Beyond establishing brand loyalty, engaging consumers and evoking positive sentiment, experiential marketing is a huge financial win for brands. Compared to the old traditional marketing channels, experiential marketing offers incredible payoffs. History shows events make consumers significantly more likely to align themselves with your brand through purchases, tuning-in, or alignment.
Every year the Event Marketing Institute sponsors a survey called Event Track. It’s the largest experiential research done annually. The results provide us helpful insights into the effectiveness of experiential marketing.
The Top 15+ Experiential Marketing Stats from 2017
1. 74% of event attendees say that they have a more positive opinion about the company, brand, product or service being promoted after the event. (EMI & Mosaic)
2. 65% of the consumers surveyed said live events helped them have a better understanding of a product or service, vastly surpassing digital efforts and TV advertising as methods of recognizing and learning about a brand. (EventTrack)
3. 65% of brands say that their event and experiential programs are directly related to sales. (EMI & Mosaic)
4. 70% of users become regular customers after an experiential marketing event. (EventTrack)
5. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the event industry will grow by 44% from 2010 to 2020, exceeding most growth predictions for other industries. (US Bureau of Labor)
6. According to 80% of attendants, live demonstrations and free samples significantly help define their purchasing decision. (EventTrack)
7. 75% of companies with event budgets between $50-100 million say they expect an ROI of more than 5:1 for live event and experiential programs. (EMI & Mosaic)
8. 98% of users feel more inclined to purchase after attending an activation. (EventTrack)
9. 76% of marketers say their event and experiential marketing initiatives are integrated with their other marketing campaigns. (EventTrack)
10. 79% of US marketers generate sales using event marketing. (Statista)
11. About 34% of consumers surveyed said they would make a post about an experience on their social media pages. (EventTrack)
12. 33% of consumers from the above survey said they would take photos or videos during an event. (EventTrack)
13. 79% of brands say they will execute more event and experiential programs this year compared to last year. (EMI & Mosaic)
14. A staggering 11% of brands don’t seem to use social media to complement their in-person efforts. (EventTrack)
15. Over 86% of event marketers said attendee satisfaction is their best gauge on event success. (Guidebook)
16. 77% of marketers use experiential marketing as a vital part of a brand’s advertising strategies. (EventTrack)
17. Event technology can help increase event attendance by 20%, increase productivity by 27%, and decrease costs by 20-30%. (Enterprise Event Marketing)