Nonprofits can face some unique challenges when it comes to being in the digital age and marketing, such as donor fatigue or competing causes. These challenges mean that there is a need to branch out and start implementing marketing strategies that will help them stand out from competitors. One of the best strategies that we always recommend for nonprofits is experiential marketing. This type of marketing strategy helps to create more meaningful, real-world interactions with those who are interested in your brand. It is impactful and cuts through all of the digital world noise.

What Challenges Do You Face With Digital Marketing?

Although digital marketing is something that almost everyone is doing now, this is actually where the problem lies. Ultimately, there is a lot of competition out there, and it takes a big movement to stand out from everyone else and create a true connection. Social media algorithms can also make it extremely difficult to connect with the right audience and organically reach supporters who should be seeing your content. Many nonprofits look and sound similar online, which doesn’t give you much room to stand out and make a difference. Not only this, but nonprofits often need an emotional connection in order to move people to support them, which can be really difficult to do online.

What is Experiential Marketing?

When we talk about experiential marketing, we are talking about live, interactive, and memorable brand experiences that take place mostly offline. It’s a much different form of marketing than you’re used to seeing, but it’s incredibly beneficial for nonprofits to take advantage of. Some examples of nonprofit experiential marketing can be pop-up events, immersive events, or cause-driven activations. It differs mainly from digital marketing due to the in-person nature of these campaigns. Although there may be some digital integration, the main focus is to bring people in person to see your brand, speak with them, and make more of an impact than just seeing a sponsored social media post.

Why Does Experiential Marketing Work for Nonprofits?

There are many reasons that experiential marketing works for nonprofits. We’ve gone over some of the challenges that nonprofits can face when it comes to digital marketing, which leads us into why experiential marketing is a better option. Here’s a breakdown of why experiential marketing is a great option for nonprofits:

Emotional Connection

It’s important for nonprofits to connect with their audience emotionally, as nonprofits are usually supporting a cause. The best way to get someone to understand the cause, what you do, and why they should support it is by connecting with them and showing them firsthand. Ultimately, experiential marketing is the best way to do this because it brings people to you in person and allows for a much more intimate marketing experience than they are getting with other brands.

Memorability

In digital marketing, people are seeing hundreds of brands across their feeds and in sponsored posts. Oftentimes, they forget about these brands by the end of the day. With experiential marketing, there is a huge memorability factor that comes with seeing the brand and speaking with the people behind it in person. These tangible and interactive experiences tend to stay top-of-mind much longer than a digital ad would.

Social Sharing

There is a lot of impact when it comes to experiential marketing. People are much more likely to take photos, videos, and share the event with their friends when they attend. This brings in a digital element to an otherwise in-person event while allowing you to get more awareness from people sharing the content online.

Authenticity

Staying authentic is important for any brand, but especially for nonprofits. It’s important to stay true to your mission and values when doing marketing, and experiential marketing makes this very easy. This tactic allows nonprofits to share their values and missions in real and relatable ways.

How Nonprofits Can Start with Experiential Marketing

If you’re a nonprofit that thinks experiential marketing would be a great option for you, there are a few ways you can start implementing this strategy today. First, it’s important to identify your mission story and how you can translate it into an experience that people will attend. You’ll want to start small with a community-based event, pop-up, or local partnership so you can get an idea of how things will go. Leveraging a hybrid event is also beneficial, which could include a digital aspect like a hashtag, livestream, or VR experience. If you’re unsure of where to start and need direction from a professional team, you should look into partners who have experience in experiential marketing strategies.

How Do You Know if Your Experiential Marketing Campaigns Are Successful?

There are a lot of different ways that you can measure whether your campaigns are successful, just like you would with a digital marketing campaign. Checking your engagement metrics is one of the top ways to do this. You can look into attendance, participation rates, and social media shares during your event. Another way to see the impact and success of your campaign is by looking at the donations collected during and after the event. Long-term, you’ll be able to notice changes in recurring donors, the number of attendees, and volunteer sign-ups as you continue to expand awareness of your brand and your events.

Ready to Take the Plunge Into Experiential Marketing?

We know how impactful experiential marketing is at Factory360, especially for nonprofits. If you are considering trying out this method of marketing and think it’s the right direction for your organization, then reach out to us. We have a skilled team of professionals who have worked on many marketing campaigns, and we can help you get this campaign set up from start to finish. With the amount of benefits experiential marketing offers for nonprofits, it’s a strategy worth exploring.