Experiential Marketing

Jason Ng, marketing communications specialist at MK Electric, explains why pairing light and style to achieve personality in design has increased in importance, and what this means for hotel architects and interior designers.

(Retrieved from: http://www.hospitality-interiors.net/trends/articles/2014/01/36870675-mk-electric-achieving-personality-design)

Experiential marketing is defined as the view of the “consumers as rational and emotional human beings who are concerned with achieving pleasurable experiences” (Schmitt, 1999).

Nowadays, hotel industry tend to be more fashionable and more stylish which reflects the culture and style of the hotel’s location through showcasing local artwork. These kind of design can effectively influence the experience of the hotel guest and can be beneficial to the brand development. According to Ng (2014), comparing to the similar non-branded developments, branded development have attracted a premium of 31% in the finance. He also mentioned that the new luxury design of the hotel can effectively create special feelings, experiences and memories for customers. Therefore, highlighting those special designs in the hotel which can sense the local cultural smell through the experience of the hotel.

                                                                        (Google.uk, 2016)

Experiential marketing includes three main simultaneous developments in the business environment. The followings are the omnipresence of Information Technology, the Supremacy of the Brand and the Ubiquity of Communications and Entertainment (Schmitt, 1999). Through the advancement in information technology, it can create some innovative design in the hotel to cater different customer’s preferences. Moreover, as the technology is steadily developing over the world. Social media became the main factors that has a huge impact on the customer behaviour and customer experiences of the hospitality industry. It provides a platform for customers to share their experiences and give some feedback to the business in any time. Therefore, customers can share their experiences through the social media, such as Facebook and Instagram which can effectively help people to get the awareness of the hotel. Furthermore, brand is the other important terms in the experiential marketing. Brand can represent the consumers’ perceptions and feeling about a product and its performance. It can also directly influence the impression of business. In order to increase to brand awareness, some hotels will try to promote their brand through the social media which can attract more customers to understand their brand.

References

Ng, J. (2014). MK Electric: Achieving personality in design. Retrieved from http://www.hospitality-interiors.net/trends/articles/2014/01/36870675-mk-electric-achieving-personality-design.

Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential Marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 15(1), 53-67. doi:10.1362/026725799784870496

Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing is the views of consumer as rational decision makers who care about functional features and benefits. According to Experiential marketing (2008), there are four key characteristics in traditional marketing. The following are:

• Focus on functional feature and benefit

Functional feature and benefit are the important factors for the customers when they are selecting the products in the market. Customers will weigh the functional features in terms of their important and compare the advantages of the products. Then, they can base on the overall utility to select their product.

In this part, hotel industry can be the example to explain why traditional marketing will more focus on functional feature and benefit. Nowadays, there are different types of hotel over the world. When the customers were choosing the hotel for travelling, they will not only focus on the size of hotel or the location of hotel. They will also consider of what facilities the hotel provided and the levels of service. Based on those considerations, customers will select the highest overall utility. Therefore, functional feature and benefit will often be our main consideration when we are choosing the products in our daily life.

• Product category and competition are narrowly defined

In the traditional marketing, it will have different competition in the products or in the brand. In Hospitality industry, Hilton Worldwide Hotel will completely against Marriot Hotel because they are offering the similar service and the similar the product category in the market.

• Customers are viewed as rational decision makers

Customers decision making is a process that customer identify their needs, information collecting, product choice and make the purchase decision (Baines, Fill & Page, 2011). These processes are included five stages; need recognition information research, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase behavior. Through the process of customers decision making, marketers can understand more about the customer behavior that effectively affect the performance of the company. Based on these five stages on hospitality industry, customers need to have recognition of the hotel and think of which types of hotel that they want for their trip through the advertisement or online research. Then, customers will do the research of the hotel, such as previous experiences or consult from their friends and families which can affect them to consideration of hotel. Through all the hotel research, customers can evaluate and choose the most suitable hotel in their trip. Then, they will purchase for their hotel depend on the research and the selection that they made in the previous step. Finally, they will evaluate the hotel satisfaction, such as the quality and the levels of service. They will also evaluate the hotel is suitable of their original needs. Therefore, it will influence their future decision and buying behaviors.

• Methods and tools are analytical, quantitative and verbal

Analytical, quantitative and verbal are the important methodology in the traditional marketing, such as regression models. This method can effectively consist of collecting the verbal ratings in interviews or surveys. However, marketers can base on the amount of predictors to predict the customers’ purchase or choice in the market.

References

Experiential marketing. (2008).Strategic Direction, 24(10), 24-26. doi:10.1108/02580540810907092

Baines, P., Fill, C., & Page, K. (2011).marketing (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

What is Consumer Behaviour ?

Consumer behaviour is “the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experience to satisfy needs and desires” (Solomon, 2015). In marketing concept, marketers can understand more what the consumer needs and desires through the process of consumer behaviour. Also, organisation can plan their marketing strategy to operate their business. Therefore, people will know more how to attract and serve their customers. According to McDonald & Wilson (2011), consumers have a strong impact on the marketing strategy for the organisation. Therefore, marketers have to understand the consumer behaviour which can satisfy their needs in marketing. 

(Maslow, 1943)

Abraham Maslow is an American psychologist who developed the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in 1943 to motivate different behaviours that can try to fulfil the needs of people. He identified five types of motivating needs in the theory, such as physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs (Knights, Willmott & Brewis, 2012). These five types of need will be easier for the marketers to understand consumer motivation. They can satisfy the consumer needs through the level of hierarchy.

References

Knights, D., Willmott, H., & Brewis, J. (2012). Introducing organizational behaviour and management. Andover: Cengage Learning.1

McDonald, M., & Wilson, H. (2011). Marketing plans: how to prepare them, how to use them (7th ed.).

Solomon, M. R. (2015). Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being (11th ed.). Boston: Pearson.