I Don’t Care about Your ISO Certificate: See What Happens When Experiential Marketing Meets Influencers
A lot of e-commerce firms think they must be certified by institute like ISO as to convince others that they are the best of all. But in reality, do people still buy it? Nope.
Consumers don’t believe in those brainy terms anymore since they think they are just words made up by the merchants (some might simply be too lazy to understand). Instead, they turn to their very own feelings. Yes, just like Trolls’ theme song “Can’t Stop the Feeling” goes “I got this feeling inside my bone.”
It’s All about Feeling
So, if everything is about guts, then how do we assert it? Like any other marketing strategies, there is a term for it, and it is called “Experiential Marketing”.
In a nutshell, it is a master plan developed based on experience. For instance, unlike the conventional marketing strategy on promoting which is mainly about continuously telling customers every merit the product possesses, this one emphasizes more on possession. Specifically, it keeps telling you about the “atmosphere” while doing purchase and the “feeling” of having it, which gives you euphoria for a while. In this way, firms and companies all are looking for new panels for enhancing “User Experience”.
The Holy Trinity to Stand By
You might be wondering why there are only three things to write down if you are majoring in marketing, and you think there are supposed to be ten credos of them. True, there are supposedly be ten, but I chose to do alternate-paraphrasing.
Firstly, it is about the entity of the shopping process. In order to have the perfect experience, you, as a businessman, should provide consumers with after sales service and NOT just leaving them alone unattended, which could potentially piss them off because apparently, you’re not attentive enough.
Obvious example: tech support is expected to be available around the clock if you are a manufacturer of electronic appliances. This way, the whole picture of the shopping process is completed and service after the sale would impress consumers even more than the astonishment brought by the actual product. After all, they reckon you have a certain level of responsibility for cleaning up the mess.
Secondly, it is all about visualization. Try to imagine this, under what kind of circumstance would you have a hot dog? The answer could be something of while strolling down the street of New York (They have the best hot dog, so I heard) or during a lazy walk session in a park. So, is it unwise to sell hot dogs to the public during other times? Well if you wrap up the concept of “hot dog” with a wrapper called “Casual Food”, you get the solution. Under this notion, people will think of hot dogs every time they want a little indulgence during their casual activities.
Thirdly, it is about holistic experience. You may get confused between this one and the first one since they sound similar. But you shouldn’t, really. The former one puts more emphasis on process, but this one is more relevant to the senses. A holistic experience would create immersive experience related to several different senses.
Take Chanel’s perfume as an example. It is appealing to most of us because of its smell, its look, and of course its ‘sophisticated’ image. This is actually the typical case of holistic experience in shopping. So, if you are a member of developer team, you need to focus more than one dimension of the product. Give more thoughts on the product than your customers.
Sparkle between IM and EM
Many would ask if it is enough to just go through the trinity above. But, if you want to really emerge in it, you must go with influencer marketing. It is not only a plus but a multiplier.
Authentic Experience Talks
Authentic experience is the best for the time being since it can make people think that you are sincere and thus, are more willing to buy the products under your endorsement. Furthermore, people love stories more than stats. With this pattern, firms tend to ask more and more influencers to share experiences of their products. To make this argument more crystal clear, take the clip released by Joeman, one of the most famous influencers in Taiwan, as an example. It is an unboxing video about LG’s latest laptop — Gram and this creates a sensation among the netizens since he shares dozens of experience based on his personal involvement. That is to say, his thought, act, and emotion would significantly affect public’s decision of purchase.
In short, the Trinity and the authentic experience brought by the influencers will rule the field of marketing in the near future or even right in 2019 since it already has everything consumers nowadays need — Immersive shopping experience promoted by influencers.
=======================================
Viral Access is an AI and data-driven social communication company — we help you tell your story through social media. We pair your brand with relevant micro and nano influencers that help you increase awareness, engagement and conversion. We have the systems and team in place to support large scale communications throughout Asia.
For business inquiries, contact us at: info@viralaccess.asia.
