Planning a successful brand activation doesn’t have to be a mystery. With the right set of tools and strategies, you can plan, implement, and execute a brand activation that will deliver experiential ROI, connect with consumers, and build valuable brand loyalty.
Before you embark on your next activation campaign, make sure you are using all of the right tools to meet and exceed your benchmarks.
Table of Contents
#1 Define Your Key Performance Indicators
No brand campaign is a success without having the metrics to measure it. An important part of the ideation stage is defining your key performance indicators (KPIs). Brand activations have unique qualities, and the ROI for your campaign might not be measurable in sales.
Some of the KPIs to consider evaluating your activation include:
- Real-time engagements and interactions, including volume and duration of interactions.
- Increased online interactions, including website traffic and blog or social media views.
- Social media engagements, including mentions and user-generated content.
- Survey feedback.
- Lead generation.
Many activations aim to increase consumer engagement rather than target direct sales. Make sure you’ve developed the KPIs to identify success.
#2 Choose Your Objectives
Choosing the right objectives for an activation will define what kind of campaign you are going to have. Activations like a pop up store may be evaluated by both brand awareness and direct sales, whereas other activations may focus primarily on lead generation, brand sentiment, or product interaction. Some activations may even be focused more on research and data capture, such as verifying your target market.
#3 Support Your Campaign with Interactive Kiosks
A great brand activation campaign is supported by the right technology. Interactive kiosks may be the secret your activation campaign needs to make its mark. Interactive kiosks can be used as gamification platforms, self service kiosks, lead generation drivers, and augmented reality experiences. Work with companies like BIG Digital that specialize in interactive kiosk rentals to get the right support.
#4 Secure Team Buy-In
A successful brand activation relies on buy-in from your team, including everyone from brand ambassadors to executives. Teams can tell where enthusiasm lies for a campaign, and that will reflect their buy-in. If there’s a feeling that the campaign won’t land or that it’s based on a misguided idea, it’s time to re-evaluate that plan.
Trust your team’s instincts when it comes to planning a brand activation. If you need to get something out the door and can’t re-evaluate, consider adopting an iterative approach to your campaign, where you evaluate KPIs and take lessons at each stage of the activation, making changes as you go. This can be an excellent strategy for activations that are deployed in multiple markets over time.
#5 Social Media Engagement
Integrating marketing efforts across all channels makes a major impact on your success. Make sure that your social media content is geared toward your brand activations to both improve awareness of your real-life event and get event attendees to post about it on social media.
Social media outsourcing refers to hiring external individuals or agencies to handle specific tasks like content creation, posting, and engagement, offering businesses a way to stay competitive without the resource strain of in-house management.
User-generated content is one of the most powerful forms of content that you can get as a brand, so finding ways to encourage attendees to use a hashtag or engage your brand online can be a powerful strategy. Consider tying social media engagement into a contest or promotion.
Set your organization up for successful brand activations. Use these tools and strategies the next time you’re planning an event.