What is experiential marketing? It’s a popular form of field marketing at the moment, but if you’re new to the world of advertising, it’s understandable that you may need some help getting started.
In layman's terms, experiential marketing is all about creating immersive, memorable experiences for your customers. These events enable them to connect with your brand on a much deeper level than other, more traditional forms of marketing. Instead of conventional advertising (which focuses largely on telling a brand’s story), experiential marketing lets people live it, making for a truly unique experience for all.
From interactive events through to pop-up activations, experiential marketing agencies aim to spark emotional connections and foster customer loyalty, one event at a time. But how does field marketing tie into the experiential approach? Let’s find out!
In this blog, we'll explore the crucial role experiential marketing has in bringing your brand experiences to life, showing you how this form of marketing can take your brand to new heights.
If that sounds good, you can also enquire with our team here for more information on incorporating our unique approach to marketing into your brand's strategy.
Experiential marketing is remarkably different from most traditional forms of marketing, instead shifting the focus from passive engagement (for example, if you're watching an ad), through to active participation in an event. It’s sometimes considered to be a part of the field marketing umbrella, but many people also classify experiential marketing as its own distinct entity.
By engaging with multiple senses at once, these strategies help to create a more lasting impression, keeping your brand in the minds of your customers for days to come.
This is one of the main reasons why experiential marketing is so important, helping to raise brand awareness and boost customer loyalty by sparking an emotional connection with potential shoppers. This form of brand storytelling can also be utilised to raise brand engagement and boost the consumer experience, keeping people coming back for more, long into the future.
Interactive events also create memorable experiences, which can lead to your shoppers participating in social sharing, bringing even more attention to your events and products. Customer participation really makes people feel involved, spreading your brand further afterwards due to word-of-mouth marketing.
No matter whether it’s a branded event, a product demonstration, or an interactive installation, the goal is to make consumers feel part of the brand’s journey. By doing so, you can build brand awareness and loyalty in no time, showing how effective this form of marketing really is!
Before diving into your first experiential marketing campaign, one of your key questions is likely to be: How effective is it?
The good news is that this form of marketing can be incredibly productive if used correctly. However, like any such initiative, your campaign’s success depends on the time and effort you put into it. Without the proper planning and execution, your campaign is unlikely to be as successful as expected.
Put simply: Experiential marketing is the backbone of any modern marketing campaign, allowing brands to create live immersive experiences that build audience engagement. Your shoppers are automatically promoted as tangible brand ambassadors, fostering an emotional connection to your brand. The statistics really speak for themselves too, with Statista finding that experiential marketing spending has increased steadily over the past few years.
According to Forbes, experiential marketing is much more successful than other forms of marketing, with the odds of success increasing the more people experience your brand in person. This research seems to be backed up by a range of ROI insights from other marketing agencies and firms too, showing just how effective this form of marketing can be.
It's also particularly useful when combined with field marketing strategies - the latter acts as the on-the-ground force that brings experiential marketing to life. By connecting directly with customers in their everyday environments, field marketers can create personal interactions that leave a lasting impact, making for a seamless experience for all.
From hosting events in local communities through to setting up product activations in high-traffic areas, combining these two popular forms of modern marketing will ensure your brand message always resonates with shoppers on a personal level.
We've already covered some of the main benefits of experiential marketing above, but the fun doesn't stop there! For one, experiential marketing really drives results, gathering valuable actionable data and insights that can be measured and analysed to improve your future campaigns for the better.
Experiential marketing creates tangible emotional bonds for your customers that traditional marketing methods often can’t achieve. These experiences boost brand recall, build customer loyalty, and generate organic word-of-mouth marketing, reducing the amount of money you need to spend to get your name out there.
Creating fun in-store experiences and hosting product demos don't just entertain shoppers either - instead, they drive consumer engagement, guiding your shoppers towards the point of purchase with joy. You can highlight prominent product features and benefits in real time too, promoting the very best aspects of your items to reel people in.
Lead generation can also be maximised with experiential marketing, as brands can now nurture the purchase journey all the way through the sales funnel, turning leads into those much-needed conversions.
Experiential marketing also allows brands to communicate directly with their customers, giving you the chance to answer questions in person, as well as gain instant customer feedback. This means you can change your campaigns on the fly, reacting to feedback as and when you receive it. Your events marketing strategies will also help to distinguish you from the rest of your rivals, ensuring your brand is the first name on your customers' lips.
As you can see, combining the many benefits of experiential marketing with field marketing’s targeted approach and our powerful data analytics tech ensures your campaigns will always reach the right audience at the right time.
So, how exactly can you successfully implement experiential marketing strategies into your business operations? There's nothing to worry about, as Dee Set is here to take you through some of our favourite approaches to events marketing, hoping to inspire you further!
Launching a successful campaign (regardless of the type of marketing you're using) requires clear goals, creative concepts, and flawless execution. A good marketing strategy involves finding the perfect location for your campaign, as well as creating engaging activities for your customers - every detail matters! Our field marketing teams are essential in executing these plans, creating face-to-face connections that make the entire experience seem authentic and impactful.
It's important to have a strong promotional plan of action in place first, so you must create measurable objectives for all of your active marketing channels. You also need to conduct market research to secure customer data for audience segmentation, fuelling your marketing channels with razor-sharp data insights.
Popular experiential marketing examples include:
Some of the most successful experiential marketing campaigns seamlessly integrate field marketing into their strategies, using a combination of tactics to surprise and delight their audience. These real-world engagements can turn everyday consumers into brand advocates, providing a wealth of benefits for your business.
Experiential marketing (powered by field marketing) is a dynamic way to connect with modern consumers in today’s competitive retail landscape. Standing out and attracting attention can be difficult in the 21st century, as there are so many brands begging for attention.
However, by delivering memorable experiences and fostering genuine interactions with their customers, brands and retailers can build stronger relationships with their audiences, spreading news quickly through word-of-mouth advertising. Field marketing ensures that your experiential campaigns truly come to life, bringing you to success in no time.
At Dee Set, we’re one of the UK’s premier field marketing agencies, able to help you devise a cunning strategy that will appeal to the hearts and minds of today’s discerning consumers.
Ready to get started? Get in touch and we’ll show you how it’s done!
We may be slightly biased, but as a prominent field marketing agency in the UK, we believe that the art of field marketing doesn’t get the attention it truly deserves. At its core (and when mastered properly), field marketing is a powerful tool that businesses can utilise to help them formulate strong relationships with their customers and drive brand awareness and engagement, all whilst generating those all-important leads.
Although most of the magic happens behind the scenes, field marketing jobs are a crucial component in the success strategy for many retailers. When we usually think of marketing as a concept, we may automatically think of digital marketing or even social media marketing – however, field marketing is the complete opposite of those disciplines. Although some of the practices may be the same, field marketing requires interaction with the physical ‘outside’ world in real-time, directly engaging consumers in ways that create lasting impressions and drive sales. Whether through product demonstrations, sampling, or other experiential methods, these techniques are used to build bridges between retailers and their audiences.
With over 20+ years of experience in the retail industry, we can talk the talk and walk the walk too. Retailers and brands alike trust us to help drive their growth, market share and ROI to achieve excellence at the point of purchase. Over time, we’ve mastered a collaborative approach to working with our clients, delivering a range of retailer support strategies that help to improve distribution channels, cost efficiency strategies, availability, visibility, and promotion compliance, driving retail sales in the process.
In this guide, we’ll break down what field marketing agencies do, their core responsibilities, and how they help brands succeed in an increasingly competitive market. We’ll also dive into our unique approach and how we operate as a standout name in the field marketing world, to highlight why we might be the right partner for your brand…
In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about how we can help you, you can speak to our expert team here.
Before we explore the responsibilities of a field marketing agency, let's talk about why hiring one can be a game-changer for your business.
Let’s face it: The modern retail environment is both saturated and competitive.
To achieve success, it is essential that you align yourself with the right agency that can elevate you to new heights. Thankfully, national field marketing agencies like us specialise in getting your product or service directly in front of your target audience. Instead of relying solely on traditional advertising like print or TV, these agencies execute live, in-person marketing activities that resonate with consumers on a personal level. The activities can range from product demonstrations, setting up engaging and impactful displays and in-store promotions, all the way through to guerrilla marketing stunts or pop-up experiences.
You’ll then benefit by getting exclusive access to field teams that are skilled in running campaigns designed to generate buzz, increase sales, and ultimately build stronger relationships with your customers.
Field marketing agencies wear many hats, but it’s all part of the charm. At the Dee Set Group, we’re experts in the world of field marketing, working as a high-performance marketing agency for all our clients.
Let’s dive into some key field marketing responsibilities to better understand how they can create value for your business…
Your business is so unique and should be treated as such. A good B2B marketing agency will understand this and will work hard to craft an effective field marketing strategy that aligns with your brand mission and goals. These strategies are not one-size-fits-all and will be customised based on your needs, the behaviours and preferences of your target market, and the latest updates from the industry.
From identifying the core needs of your customers to determining the right marketing channels to use, field marketing agencies will use their expertise to tailor their marketing strategies for optimal impact. They also take into account seasonality, customer and industry trends, and regional preferences, ensuring that your brand’s message hits the right notes at the right time.
Field marketing is all about creating long lasting awareness and engagement by driving consumer interaction through creative, memorable experiences.
These days, consumers have so many options and it's becoming increasingly hard to connect and build relationships with them. Luckily for you, field marketing software is a tool that can be used to help with this. Through face-to-face interactions, consumers have the opportunity to ask questions, see your product in action, and experience its value firsthand. These engagements often lead to higher brand recall and increase the likelihood of conversions.
With more ‘traditional’ marketing methods, it’s common practice that businesses will have to wait for a significant amount of time until a campaign is finished to analyse the results. Field marketing is different as it allows businesses to collect and examine their campaign data faster, making for more agile and effective marketing. Before launching any initiative, agencies will usually perform market research to identify target demographics, competitive threats, and opportunities for growth. Throughout the campaign, they track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as foot traffic, customer sentiment, and sales impact to ensure they are always one step ahead.
As keen data enthusiasts, we understand the power of data when it comes to helping our clients make informed decisions. Data-driven insights are critical as they can help to refine your field marketing strategies and ensure future success. By analysing this data, agencies can recommend tweaks to campaigns in real-time and provide detailed reports that showcase and maximise your return on investment (ROI).
Now, let’s take a closer look at us and what we do ( we promise we’re not vain or anything!) What makes us stand out against other field marketing agencies is our integrated approach, which combines the latest technology with expert human resources to deliver outstanding retail solutions.
It’s not just our team that thinks so either - you can take a look at our case studies to see some examples of the work we’ve done so far.
At Dee Set, our incredible people are at the core of our success as a field marketing agency. Whether it’s executing large-scale brand activations or more niche promotional campaigns, our marketing team is highly skilled at turning creative ideas into tangible results.
Our network of full-time brand ambassadors and flexible retail merchandising teams have the expertise and commitment to support your goals every step of the way, ensuring that your brand’s message is communicated clearly and effectively to your target audience. With strong relationships with retailers and experience across various industries, we can navigate complex market conditions to deliver exceptional outcomes.
We embrace our data-driven strategies and cutting-edge technology and capabilities to measure and optimise campaigns in real-time. Our retail data analytics platform gives our clients complete visibility into their campaign performance, helping them assess the effectiveness of each engagement and pinpoint areas for improvement.
Whether you’re looking to enhance brand visibility, drive sales, or simply engage your customers in an authentic way, partnering with the right brand marketing agency can make all the difference. Dee Set’s expert team, our commitment to innovation, and our ‘tailored to you’ approach position us as the ultimate choice for modern brands looking to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
If you’re ready to elevate your marketing strategy and get your brand in front of the right people, get in touch!
Having a strong merchandising strategy is key to ensuring that your customers are engaged with your retail store and inspired to purchase your products. Providing a smooth and, more importantly, enjoyable shopping experience for your customers will help to increase ROI and promote business growth.
Merchandising plays an important role in your overall retail strategy, and promoting the right products in the right place and in a visually appealing way can make all the difference.
To the untrained eye, a badly stocked or sparse shelf might be no big deal but, at Dee Set, we view an unorganised display as a cardinal sin and understand the thought, expertise and data that goes behind it.
Stocking shelves has never been more exciting!
In this article, we’ll take a look at some common retail merchandising challenges for brick-and-mortar stores in an increasingly digital world. We’ll loop you in with 6 key retail merchandising strategies to improve your overall merchandising efforts, maximise your sales and make your brand stand out.
Read on to learn more…
With online shopping becoming ever-popular and your weekly food shop now just a click away, keeping your customers walking through those glistening sliding doors has become even more challenging. In this increasingly competitive landscape, customers quite literally have the world at their feet and the more choices they have the higher their expectations are.
This transition to a virtual space has seen a move away from shopping as a leisurely activity or event and led to a more isolated experience and subsequent lack of human contact.
The good news?
Physical stores can offer that unique experience that online retailers are missing.
Despite these challenges, physical outlets have many advantages. They are able to guide customers, promote new products seamlessly as part of the browsing process and encourage more shopping by visibly displaying a wider range of items. While looks aren't everything, shopping in a physical store is all about the visual experience and nothing beats a casual Sunday morning stroll along the biscuit aisle.
Turning new customers into satisfied customers and, fingers crossed, repeat customers requires an innovative retail merchandising strategy, ensuring you understand their shopping behaviours and are meeting their needs by offering relevant products in a tempting way.
The battle between in-store and online retailers continues...
In a nutshell, your products are the beating heart of any retail store and the most important financial asset in your business.
Effective merchandising is all about understanding your customer's purchasing behaviour and getting the most out of your retail space. The trick is to provide a seamless customer experience and display your products in a way that convinces customers to make a purchase.
It's as simple as that!
Knowing how to capture a customer's attention and get them to interact with a product in-store is all well and good, but it's also useful to understand why customers might change their minds - and it's not always because they forgot their purse! Having a customer-centric retail merchandising strategy is key.
While you're not putting on a three-act performance, your product displays should strike the right balance between connecting with and drawing the customer in whilst not overwhelming them. A lacklustre environment is uninspiring and disengages customers - we want to stop shoppers in their tracks, not chase them away!
One of the most important retail merchandising tactics is understanding and mapping out the in-store customer journey. From the moment they enter the store to the moment they leave, you want to create a simple, efficient and rewarding shopping experience.
With online stores offering a relaxed and easy shopping experience from the comfort of your own home, slippers and a cup of tea at the ready, why do customers still set foot in their local supermarkets and other retailers?
The answer is product interaction.
Being able to physically see, touch and examine a product adds value to that customer's experience and encourages them to make a purchase. With that being said, successful retail merchandising is as much about appealing to the five senses as it is about having eye-catching promotional signs and strategically placed purchase displays.
For example, if you're selling electronic products, such as phones or hairdryers, take the retail merchandise out of the packaging and allow your customers to experience it.
The same goes for larger furniture items, such as chairs, or even home decor with tactile textures, like a rug or super soft throw. This is another advantage over the virtual world of digital stores - another point to the brick-and-mortar club!
An effective visual merchandising strategy will entice your customers to explore particular aisles through the use of aesthetically pleasing displays. It will keep the customer in the store longer, increasing the number of items they inevitably add to their basket and, ultimately, maximise sales.
Knowing your target customers, their needs and purchasing behaviour will help to inform which products to promote and where to display them - improving conversion rates.
Ranging from discounts by percentage through to set price discounts and multibuy savings, implementing clear in-store promotional activities is an important merchandising strategy and can lead to an uplift in conversion rates in retail settings.
It's a win-win - retailers can utilise purchase displays to advertise deals and sale items. Meanwhile, adding bold discount signs and product tags can help to make those displays, and your products, appear more attractive to the customer.
Cross-merchandising also comes into play here, with the likelihood of customers purchasing non-sale items increasing significantly when placed next to sale items. As a persuasive retail merchandising tactic, displaying related products beside promotional activity can influence a purchasing decision.
For example, when the festive season is around the corner, deals on drinks are usually accompanied by a variety of snacks, dips and dinnerware - a party fit for a satisfied customer!
There's nothing worse than an empty shelf or that dreaded 'out-of-stock' label. Failure to provide the right products at the right time and price will lead to customers feeling disappointed and, therefore, less likely to return, resulting in a decrease in sales. In other words, consistent product availability will keep shoppers in store for longer and exposed to more of your merchandise, leading to a positive experience, increased items per basket and improved retail sales.
As a retailer, the aim of the game is to have the correct amount of stock and ranges available in order to motivate customers to make regular purchases, thus winning their loyalty.
Similarly, stocking the wrong products on shelves will lead to a large amount of dead stock and a loss on ROI, so know your customers!
The simple solution is to align demand with stock availability - category management and forecasting will come in handy here. As well as keeping shelves healthy, using data-driven merchandising principles can help improve shelf layout and the visual appeal of stores.
Planograms are a great visual merchandising tool, decluttering shelves and allowing you to better control the replenishment rate of your products. Fast-moving lines can be used to create 'hot spots' in stores, driving sales and improving stock turnover.
According to Dr. Russel Lazarus, around 80% of the information we process comes through our eyes. The windows to our soul and, in a retail setting, the windows to our wallet, appealing to the visuals through vibrant displays is fundamental to converting customers. At Dee Set, we have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to creating show-stopping displays that help to boost sales and increase ROI.
One of the most important retail merchandising rules is to create immersive and uncluttered retail displays that are accessible and can be easily viewed - e.g. at the front of the store. Effective displays will showcase products in a clean-line form and ensure the features and benefits of those items are highlighted. A top visual merchandising tip is to keep products at eye-level, creating a focal point that helps to push specific items, such as new arrivals, seasonal features or a beloved brand.
The trick is to capture the customer's attention before they've even picked up a basket and entered the store. Captivating window displays that are simple and bold in appearance are a great way to both convince the customer to invest in your products and showcase product features.
Like the changing of the seasons, a store's setup should continuously evolve throughout the year. Using seasonal displays to build excitement around a particular holiday and promote special offers - alongside showcasing a variety of fresh, seasonal products - will enhance the overall customer experience.
Deck the halls with Christmas decor and a classic colour scheme or play on the heartstrings with gorgeous flowers and Valentine's Day goodies - the options are endless!
Connecting with customers on an emotional level through the use of retail signage is also key in motivating them to connect with your products in-store and make a purchase. For example, signs that remind shoppers of significant life events, such as birthdays, holidays and anniversaries, assign products a sense of necessity while also adding sentimental value.
The use of evocative imagery is another impactful merchandising strategy that enables customers to relate to the items on display. It's all about creating that tangible, real-life experience for shoppers - gifs and emotionless pop-ups can get annoying after a while, right?
Unsurprisingly, emerging data and industry insights have pointed to an increase in customers craving a more sensory shopping experience, with 70% of shoppers highlighting the value of being able to interact with physical products.
Further supporting this claim, Google has reported that more than 60% of people prefer to shop with brands in retail stores as opposed to online.
As of 2022, more than 30% of businesses are focused on cross-selling initiatives, with research pointing to a more streamlined customer journey and an all-important increase in revenue.
The retail space is constantly shifting and evolving to keep up with customer demands. Keeping an eye on these developing trends and improving your retail merchandising strategy in response to data-driven insights will allow you to stay competitive and position your business as a top player in the industry.
With a proven track record of implementing successful retail merchandising strategies across multiple stores, the Dee Set team is on hand to provide professional expertise and devise a plan to maximise sales and increase ROI - those products will be flying off the shelves!
Using our professional expertise and years of experience, we'll help you to understand who your customer base is, their needs and expectations, and how you can implement strategic retail merchandising to keep your shoppers happy and their baskets full.
If you’d like to learn more about Dee Set and the services that we can offer to your business as a full-service field marketing agency, you can check out some of our success stories here!
Alternatively, get started and release your potential today by giving us a call or filling out our online form!
