When you think of brand activation the images that come to mind are branded food trucks, pop-up shops, or contests/sweepstakes. Basically, anything that excites and delights consumers to engage with said brand. But there’s a lot more to executing engaging brand experiences; the goal, for many marketers, is to be able to reengage the audience post-activation. Traditionally, customer activation is a one-shot, big bang form of advertising, but in recent years technology has allowed organizations to get more out of their customer activation programs. (See “How Much You Should Be Spending on Experiential Marketing” for the ROI of brand activations.)
So, what solutions can marketers harness to get the most out of customer activation? Here are 6 examples to consider when planning your next program:
What better way to activate customers than to incentivize them? Now this isn’t your ordinary plastic gift card or loyalty rewards program, no, this solution allows you to digitally deploy electronic gift cards, e-coupons, and digital tickets for use on smartphones. The beauty of this is that it allows for mass distribution, and therefore mass activation of your customers. Digital incentives are the new future of “branded currency” activations.
Nothing is more powerful or rewarding than seeing your marketing efforts develop in real-time. Access to reports as they happen can help you to tweak and perfect an activation as it happens. By giving you a glimpse into how its performing, you have the capacity to refine or fix a problem in the activation process rather than realizing afterwards, and having to call the entire campaign a bust. On the flip side, if a customer activation is running smoothly, you’ll gain actionable insights from live reports.
Sometimes all you need is a simple solution to make your brand activation a success. Throw away those pens and papers, and let the tech do the work for you. Much like checking in prior to departure at the airport, you can do the same for your event and experiential programs. This allows you to get an impression of who will be in attendance, gives attendees the feeling of a VIP experience, and allows you to put more effort into the experience itself.
By this point we should all know just how important a SMS is to communicate your message. Marketers have been perfecting the art of effective SMS marketing for a few years now, and brand activations can truly benefit from this solution. You can use text messaging as a gateway tool and communication mechanic to instantly engage consumers to complete an action. You then have the power to reengage them over and over again, long after they have opted-in.
CRM integration allows you to capture real time leads, churn data, and deploy targeted campaigns easily using your CRM system. For example, organizations activating consumers with incentives such as gift cards and loyalty rewards can manage and execute their programs at any time with the ability to seamlessly collect and sync data with your existing sales system. This is essential for any business looking to grow rapidly and effectively. See how WILY helps customers like Rogers and Scotiabank power their campaigns by booking a short demo.
At WILY engagement mechanics are the bread and butter for many of our clients’ brand activations. Gamification is a proven driver of consumer engagement, and the ability to launch creative mechanics on any device is sure to make your brand stand out. Whether it’s a contest or company announcement, you can develop exciting front end digital experiences to engage your audience. To see examples from some of the world’s most trusted brands, visit our engagement center for live demos and case studies.
These 6 solutions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to improving your customer activation marketing. Check out our solutions for more ways to drive engagement and activate consumers.
In this age of digital transformation, businesses need to take creative risks when it comes to their engagement strategy. Explore the top 10 marketing trends that are disrupting the way we engage consumers in 2018 and beyond.
WHAT’S INSIDE: