Embrace a new mindset: business experience marketing strategy. By creating ROI-driven experiences that connect physical and digital channels, businesses can engage audiences both online and offline. This global, cost-effective strategy is the key to driving growth. Whether you're a CMO, marketer, or business owner, it's time to shift your focus and unlock new opportunities for success. Get ready to elevate your marketing game with business experience marketing strategy!
Business experience marketing as cost-effective strategy to drive growth and ROI in the phygital.
Because copyright matters. How to cite this article: American Institute of Business Experience Design (2023). How to leverage business experience marketing strategy to drive growth. Retrieved [date you accessed the article], from [copy and paste the URL of the article page].
Traditional marketing strategies are becoming increasingly obsolete in today's fast-paced phygital world. In order to stay ahead of the curve and drive business growth, CMOs, marketers, and businesses of all sizes across various industries must embrace a new mindset: business experience marketing strategy. This global, cost-effective strategy puts the human element first, creating ROI-driven experiences that connect physical and digital channels and engage audiences both online and offline. By shifting their focus from outdated marketing strategy thinking to a more holistic approach, businesses can unlock new opportunities for growth and success.
In order to keep pace with the changing landscape, businesses need to embrace a new mindset - one that focuses on creating engaging and ROI-driven experiences. This is where business experience marketing comes in. By putting the human element first, this strategy connects physical and digital channels to engage audiences both online and offline. In this article, we'll explore why it's crucial for marketing teams to shift to a business experience marketing mindset, and how this shift can unlock new opportunities for growth and success.
From conventional to experience marketing: why CMOs must embrace the business experience marketing mindset
Nowadays, it has become essential for businesses of all sizes to adopt a customer-centric marketing strategy instead of a product-centric one. By embracing a business experience marketing mindset, companies can transform their marketing tactics and gain a competitive edge. The traditional ways of thinking and doing things are no longer effective in this new phygital era, and ineffective marketing implementations can prove to be costly for companies. CMOs and marketing departments are often held accountable for poor ROI on marketing investments.
When companies fail to achieve the desired outcomes from their marketing investments, CMOs and marketing departments usually bear the brunt of the blame. In such cases, the pressure on CMOs to justify the return on investment (ROI) of marketing campaigns increases. The senior management may question the effectiveness of marketing tactics, and stakeholders may demand accountability for the lack of results.
For instance, suppose a company launches an advertising campaign without a clear strategy or target audience, resulting in poor engagement and sales. In that case, the marketing team may face criticism for wasting the company's resources on an ineffective campaign. Similarly, if a company invests in developing a new product but fails to generate enough demand due to poor marketing, the marketing team may be held responsible for the product's failure.
Therefore, it is crucial for marketing teams to shift to a business experience marketing mindset to ensure that their marketing campaigns create engaging phygital experiences that deliver value and connect with customers across both physical and digital channels. This shift is one of the four major changes that signify the transition from traditional marketing to experience marketing. To help businesses understand this shift in thinking, we elaborate it below.
Shift in strategic focus: moving from transactional to experiential business model
In today's rapidly changing business environment, it's becoming increasingly important for companies to adapt to the evolving context and changing consumer behaviors. One effective way to achieve this is by shifting from a short-term transactional profit-focused strategy to a long-term experiential strategic approach that places the human element at the center of the corporate strategy. By prioritizing customers, employees, and all stakeholders in their decision-making, companies can foster a culture of collaboration and partnership.
This approach not only helps to build trust and loyalty with customers but also leads to a more engaged workforce and a stronger brand reputation. By making the human element a key part of their strategy, companies can generate profit not just from transactional sales but also from building long-term relationships with their customers. In conclusion, embracing a long-term experiential strategic approach that prioritizes the human element can bring numerous benefits to companies, including increased customer loyalty, a more engaged workforce, and a stronger brand reputation.
For example, a CMO or business can focus on creating a human-centric approach by prioritizing customer and employee engagement and satisfaction. One way to achieve this is by investing in personalized experiences and creating a seamless customer journey across all touchpoints. This can involve gathering customer feedback and insights through surveys, social media, and other channels to understand their needs and preferences. Additionally, companies can train their employees to be empathetic and responsive to customer needs, which can lead to a more positive customer experience. By prioritizing the customer at every step of the way, companies can create a culture of collaboration and partnership that can lead to long-term success.
Shifting to a long-term experiential approach that prioritizes customers, employees, and all stakeholders creates a solid competitive advantage, including:
Enhanced customer loyalty: By prioritizing customers in their decision-making, companies can create a more personalized and seamless customer experience. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and retention, which can ultimately drive revenue growth and profitability.
Improved employee engagement: By placing employees at the center of their corporate strategy, companies can create a more engaged and motivated workforce. This can lead to higher productivity, improved job satisfaction, and reduced turnover, which can ultimately translate into improved business performance.
Increased stakeholder value: By prioritizing all stakeholders in their decision-making, companies can create a more inclusive and collaborative culture. This can lead to improved relationships with suppliers, regulators, and other key stakeholders, which can ultimately create a more sustainable and resilient business model.
Enhanced brand reputation: By adopting a long-term experiential strategic approach, companies can build a reputation for being customer-focused and socially responsible. This can help create a competitive advantage, as customers and other stakeholders are increasingly looking for companies that align with their values and priorities.
Shift in innovation: moving from creating objects to creating experiences
In the current post-pandemic era, consumers are becoming increasingly emotional in their buying decisions, and therefore, companies must rethink their innovation and creation processes. The traditional marketing strategy of creating products with unique patented features no longer guarantees success. Consumers now expect a packaged offering that includes both tangible and intangible features, available across both physical and digital channels.
To meet these changing expectations, businesses must develop new immersive market research tools that capture the tacit and emotional dimensions of the consumer experience. By incorporating these insights from the beginning of the innovation process, companies can create more personalized and engaging experiences for their customers. This shift towards experience-based marketing not only leads to increased customer loyalty and satisfaction but also opens up new opportunities for businesses. By putting more emphasis on the experience, companies can create a more personal connection with their customers, leading to increased brand advocacy and positive word-of-mouth.
CMOs and businesses can adopt a customer-centric approach from the very beginning of the innovation and design process. This approach involves placing the customer at the heart of the design process and actively engaging them in the development of products and experiences. For example, a fashion brand may involve customers in co-creating designs or participating in focus groups to provide their feedback on products. By involving customers in the design process, the business can create tailor-made products and experiences that align with their preferences, ultimately resulting in higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
For CMOs and businesses, this shift in the innovation process brings several benefits:
Firstly, it allows them to differentiate their brand by creating unique and immersive experiences that set them apart from competitors.
Secondly, it enables them to better understand their customers and tailor their products and services accordingly.
Finally, it helps to build long-term customer relationships, leading to increased revenue and profitability.
The shift towards experience-based marketing is a necessary step for businesses looking to stay competitive in today's market. By developing new market research tools and incorporating emotional dimensions into the innovation process, businesses can create more personalized and engaging experiences, leading to increased customer loyalty and advocacy. Shifting to an experience-focused innovation creates a solid competitive advantage, including:
Better customer engagement: Designing experiences that focus on customers from the very beginning will enable businesses to engage with their customers more meaningfully. By involving customers in the design process, companies can gain deeper insights into their preferences, pain points, and expectations, which can help them create products and experiences that better meet their needs.
Increased customer satisfaction: When customers are involved in the design process, they feel valued and heard. This can lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction, as the products and experiences created are tailor-made to suit their preferences. This, in turn, can lead to increased customer loyalty and advocacy, which can be a significant competitive advantage.
More effective product development: Designing experiences that put customers at the heart of the process can help CMOs and businesses create products that are more effective and efficient. By understanding customer needs and preferences, companies can create products that are not only desirable but also functional, which can improve overall performance and customer satisfaction.
Durable differentiation: In today's highly competitive market, companies that can create memorable experiences for their customers are more likely to stand out from the crowd. By focusing on customer-centric design, businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors, which can help them attract and retain customers.
Shift in consumer insights: the rise of experiential market research
The importance of experiential market research methods cannot be overstated when it comes to the creation of effective marketing strategies. While traditional methods such as surveys and focus groups have their place, they often fall short in providing deeper insights into consumer behavior. Experiential methods prioritize the experiences of individual consumers, taking into account their emotions, behaviors, and attitudes towards products or services. This allows businesses to collect more contextualized and nuanced data, which can then be used to create more effective and personalized marketing strategies.
Experiential market research methods are not a replacement for traditional methods but rather an integration of them with more immersive ethnographic methods. By combining data analytics and focus groups with in-person observations and interactive experiences, companies can gather richer and more meaningful data about their target audience. This can lead to a deeper understanding of what motivates consumers to make purchasing decisions, allowing businesses to tailor their marketing strategies to better meet the needs and desires of their customers.
Let's consider an example of a company that is looking to market a new line of athletic shoes. Traditionally, the company might conduct a focus group with a group of athletes to gather feedback on the design, fit, and functionality of the shoes. While this would provide some valuable insights, it may not capture the full range of experiences and emotions that athletes have when using the shoes. In contrast, an experiential market research approach might involve ethnographic observation and in-person interviews with athletes as they engage in their daily activities, such as running or playing sports. This could provide a more holistic understanding of how athletes interact with the shoes in different contexts, as well as insights into their emotional responses to the shoes. For example, an ethnographic study might reveal that athletes are more likely to wear the shoes during high-intensity training sessions rather than during competition. This insight could inform the company's marketing strategy, as they could position the shoes as ideal for training rather than competition, and highlight features such as comfort and durability that are particularly important during intense workouts.
Therefore, experiential market research methods provide a more nuanced understanding of consumer behavior than traditional methods like focus groups and data analytics. By combining in-person observations and interactive experiences with data analytics, companies can gain more comprehensive insights into what motivates consumers to make purchasing decisions. Overall, experiential market research can help businesses create more effective and personalized marketing strategies that truly resonate with consumers.
There are several benefits for companies in shifting towards experiential market research methods for creating a durable competitive advantage:
Deeper understanding of customer needs: By prioritizing the experiences of individual consumers, experiential market research methods can provide a more detailed understanding of customer needs and preferences. This can help companies tailor their products and services to better meet the needs of their target audience, leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
More effective marketing strategies: Experiential market research methods involve gathering more nuanced and contextualized data about consumers, which can inform the creation of more effective and personalized marketing strategies. By understanding the emotional responses and behaviors of their target audience, companies can create marketing campaigns that truly resonate with consumers, leading to increased brand awareness and sales.
Uniqueness: By using experiential market research methods, companies can gain a more comprehensive understanding of their target audience than their competitors. This can lead to a competitive advantage in terms of product development, marketing strategies, and overall customer experience.
Innovation: Experiential market research methods involve a more immersive and interactive approach to gathering consumer insights, which can lead to greater innovation and creativity in product development. This can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage and long-term success in the marketplace.
Shift in target audience approach: moving from rationality to the emotional and paradoxical aspects of the consumer decision-making process
Businesses should realize the importance of shifting towards experience marketing strategies to build a deeper connection with their customers. By taking into account the emotional and paradoxical aspects of the consumer decision-making process, companies should create more personalized and engaging experiences that resonate with their customers. This shift in focus is crucial because it allows businesses to consider the consumer not only as a rational actor focused on quality and price but also as a hybrid market actor whose decisions should be based on both rationality and emotional needs.
Indeed, consumers look for more than just a product or service. They want an experience that makes them feel connected to the brand. By incorporating emotional and paradoxical aspects into their marketing strategies, businesses can create a more authentic and relatable customer experience. This approach does not only help companies build brand loyalty and increase customer satisfaction but also allows them to differentiate themselves from their competitors. As a result, businesses that adopt business experience marketing strategies are better positioned to capture market share and drive long-term growth.
For instance, instead of solely focusing on rationality, a company can start considering the emotional and paradoxical aspects of the consumer decision-making process. To implement this approach, they can update their marketing campaigns to include more emotional appeals and highlight potential contradictions that consumers may face when making purchase decisions. By doing so, they can achieve a more effective and nuanced approach to connecting with their customers, leading to increased customer engagement and sales.
Companies can create a durable competitive advantage by changing their perception of segment targets, including:
Enhanced customer lifetime value: By focusing on the emotional and paradoxical aspects of consumer decision-making, companies can create a more personalized brand experience that resonates with their target audience. This results in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, which leads to improved customer lifetime value. This creates a durable competitive advantage, as companies that can retain customers over the long term are more likely to succeed in the marketplace.
Improved innovation: By focusing on the emotional and paradoxical aspects of consumer decision-making, companies can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience's needs and wants. This can help companies create more innovative products and services that better meet their customers' needs.
Increased resilience: When companies shift their focus from rationality to the emotional and paradoxical aspects of consumer decision-making, it helps them create a more authentic brand that resonates with their target audience. This can help companies weather economic downturns, as customers are more likely to remain loyal to brands they feel a strong emotional connection to.
Improved customer acquisition: By focusing on the emotional and paradoxical aspects of consumer decision-making, companies can create more engaging marketing campaigns that resonate with their target audience. By tapping into the emotions that drive consumer behavior, companies can create a more compelling brand narrative that differentiates them from their competitors and attracts new customers.
In conclusion, the shift towards business experience marketing strategies is no longer an option, but a necessity for businesses of all sizes and industries. By embracing this mindset, marketers and businesses can create engaging experiences that connect with their target audience across both physical and digital channels, leading to increased ROI and business growth. As traditional marketing strategies become outdated in today's fast-paced phygital world, it is crucial for businesses to adopt a holistic approach that puts the human element first. With the four major changes outlined above, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and unlock new opportunities for success.
To successfully implement this shift, companies must continuously enhance their knowledge of marketing in the phygital and experiential economy and acquire the necessary skills to stay ahead of competitors. If you are looking for valuable insights into experiential marketing strategy, design, and management, sign up for AIBXD Strawberry Experience Blog, a free resource that offers daily insights into phygital and experiential marketing. Additionally, at the American Institute of Business Experience Design, we offer a comprehensive program to help marketers and businesses elevate their skills in experiential marketing and stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends.
Whenever you're ready to get started, we invite you to explore our range of exclusive, certified course programs. Our programs are designed by top-tier experts from industry and academia to equip you with all the necessary tools and strategies to implement successful and cost-effective experience strategies that drive ROI and business growth. Join our elite global community of business experience experts and start your journey towards transforming your business today.
AIBXD offers comprehensive course programs on business experience design, strategy, and management that cater to all levels and profiles. Our portfolio includes our flagship executive education programs for CMO, CXO, creative designers, and all C-level executives. We also offer diploma programs for entrepreneurs and project/product managers, as well as online course certificates. If you are unsure which program would be the best fit for you, try our fun and easy-to-use AIBXD Course Recommender™. By answering just five quick questions, you can get a personalized course recommendation immediately.
If you're tired of wasting money, resources, and energy on traditional marketing techniques, we can help. Our AIBXD consulting and market research services can assist businesses in starting the experience and phygital transformation. Feel free to check them out and see how we can help you optimize your marketing strategy.
Cite this article as: American Institute of Business Experience Design (2023). How to leverage business experience marketing strategy to drive growth. Retrieved [date you accessed the article], from [copy and paste the URL of the article page].