IF YOU’RE TIRED OF BEING AT THE MERCY OF EVER-CHANGING ALGORITHMS, CONTROL YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE WITH AN EXPERIENTIAL EVENT.  TAKE THAT, ZUCKERBERG.

It took two long years of lockdown for the world to fully appreciate the power of in-person events. Sure, the digital version did the trick while we waited (and waited… ), but there’s no denying that there’s no feeling quite like the direct, immediate experience that comes from being in the same room as 50, 500 or 5,000 people. Okay, maybe we’re not at the 5,000-people-in-a-room stage yet, but we’re definitely getting there.

Countless studies have shown that people simply need people. Being around others makes us healthier – slightly ironic given what we’ve all been through. This is because not having a social support system is actually a source of chronic stress for our bodies. Our brains also work better when we’re together, and psychologically, we prefer to get through life not alone.

Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” And this certainly rings true at in-person events. It’s the positive emotional state of the attendees that truly counts, long after the last straggler has collected their gift bag and ordered their taxi home.

Any event – no matter how big or small – is an experience, and at the heart of every experience is the intention to resonate with the values of each guest. If you succeed in doing this in a meaningful way, it’s one of the most important forms of marketing. Done right, it can boost ROI and strengthen the reputation of the brand globally. After all, it used to be that you created events to reach the 500 people that attended on the day. Now you’re leveraging those 500 people to reach five million of their friends and followers on social media for weeks, maybe months, after.

So, make your next event an unforgettable experience, hopefully shared by millions, and one that can tap into this newly rebooted ‘experience economy’. According to an Eventbrite study, when it comes to money, ‘experiences’ trump ‘things’. More than three in four millennials (78%) would choose to spend money on a desirable experience or event over buying something desirable, and 55% of millennials say they’re spending more on events and live experiences than ever before. What’s more, experiences help shape identity and create life-long memories, with nearly eight in 10 (77%) millennials saying some of their best memories are from an event or live experience they attended or participated in.

With people now more likely to spend money on experiences rather than products, it’s never been a better time to work on developing emotional bonds with your customers through curated experiences.

The Benefits Of In-Person Events

If you’re tired of being at the mercy of ever-changing algorithms, you’re certainly not alone. The thing is, the beauty of in-person events is you can cut through the noise online and increase your digital presence with some great user-generated content. From a memorable hashtag to organising audience participation (that they’ll then want to share on social), events are a goldmine for shareable content.

Brand activations also boost brand awareness and loyalty, particularly when they centre around the end-user. By getting the audience to physically interact with a product, they’ll feel instantly more connected to a brand. Research shows that when customers have a positive experience when interacting with brands – whether that includes live speakers, hands-on experiences or face-to-face interactions, they are much more likely to purchase their products or services in the future.

How To Plan Experiential Events

When planning your event, think about your specific target audience. What inspires and delights them? How best can you create an emotional connection between them and your brand? The difference between digital marketing strategies and experiential ones is the latter makes use of all five senses – sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell – to create a powerful experience. From the food to the music, the lighting and colour, entertainment and staging, creating multi-sensory events will always be more memorable than countless, forgettable, social posts. Our senses are the foundation of our experiences and the more stimulated they are, the more the brain is activated.

Personalisation is also key in the experience economy. After all, human experiences are deeply personal. A Salesforce study showed that 92% of customers expect to have a personalised experience with a brand. You can do this through personalised emails, offering attendees personalised agendas based on their interests, and following up with various personalised measures of success.

Think back to a truly memorable event you attended. What made it so special? The precise answer is often hard to pinpoint because it’s the emotion you felt at the time, rather than, say, the food you ate, that triggers positive feelings. A company’s ultimate goal is to create a meaningful and memorable impact on their audience and there’s really no better way than in-person events. When you create truly special experiential moments with your colleagues, customers or clients, they can last a lifetime.

Contact us to discuss your next unforgettable event.