How to engage and inspire consumers and employees in times of change

In these times of change, communities and consumers are CRAVING connection and hope more than ever. With live events cancelled, you can still make authentic connections with consumers to let them know you are here for them.

Traditional advertising can only do so much. It’s a one-way conversation that doesn’t allow your target audience to experience your brand, product or service in real life. People are tired of being talked at.

It’s time to make it a two-way conversation. That’s what it takes to break your audience away from the quarantine Netflix binge and get them immersed in your brand.

How do you do it? Virtual experiential marketing.

Consumers are suffering from information overload. With so many messages and so little time, the competition to stand out is fierce. In an age of short attention spans and perpetual messaging clutter, consumers have more control than ever. They’re fast-forwarding or skipping through commercials and growing cynical about traditional marketing. To that, we say: “Challenge accepted.”

Here are four key practices for successful virtual events:

1. Smaller is better
   • Let your audience engage, via chat in real-time
2. Establish ambassadors to help monitor and respond to streaming events and commenting in real-time
3. Show face, allow consumers to see each other. The most important part of an event is having face-to-face connection, even if that is digital
4. Support it with a robust communications campaign via digital and social tools

Watch Events

Build intimate inspiring connections among smaller numbers of people, micro-groups, where community engagement can thrive.

Leveraging Facebook Groups, Vimeo, and other streaming tools allow companies/brands to host watch events for things such as:

• Workouts
• Industry roundtables
• Health forums
• Makeup/beauty tutorials
• Family forums
• Engagement with key verticals or industries

Live Display Events

Create a sense of community without having to be in the same place through a social display wall:

• Live display window embedded into your existing website
• Virtual attendees to your event/micro-event can share their story through posts to a #hashtag or @mention that show up on the wall
• Interact and foster interaction with participants through a campaign of posts to spark conversation

Employee Augmented Reality Gaming

Almost everyone today owns a smartphone and people download new apps on a regular basis. So, as long as employees learn that your business has a brand-new Augmented Reality (AR) app, there is a good chance that they'll give it a try. Here's how to engage team members with an AR gaming experience:

• Team member downloads the app from the intranet or app store (iOS & Android) along with app trigger image
• Team member activates app and holds device in front of trigger image to start gameplay
• Gameplay interaction begins on the screen
• Scores are tracked on a leaderboard showcased on the intranet to foster competition between individuals and countries/regions
• Team members can be rewarded for gameplay and invited to participate in additional quizzing

 PR Stunts of Hope

A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to capture public awareness without the need for crowds:

• Share messages of hope
• Be inspiring
• Be big, authentic, and brave
• Make it “shareable”
• Create content that can be used in future marketing campaigns
• Examples:
  • Mapped projection, pop-up displays, thought-provoking branding/billboards, social stunts

Cut through the messaging clutter. Immerse your customers in your brand. Convert your target audience into loyal consumers and brand advocates. It’s all about the virtual experience.