4 Types of In Person Marketing
While a great deal of column space on this site has been dedicated to online marketing subjects, it is worth spending some time considering some of the more old-school, in person marketing strategies that have proven effective. In person marketing strategies are incredibly numerous in form. Any kind of marketing style that uses human connection to a product, brand or service is likely to be effective. Here is a quick guide to 4 of the most prominent kinds of in person marketing.
1. Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing – also known as engagement marketing – is a relatively novel method of cultivating a relationship between consumers and a brand. Experiential marketing specialists aim to create unique branded experiences that engage a consumer’s body and mind in a context that cements their relationship to a brand. Inviting a consumer to take part in an activity can trigger more lasting memories of a brand and its products. Experiential marketing campaigns are often linked to special sporting or release events.
2. Networking Events and Conventions
Networking events and conventions can be valuable venues for in person marketing. Conventions are considered to be especially valuable. Large industry conventions provide hundreds of opportunities for brands to conduct in person marketing with their specific target audiences. Conventions naturally contain large concentrations of people who are already interested in the general area a brand is working in.
Marketing tactics used at conventions and networking events include the provision of free samples, the collection of email data and the distribution of printed marketing materials.
3. Sports Sponsorship
Sports sponsorships can be immensely profitable marketing arrangements. Athletes are regularly seen by thousands of people and can be exemplary brand ambassadors. Sporting sponsorships can be extremely expensive. Etihad airlines spent 67.5 million pounds on a shirt sponsorship with Manchester City Football Club last season.
Some brand marketing material has combined with shirt designs to create an iconic look. Barcelona’s longstanding partnership with UNICEF, for instance, led to some absolutely beautiful shirts that will live on in cultural memory for a long time after the actual partnership has been terminated. Sports sponsorship can also involve brands making deals with individual athletes, who can then act as mouthpieces.
4. Arts Sponsorship
Some companies choose to invest money into the arts, with the aim of improving their reputation and associating themselves with agreeable and interesting cultural trends. When this works, it works well. When it misfires, it can be catastrophic. Context is everything. The oil giant British Petroleum – a company with a history of colonial exploitation and environmental poisoning – chose to sponsor major exhibitions at the British Museum. The museum, which is trying to eliminate its own legacies of colonial practice, found itself embarrassed by its sponsor. This hurt both parties. As with all affiliation-based strategies, arts sponsorship needs to be conducted with extreme care.
Good arts sponsorship is capable of creating a lasting affiliation between a brand and the arts. Because arts organizations have very good audience segmentation data available, it is possible to target arts sponsorship efforts very accurately and efficiently.
