Experiential and event marketing is absolutely booming —
Did you know 66% of customers are willing to pay more to buy products from brands that actively demonstrate social commitment? 87% of customers will buy from a brand that shows advocacy for a cause they care about.
People are attracted to companies that care about others, where their materials come from and the environment.
How can companies tie in their social responsibility with marketing campaigns? How does experiential marketing make a difference? Keep reading to understand what experiential marketing is and how it can help you attract more customers by incorporating your social responsibility endeavors to produce positive public relations and brand affinity.
What Is Experiential Marketing?
Experiential marketing is a type of marketing strategy that deeply engages customers, immersing them within a brand. They aren't just marketed to about buying a product or service, they are provided an experience.
And people love experiences.
A good experience will leave a positive memory and create an emotional connection with your customer. This will make them more interested in your brand. 84% of customers want to feel like a real person instead of just another customer when interacting with brands.
Experiential marketing campaigns create that experience for them.
This type of marketing is becoming more and more common. While the concept is not new, the marketing landscape has more platforms than ever before, making experiential marketing easier. Experiential events help brands build their customer base while providing fun for all involved.
What Is Corporate Social Responsibility?
Corporate social responsibility is a concept that businesses are responsible for some social issues. Social responsibility doesn't have a right or wrong way of doing things. Businesses should determine what causes they are most interested in and commit their social responsibility to improve them.
Employees, stakeholders, and customers are all culturally aware of ongoing issues. Corporate social responsibility is becoming more important for companies to prioritize. Creating a socially conscious brand will make a positive impression on those around you and your public image.
There are three main types of social responsibility, outlined below:
Philanthropy
Philanthropy-focused social responsibility is where companies donate time, money, goods, and services to social causes and nonprofits. This type of commitment aims to offer resources to the community and charities to help them expand their efforts.
For example, here at The Experiential Network, each employee is given dollars to donate to a charity of their choice at Christmas.
The Environment
With global warming and climate change on everyone's minds, environmental improvements are a popular social responsibility strategy. Every business creates a carbon footprint and with a focused strategy, businesses can actively work to reduce theirs. Companies can also focus on using less plastic, sourcing recycled materials, and reducing waste and emissions.
The Experiential Network keeps a very low carbon footprint by allowing all of our workers to work remotely since the year 2000. This keeps cars off of the road, uses less electricity, reduces paper use, and reduces single-use waste products
Volunteering
Another way to show social responsibility is to volunteer your time. And allow your employees to have so many hours of volunteering time available for them to use. This can help you to become a key member of your local community. Committing your time to causes that are important to your organization can leave a lasting impression.
For example, you and your employees volunteer at a local woman's march, handing out water bottles with your company logo to those participating. Some of your workers have a station set up with seats for those people who need a break. This is an example of using your social responsibility in the local community.
How Can Experiential Marketing Help Corporate Social Responsibility?
Tying in social responsibility into your marketing efforts is a great strategy, but you shouldn't do it simply for the marketing potential. You should commit to improvements that are in alignment with your company's values.
Experiential events are the perfect opportunity to create an immersive experience with a brand. You can incorporate your social responsibility aspect by donating a portion of the proceeds to the charity you support. Or have a signup option for attendees to volunteer with your local nonprofit.
The emotional connection it will create with customers is a meaningful one that will last. They will be proud to follow your brand and will likely buy from you if the cause you support is one they follow.
Other experiential marketing and social responsibility ideas include:
- Brand presence at a fun run, or other charity fundraising project
- Sponsor community events and provide needs for the event, and have a team attend.
- Have charities on-site at your event with various projects to sign up for
You could even create a campaign where customers voted on what charity you would donate funds from an event.
There are many ways to incorporate social responsibility into your experiential marketing events, you just need to put on your creative thinking cap!
Create Your Experiential Marketing Campaign
Now that you understand the steps you need to take to include social responsibility in your marketing, it's time to integrate it into your next campaign.
Will you donate to a charity? Or will you attend a community event and provide your goods? Or are you unsure and have decided to create a social media campaign to ask customers what they'd like to see?
No matter which way you decide to go, remember there is no wrong or right way to incorporate social responsibility into your marketing. If you would like to gain expertise from experiential marketing experts, contact us today for help crafting your next strategy.
