By: Oana Borcoman | 01.13.2019
We are facing a major change in the marketing landscape, and it begins with focusing on experiences. People have become so lost in social networks, mass messaging, over-stimulation, unhealthy habits, addictions to anything digital, forced addictions to email and over-working themselves and generally losing touch with personal connections. People have become LOST in the digital world and have lost touch with the REAL world.
If you have gotten online at all since the new year, you will have seen gobs of articles about health trends: living a better life, learning to de-stress and reconnecting with the real world.
One of the biggest trends right now in 2019 is HEALTH. One of the greatest rising health trends is taking care of your body and your mental health…performing a digital detox, for example.
As a marketer, that SCREAMS opportunities for experiential. Are we so connected that we have disconnected? Re-connect with your customers in a real way. Give them an experience. Pull them away from the digital world that is doing more harm than good right now.
“Self-reported Facebook and Instagram usage have been found to correlate positively with symptoms of depression, both directly and indirectly (Donnelly & Kuss, 2016; Lup, Trub, & Rosenthal, 2015; Rosen, Whaling, Rab, Carrier, & Cheever, 2013; Tandoc, Ferrucci, & Duffy, 2015;). Higher usage of Facebook has been found to be associated with lower self-esteem cross sectionally (Kalpidou, Costin, & Morris, 2011) as well as greater loneliness (Song et al., 2014). Higher usage of Instagram is correlated with body image issues (Tiggemann & Slater, 2013).
…It is ironic, but perhaps not surprising, that reducing social media, which promised to help us connect with others, actually helps people feel less lonely and depressed.”
No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression
I’VE DUMPED THOUSANDS IN DIGITAL MARKETING… NOW WHAT?!
Let’s clear the air a bit… digital marketing is still HUGE, as is social media marketing. If you have a product that can be purchased from the comfort of one’s own home, you would be missing the boat completely to not have a strong social media presence. On the couch impulse purchases are any e-commerce company’s bread and butter!
If you offer a service locally in your city, a strong digital presence and SEO is necessary to stand out from the crowd and be found by your desired customer.
However, no one said marketing is easy. And certainly no one said owning a business or starting a product line is easy. You have to do a bit of EVERYTHING and be a master at many things.
No, your digital and social marketing efforts are not wasted (as long as you are using someone reputable and worthwhile showing results and ROI, of course). I could go on a path of horror stories I have heard about business owners paying oodles of money to receive nothing but a crappy website with zero ROI, but that deserves a post on its own, honestly.
If you are not currently adding experiential marketing efforts in your marketing plan and budget, you will quickly fall by the wayside.
“Marketing professor and Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson said it best: “Digital marketing is just marketing”. All things digital are part of today’s marketing standard, and shouldn’t be treated as separate.”
–5 big event trends for 2019: Where’s the industry going and what do you need to know?
WHAT HEALTH TRENDS ARE TELLING US ABOUT THE FUTURE OF EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
Technology provides us with experiences we would have never had before. It opens the world up to anyone, making it smaller and more accessible than ever.
However, Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., a neuroscientist and neurologist, summarizes it best in his podcast, “We have to be better at managing technology at the level we have it and prepare for the future… part of the solution is to take control of technology and not let it control you.”
We have started seeing the world from our screens instead of through our own experiences. Unfortunately, that is posing other types of health problems, as well.
“Overexposure to information, rapid reward cycles, and multitasking can all take a toll on how we regulate our emotions, manage our stress, and allocate our attention… I find it increasingly important to take time off from technology to focus on friends, nature, and my own mind. For me, the best way to accomplish this is to take a deep dive into the beauty of our natural world. Coupling these with physical activity, like a long hike, takes it up a notch.”
-Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., 11 Wellness Trends To Watch In 2019
Not only will shutting down and being one with nature help your mental health, but it will also help your sleep patterns.
According to the CDC, 1 in 3 adults do not get the recommended amount of sleep, and 1 in 4 adults develop insomnia each year.
Unfortunately, more information is coming out showing a link between sleep medications like Ambien and dementia, among other side effects. Who wants to medicate with these if they don’t have to!?
Fortunately, simply shutting off electronics and light can help your body prepare itself for the evening: produce melatonin and wind down to go to sleep. Also, as mentioned above, nature itself has powerful healing effects! Getting out in nature can help you regulate your sleep-wake cycle, and spending time outdoors away from artificial light can significantly rev up your body’s natural melatonin production.
We are learning that all tech everything and getting sucked into our phone, iPads, Netflix, etc. is doing us much harm. Not only is it affecting our physical bodies and mental health, but it is actually causing depression, anxiety and loneliness.
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING FOR THE WIN IN 2019
Experiential marketing is more important than ever right now. The ad space is cluttered. People are over-stimulated and over-messaged. Brands are popping up left and right and ALL trying to take a piece of the same pie.
People are learning about the importance of mindfulness for well-being, so they are starting to shut down and shut out on purpose. Consumers want brands with a story and social consciousness. They are more influenced by their friends and what they see on social media rather than your ads or website. We are all just tired of being SOLD to and want to feel like what we use, buy and recommend has purpose and meaning.
So how do you reach your desired consumers?
A recent study shows that memorable events drive consumers to learn more about a brand, feel positively about them and inspire a purchase.
According to this study, “the top drivers of memorable events are those that are awe-inspiring, fun, adventuresome, liberating and appealing to the senses. The lowest drivers include: affordability, cause-based, family friendly, accessibility and unexpected.”
We are living in an experience-based world, full of wanderlust and general curiosity. And just because social media is making people depressed and lonely, it isn’t going away any time soon nor will it slow down on how it influences your consumers.
What does that mean? Give your customers something to brag about on social media! Give them Instagram worthy experiences. While your activation will only reach a limited amount of people, the people THEY reach are limitless with their posts, stories, live feeds and influence!
If you want to keep up in 2019, plan on evolving brand activations, events and pop-ups from just Instagrammable photo backgrounds into “immersive playgrounds that everyone wants to experience firsthand.“
