Finding digital alternatives to offline events and sports sponsorships has been a hot topic at Crowdly recently. The brands that use Crowdly are overwhelmingly large consumer brands that put a priority on fostering a connection with their loyalists. Many of these brands had locked in strategies around summer events that they’ve been working with us to readjust. In this post, I’m sharing best practices that we’ve learned, and an actionable list of digital swaps that plug in to common event and sponsorship tactics.
Our biggest takeaway is that you shouldn’t get caught up in the tactics of your previous plan, and try to force a ‘digital’ version of each. In most cases, those won’t be compelling to your customers or effective for the brand. Instead, focus on the objectives you planned to accomplish from those tactics, and build a strategy based on that.
With social distancing measures still in place, it’s safe to say we’ll all be experiencing summer a bit differently this year. With restrictions on large gatherings and crowds, we’ll have to miss out on the usual sold out country concerts in the sun, major league baseball games with all of the stadium food you can imagine, exciting marathon races through our cities, and joyful pride parades. Although we’ll have to wait to have these experiences all together in person, you don’t have to wait to make progress on the marketing goals tied to these events. Staying focused on those goals, while also being flexible and realistic will help you adjust to a plan that keeps your brand moving forward, even if you’ll have to cook your hotdogs at home.
These are our tips on how to shift your offline strategy to a digital one, and provide consumers with positive online experiences that reflect the fun and joy of what would be, while engaging them to share your brand.
Here a few different ways you can achieve your in-person event marketing goals online. If your main goal is to…
Sample Product/Drive Trial –
- If you count on large events to sample your new protein bar to thousands of marathon runners, or you sponsor a music festival to get your newest hard seltzer flavor into the hands of young millennials, you might feel like your channels to sample to the masses and drive trials are few and limited this year.
- Instead of relying on these big in-person events, you can run a large scale sampling program online. Recruit interested consumers to sample your product for free or with a digital coupon. Ship your product directly into the hands of these eager consumers and build out your CRM list while you’re at it.
- You could even get back in front of these trialists and prompt them to leave an online review. We all know how important positive, high-quality and well-informed online reviews are in driving ecommerce.
- Since this is a digital coupon and not an actual ticket or piece of paper, make sure you put a limit on the number of coupons if needed so that you’re in good shape if the coupon goes viral.
- It’s also important that the coupon is compelling enough to win new customers and actually drive trial. 5% off your first order might not do it, but 10-15% definitely could.
Reach/Increase Brand Awareness –
- If your main event marketing goal is to increase brand awareness by getting eyes on a huge sign in the outfield of an MLB game, or sponsoring a DJ booth at a big outdoor event, you now need to consider making a splash on social media.
- Try running a UGC contest that ties in to the same theme as your original event so that consumers are telling their story and sharing your brand, with a chance to win something fun and splashy.
- Inspire people to share their favorite Red Sox memory for a chance to win a VIP tour, or their best concert experience for a chance to win tickets to next year’s festival, or share who in their life deserves a VIP experience for a luxury hotel stay.
- Capture all of those authentic stories, and reward the best ones with a special prize.
Boost Customer Engagement –
- You were super excited about your adorable summer pop-up shop in the city where customers could Instagram with your flower wall backdrop and share your brand out into their own network. Now what?
- Try creating a custom Instagram filter, or a branded Zoom background. You’ll still get those branded selfies and backdrops, but the photos can be snapped in your customers’ homes.
- Or, if you didn’t have a picture-perfect and socially-shareable experience planned, but wanted to engage consumers in other ways, think about running a live poll online that gets customers engaged, voting and sharing your brand.
Increase Loyalty/Purchase –
- Your association with a consumer’s favorite sports team, band, or charity, can definitely impact customer loyalty so it makes sense that this is a main goal of your event marketing and sponsorship efforts.
- A great way to bring this customer loyalty online is by offering a give one/get one coupon to your customers and their friends and family. You thank your customers for their support and loyalty by giving them a little something extra towards their purchase, and allow them to share it out to another person who is deserving of a little treat, too.
- Or, you could inspire your customers to give a donation in lieu of a cancelled event that supports a related cause, or inspire them to donate to a charity that your sports team is partnered with.
- Even better, match your customers’ donations. They’re sure to be loyal to a brand that they know supports and gives back to the same communities and charities that they care about.
The circumstances have caused event and field marketers to get even more creative than usual, but if you start with your overall objectives and think a bit differently, there are many ways you can achieve those same goals through digital activations. Even better, you’re able to launch a digital campaign in a much shorter timeframe than you would be able to plan and pull off a huge in-person event. You’ll also be filling the void of your happy customers who are missing out on these events, too, and offering them a different fun way to celebrate and share. If shifting your efforts online feels a bit out of your wheelhouse, or you want a platform that makes it easier, and experts that can help you move quick, we’d love to connect with you here at Crowdly and learn more about your objectives and how we could help.