Receptionist, website, and sales person... all these initial touch points set the tone of your company.  When was the last time you called your company’s main number, looked at your website or had your cold-calling firm call you? 

Are your customers and prospects greeted by a friendly voice or do their calls roll into an automated system that has them running in circles trying to reach a live person? When visiting your website, do visitors have to drill down several layers before finding contact info? Is it something other than a window filled with fields to be completed and submitted to some unknown person who responds at their convenience or do they get an automated response thanking them for contacting your company?  When was the last time you experienced your company from a potential client’s perspective?

“Experiential” has been the buzzword that summed up marketing in the tradeshow and event industry.  In reality Experiential Marketing is much more than that.  It is every communication from your company.

To learn more about Experiential Marketing NJMEP spoke with Rhea Cook, president of Ex Machina, a marketing and design firm that specializes in helping businesses create positive experiences for its customers and prospects.

NJMEP: Rhea, can you please take us through Experiential Marketing 101? 

Ex Machina: The hype around Experiential Marketing makes it seem like a new kind of corporate hocus pocus. But Experiential Marketing is less complex and more practical than it may seem. It’s a way to think about the things you are already doing that will allow you to connect with your customers and prospects in a more memorable way. Every customer interaction with a member of your team is perceived as a communication from your company. You know this from any negative experience you have had with a vendor. It only takes one customer service nightmare to make you rethink your relationship with the entire company.

Delivering the ‘Common Sense’ Message
NJMEP:  That sounds pretty straight forward. 

Ex Machina:  You’re right, it's very straight forward.  The common sense of your everyday life will help you understand your customer’s experience. A simple example:  When you pick out a birthday present for a family member or a dear friend, you think about their personality and what they might enjoy - or better yet, you take the time to find out what they really want. To help communicate how much you value them, you may wrap the gift in special paper and include a card picked out just for them. Sometimes you even plan a party at which they are the guest of honor! You do everything you can to create a memorable experience.

On the other hand, you don’t deliver the gift still in the bag with the price tag on, and include a copy of an old card that you received for your birthday because ‘that’s easier for you.’ In that case, when your loved one opened your gift they would be painfully aware that you did not personally consider them for even a moment. It would be an equally memorable experience but for all the wrong reasons.

Choices Create Experiences
NJMEP: Rhea, I think I understand your point...we reinforce or deny the relationships we have by the choices we make.  How many times have we received a proposal from a vendor that is so general we wonder if they even heard our needs or chose to address them.

Ex Machina: Yes, exactly. What we’re saying is:  A value and expectation is established between you and your customers just as it is between you and your friends. Consequently if your marketing messages and the ways in which you deliver them do not match your customers’ expectations, the disconnect is measurable and immediate for better or worse.  In much the same way you would communicate to your friend how little you value your relationship with them were you to treat them with the indifference described above. 

To your customer every choice you make, from the personality of your receptionist to the quality of your direct mail piece, is a marketing choice. Embracing that fact will enable you to breakthrough to a new way of thinking about marketing – and creating experiences for your customers and prospects alike.

Creating a memorable first impression doesn’t depend on mystical words and astronomical budgets. All it takes is your team’s collective energy and a commitment to showing customers that you understand who they are and value your relationship enough to provide them with a positive experience when communicating with your company.

NJMEP: Thank you Rhea. It’s clear that every touch point is valuable as they send a message about your company and create an experience for the prospect and customer.
 
For more information on creating a lasting impression for your customer, email us a ManufacturingMatters@njmep.org. Please put Creating Lasting Impressions in the subject line.