Today, every experience with customers matters. One survey found that 76% of customers would quit doing business with a brand after a single bad experience. This holds true even when you don’t control the messaging, as is the case with influencer-created content. So, every experience must be crafted carefully in order to build and maintain customer loyalty.

Let’s face it: Audiences have endless choices at their fingertips. This allows them to be picky. They often make purchasing decisions based on which brand seems the most relevant and memorable. For instance, let’s say Brand A creates an event that makes its product seem more pertinent to a customer than what Brand B is selling. This is good news for Brand A because relevance is linked to the reward system of the brain, which strongly influences behavior. Consequently, the customer feels a greater affinity for Brand A because the event promotes a sense of relevance.

If Brand A can add an interactive element to its event experiences, that’s even better. The more interactive an event, the more likely that brand will be selected based on the brain’s algorithm. Remember that the brain forms numerous new cell connections in response to interactive environments, ultimately improving the memorability of the brand and the event. Again, this can make Brand A seem like more of a good fit for the customer even when Brand A’s product is almost identical to Brand B’s.

As an event marketer, you can foster better customer relationships by carefully cultivating experiences. Just keep in mind that there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. The perfect brand experience is one that fits your business, goals and audience. However, if you’re in search of some tips to promote your brand’s best elements and amplify your upcoming event marketing campaigns, consider the following:

1. Know what you want to achieve with every brand experience.

Brand experiences can include everything from a quick digital interaction to an immersive pop-up event. You must name each experience’s target goals and measure them. Otherwise, you’ll never be certain if you’re moving closer to success.

You can begin by coming up with measurable key performance indicators by asking yourself one big question: What problem is your brand trying to solve with the event? From there, you can come up with target solutions and metrics to attach to those solutions.

2. Consider the format of your experience.

Think about experiences as you would any other part of your integrated event marketing campaign. Which format will best reach your audience? How does it fit into the overall strategy? What will make it memorable?

For instance, let’s say you’re planning a corporate event. In-person events are fully immersive, allowing you to capitalize on audience excitement and social amplification. However, this format limits the number of people you can reach. On the other hand, fully digital events reach a wide audience and can be customized for individual people, but they can seem impersonal. Depending on your campaign strategy, budget and goals, you might consider one format over another (or a combination of both).

Hybrid events are more popular and practical than ever. For one great example, look to Apple. The company is famous for launching new products via hybrid event models that consistently reach millions of consumers. Apple’s in-person immersive experiences are much-anticipated for tech enthusiasts, while others all over the globe can watch it live online and join in the fun.

3. Try to engage audience members’ senses.

The more senses you can engage while interacting with audiences, the more likely you’ll help audiences build neural pathways that keep them coming back to your brand. Consider how to add other sense experiences to an event for the biggest impact. Don’t limit your innovation. Digital touchpoints tend to stimulate visual connections. Yet, when mixed with a virtual reality or augmented reality element, those touchpoints can prompt other senses, such as touch and sound.

Our team was focused on building this kind of engaging sensory experience at the Winter X Games in 2020. We partnered with Jeep to create an immersive dome experience that put our audience in the driver’s seat of an off-road excursion. Not only did this experience showcase our partner’s product, but it also connected with our audience on a visual and auditory level that stimulated the senses, leading to excitement and a long-lasting memory of our event.

How many sensory elements can you plug into an experience? That’s up to your innovative event marketing team. With some brainstorming, you might be able to come up with imaginative solutions that deliver lasting, brand-boosting responses.

It’s time to treat all event experiences like first impressions. When you do, you’ll be more apt to construct brand experiences that help you stand out.

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