Experiential Marketing 2.0

As experiential marketers, we are faced with an interesting challenge. Where we were once entirely focused on creating experiences which activated the emotional and rational levers of our audiences from a face-to-face perspective, we now have to account for the distractions of laptops, netbooks, and mobile devices. Additionally, social media has created a powerful back-channel which competes heavily with the experiences we work so diligently to engineer. Instead of contributing the the noise, if we take a targeted approach to engaging our audiences across their communications channels, we will be able to take what many see as an impediment to our success and turn it into an opportunity. Here are some thoughts on how.

Branding. In event marketing it’s more than plastering your logo on a pen, sponsoring a lunch or hanging the largest banner allowed by show management over your booth. To truly build a brand that leaves an indelible imprint on the hearts and minds of audiences, event marketers must adopt a more strategic, holistic approach.

Here are 13 ideas to help you build your brand through broader and deeper audience engagement at your events.

As of late, there has been some discussion discounting MySpace as a viable channel for marketing. While Facebook has skyrocketed globally to more than 300 million users, MySpace has still been quietly delivering millions of visitors every month.

According to Quantcast, as of November 2009, MySpace has more just under 60 million regular users per month, making it the second largest social network in the US. 57% of users are female and 43% are male. As far as age is concerned, 46% of MySpace visitors are 18-34, followed by 13-17 at 26% and 35-49 at 17%.
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So how can event marketers leverage MySpace for events? Here are 8 ideas to get you started…