Building your brand is about more than garnering likes on Facebook or going viral on Instagram. If you want to engage your audience and create memorable brand experiences, you’ll need to produce a blend of online and offline marketing.
Focusing your efforts on community-based engagement, rather than customer engagement, can also improve your brand image. You’ll be able to craft plenty of content based on charitable events like community clean-ups and connect with partners when hosting educational events for your firm.
Interactive engagement opportunities can support your digital marketing efforts, too. You can bolster your email list when collecting attendee information and build a buzz on your social platforms by live-streaming events that interest your audience.
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Digitally Enhanced Community Events
Community events can be a real boon for your business. Sponsoring a live music show or an athletic competition can quickly increase your visibility in the area and lead to extra followers and likes on your social pages. However, if you want to make the most of your community engagement efforts, consider offering digitally enhanced experiences.
If you want to create a fun, engaging event, consider gamifying a portion of your schedule. For example, if you work for a marketing firm and are hosting a seminar on the value of SEO, you can gamify the event by creating relevant scavenger hunts or hosting live polls. This will boost your credibility, get attendees to engage with your speakers, and ensure everyone leaves feeling that they’ve gained something of value.
Leveraging digitally enhanced community events is particularly important if you primarily operate online but need to boost your reputation in the area. For example, if you’re looking to expand your service portfolio in marketing and want to land more local clients, consider partnering with content creation firms that can create a range of relevant community-oriented materials for your next event. These materials will reflect your interest in serving the local community and should feature QR codes that redirect to your digital portfolio or social presence.
Streaming Community Events
Live streaming a sponsored event is one of the best ways to build a buzz around your offline marketing campaign. Setting up a stream is relatively cost-effective and typically requires little more than a stable connection and a suitable camera/microphone to provide coverage for your event. However, before going live, you’ll need to create a comprehensive community event plan, including:
- A clear set of goals and the measurables you’ll use to track your targets;
- A profile of your target audience and a plan to engage them;
- The channels that you’ll use to promote the event and the stream;
- A promotion kit to entice community partners in the area;
- Offline marketing materials (like posters and flyers) to hand out in local libraries, coffee shops, and museums.
Taking some time to plan your community event will ensure that your livestream gatherers receive plenty of views. You’ll also want to create a clear pathway to your sales funnel for people who are interested in going straight from your stream to your product page. This can meaningfully improve the profitability of your event while creating a synergy between your online and offline marketing efforts.
Cohesion Between Online and Offline Marketing
Creating cohesion between your online and offline marketing efforts can be tricky. You can’t gather engagement metrics like shares when advertising in a local paper and won’t necessarily know how local people respond to your billboards or sponsored events. However, you can empower your offline marketing efforts by tethering your physical materials to digital analytics. The benefits of combining online and offline marketing include:
- More consistent branding;
- Connect with community members who don’t use digital platforms;
- Improved face-to-face relations with local partners.
Finding ways to connect digital and physical marketing can lay the foundation for a cohesive omnichannel strategy for your business, too. Get the ball rolling by gathering attendee information when selling tickets or admitting community members to your next event. Gathering key demographic data like age, gender, and location can enhance your understanding of people in the local area and will help you create a more accurate audience persona.
Conclusion
Engaging your community with interactive materials is critical to creating strong bonds with local people. Even simple marketing efforts, like gamifying events or live-streaming sponsored shows, can boost your brand image and help bolster your reputation in the community. Just be sure to follow up with data collection efforts, as you’ll need to know who is attending your events if you want to create an accurate audience persona that properly reflects the community’s needs and interests.
