Whether you're opening a new local business or rejuvenating an existing one, consider brand activation strategies like pop-up shops and hands-on workshops. Neighboring business partnerships focused on community engagement can also help.
With such experiential local business marketing campaigns, you can build deeper, more meaningful connections with customers.
Connecting with consumers is now more crucial than ever, as it allows you to instill trust. Without trust, you won't be able to win them over, much less get them to make a purchase. As data from Exploding Topics shows, 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before buying.
What Is Brand Activation?
Brand activation is a marketing concept and strategy whose goal is to introduce, reintroduce, and spread awareness about a brand. It can help with small business growth by creating memorable, long-lasting impacts on consumers through real-life, in-the-moment experiences.
Successful brand activation encourages positive customer engagement. If done right, it can turn passive consumers not just into paying customers but even active brand advocates.
What Are the Benefits of Brand Activation?
From enhancing brand awareness to improving recall and increasing word-of-mouth marketing, these are among the primary benefits of effective brand promotions and activation. Such strategies also build trust and loyalty as they focus on two-way interactions.
Enhancing Brand Awareness and Recall
According to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, the U.S. is home to approximately 32.6 million businesses. While not all may be your brand's direct competitors, chances are, a good chunk of them are.
As a new business, making your brand name stand out in the highly competitive, even saturated market, can be extremely challenging.
Brand activation can help because, as a type of face-to-face, real-world interaction, it can be much more memorable than seeing or reading your brand name on the web alone.
Furthermore, today's consumers, despite their heavy use of digital and online tools, still seek human interactions. Technology research and advisory firm ISG, for instance, says that 75% of consumers still prefer engaging with human agents.
Increasing Word-of-Mouth Marketing
By creating genuine, memorable experiences, brand activation strategies can help drive word-of-mouth marketing and buzz around your brand.
You want this type of publicity, particularly if they're online reviews. As Business Wire reports, a study found that a staggering 96% of consumers check reviews before they buy a product or service they haven't tried.
Building Trust and Loyalty
Modern consumers are becoming more wary of traditional ads, as misleading advertising practices have become more rampant. From unethical advertising to deceitful marketing and false information, all these contribute to the erosion of consumer trust.
Brand activation can help build or bring that trust back, as the real-life experiences it provides allow consumers to get to know your brand better and in person, rather than just from behind a screen.
The more trust consumers have in your brand, the more likely they are to keep doing business with you. It fosters loyalty, and when customers are loyal, they're more likely to advocate for and recommend your brand.
What Brand Activation Strategies Work for Local Businesses?
Brand activation strategies that work for local businesses primarily involve in-person experiences and activities within the community. Pop-up shops, workshops, and collaborations with complementary, non-competitor businesses are some examples.
Pop-Up Shops
Pop-up shops are short-term or temporary retail spaces that "pop up" and run for several days, a few weeks, or even a month or so. Their goal is to:
- Create buzz around a brand
- Test new markets
- Launch new or improved products
- Provide consumers with a way to engage with a brand (and experience its products or services in real time)
Pop-up shops often operate in high-traffic, vacant, or unconventional locations.
Regardless of where you hold one, ensure you use the appropriate tools to make your event highly visible, such as eye-catching signage like illuminated signs and dimensional lettering. You can also browse portable Jumbotron trailer options for more ad display ideas.
Hands-On Workshops
Hands-on workshops work as brand activation strategies because they encourage passive consumers to become active participants and users of your brand's products or services. Your target customers can know more about your offers directly in a learn-by-doing environment.
An example of a hands-on workshop is a baking class for a local bakeshop or baking supply store. You can showcase your expertise as a baker or your products' quality by incorporating them into the class, which you can offer for free to residents of your community.
Neighboring Business Collaborations
Collaborating with non-competing, neighboring businesses can help activate your brand by leveraging shared resources and expanding your organization's audience reach. You can tap into your collaborators' existing market and increase your brand's visibility.
At the same time, you can show your target market that you're a brand that prioritizes community fellowship.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brand Activation Better Than Standard Marketing?
Standard marketing isn't necessarily less or more important than brand activation, as their combination is critical to long-term brand awareness, recall, and loyalty.
Standard marketing (e.g., traditional print ads and online campaigns) raises brand awareness and triggers recall in consumers. You need it to make your brand activation events visible and let people know you're hosting these immersive, two-way experiences.
How Do You Prepare for Your Brand Activation Pop-up or Workshop Event?
The first step is determining the event's specific, measurable goals and metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs). Establish why you want to do the event in the first place (e.g., to enhance brand awareness, introduce a new product, or boost loyalty).
With your target audience and experience in mind, plan your budget and logistics. Choose the appropriate venue and equipment (including signage), and acquire all necessary event permits.
Promote the event several weeks, even a few months, before the target date. Use digital and social media, and ask any of the other local businesses you collaborate with to help you with the promotion.
Engage Consumers With Real-Life Experiences
From pop-ups to workshops and collaborations with other local enterprises, these are all brand activation strategies you should consider for your business. They can help with brand awareness, recall, consumer trust, and customer loyalty.
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