and trade shows are still a vital part of the marketing and customer engagement mix, senior marketers remain challenged to identify effective methods to measure and prove ROI, according to a bespoke CMO Council study, conducted in partnership with the Exhibit & Event Marketers Association: “Customer Attainment From Event Engagement.”

Further complicating this scenario is that events and trade shows have remained isolated and disconnected from the overall business strategy, which is why the report identifies effective methods to measure and prove ROI.

Heather Rosenow, VP: Client Strategic Services at Derse, pushes the contention that marketing’s purpose is to increase sales. “Unfortunately, many marketers have concerned themselves with soft, subjective criteria to determine whether an investment was a success. Though rich experiences that extend beyond the event are important, they mean little if they don’t ultimately move a buyer along the purchasing path or influence an action.

“We also believe that billions of dollars are wasted every year in the face-to-face marketing industry and we are of the opinion that if face-to-face programs perform up to their ability, those budgets will be rewarded— not reduced. Good creative can generate interest, but great creative is purposeful and measurable.”

DOWNLOAD: Customer Attainment From Event Engagement

Experiences are also not just rooted in pop-ups, live spectator events, or curated live brand experiences, but also with AR and VR, virtual experiential marketing, advocacy, video content, digital games and applications, and social media contests, as Hubspot outlines in its 2024 Experiential Marketing trends report.

“Thanks to digital technology, the experiential marketing future is looking bright. However, experiential marketing is not just all bells and whistles. At its very heart, it attempts to endear a brand to its customers, to sear a positive experience into their psyche (including emotions), and to develop a lasting, profitable relationship,” reports Hubspot, predicting post-pandemic growth for the experiential marketing industry.

Four experiential marketing trends spotlighted by ATN Event Staffing, include “experiential impact” which harnesses brand power with purpose-driven authentic activations; experiential marketing as a strategic growth channel for start-up and challenger brands; using Generative AI to amplify experiences; and brands embracing culture to connect with consumers with more relevance and deeper personal relevance.

A key point referenced by marketing consultancy AnyRoad, is the evolution of strategy that points to consumer brands recognizing the impact that experiences have on building loyal fan bases and driving long-term revenue growth, resulting in deeper investment in experiential marketing to bolster brand loyalty.

READ MORE: Experiential Marketing Center