Creative Ways to Encourage In-Person Customers to Visit Your Website
We don’t need to remind you that the circumstances of the last two years have changed the way humans commune, work and live. But here we are, back out there, shopping with masks off and attending in-person events again. For the last two years, consumers embraced online shopping more than ever, and businesses benefited from that website traffic. But now as consumers return to stores and events, businesses will have to be more intentional to drive online traffic and maintain it. Let’s talk about creative ways to encourage in-person customers and event attendees to visit your website through experiential marketing and other marketing tactics.
5 Ways to Convert In-Person Traffic to Online Traffic
- Create an experience that attracts people to generate buzz and participation.
- In-person marketing materials should point to online platforms.
- Integrate values into experiential marketing tactics.
- Use existing tactics to create an all-encompassing strategy.
- Create a contest or giveaway to drive participation.
You’ve likely experienced a well-executed experiential marketing campaign at an event, festival or conference, and may not have realized it. Experiential marketing campaigns aim to familiarize new customers with your product/service with an opportunity to try and experience them in person. They also help to increase brand awareness, establish brand loyalty, generate leads and encourage buzz on social channels. Simply sponsoring events with a banner or added merch in a goodie bag won’t cut it if you’re looking to generate real buzz from potential customers. Check out these five marketing tactics to drive online traffic.
1. Create an experience that attracts people to generate buzz and participation.
Experiential marketing is all about creating an immersive experience that captures attention and creates excitement. That means thinking through the customer journey from the moment they enter your store, booth or pop-up.
First, consider the overall atmosphere of your space — how can the design draw people in and contribute to the goal. Think photo backdrops, a sitting lounge, an interactive art installment, or an activity. Consider artists or graphic designers as potential partners, then integrate eye-catching signage that instructs visitors how to participate and stay engaged after the event. Our goal is to drive in-person traffic to online platforms, so integrating an online experience is crucial.
For example at Riotfest 2021, Weedmaps hosted a Hot Box room (pop-up tent) and encouraged attendees to spin the wheel for a chance at winning one of several prizes. To spin the wheel, participants were required to scan a QR code to download the app and show the employee when they reached the front of the line. This helped Weedmaps to expand their reach in the Chicago area, engage with their customers, and offer branded giveaways for participating.
2. In-person marketing materials should point to online platforms.
Whether your in-person traffic is at your dispensary or a festival, your printed marketing materials and on-site signage should provide customers a way to connect online. Utilize QR codes where possible, or specify a short and easy-to-remember URL they can visit to complete a task. Whether it’s downloading an app, visiting a website, pre-ordering, making an online purchase, filling out a form or survey, or accessing learning materials, your messaging should directly lead to the action you want visitors to take and potentially incentivize them to take it. The bigger the action, the bigger the incentive.
Do you have a dispensary? Encourage your customers to visit your website by placing a QR code on a point-of-sale display that leads to FAQs or infographics about commonly asked questions. By empowering your customers with useful information and tools to solve their problems, your site becomes a resource hub for future questions.
3. Integrate values into experiential marketing tactics.
Not all marketing have to benefit only your brand. Modern-day consumers strongly believe businesses should give back in some way. Choose an organization or mission that resonates with your customers and that somehow ties back into your brand. For example, if you are a cannabis brand in a coastal beach town, you might offer that for every customer who participates in your experience, you will donate a fixed amount or percentage to an ocean clean-up organization. If you’re marketing a dispensary in a metropolitan area, maybe your store gives back to an organization like Last Prisoner Project. When consumers know their time and energy will provide a benefit to a deserving organization, they are more likely to buy into your activity.
4. Use existing tactics to create an all-encompassing strategy.
An immersive experience should introduce your product or service to new potential customers. How can you provide guided demos, QR-codes that take participants online, hands-on opportunities to experience your brand, or installations that allow them to touch and feel something associated with the brand? Based on your business, you can formulate tactics driven by your goals and the target audience you’re hoping to reach.
For example, do you offer lighting and irrigation services to cannabis cultivation facilities? Consider an interactive experience that brings the set up on-site — think lights with live plants (check local regulations before displaying cannabis plants at events). Provide customer demos, allow them “test-drive” the equipment when possibles and showcase how the advanced technology saves time and money with accompanying signage and infographics. Provide a free ebook in exchange for their contact information, or ask them to fill out a survey that pin-points their pain points. Interaction is the first step in adoption.
5. Create a contest or giveaway to drive participation.
Consumers are savvy. They know their preferences, time and energy are valuable — especially when it comes to businesses who want their attention and money. Make it worth their while by incentivizing participation through a giveaway or contest. Offer a prize package that your target audience will surely love, and then point them to a website, landing page, or social channel to enter the contest.
Other creative incentives:
- Post a photo and tag us on your social for one entry in our contest
- Scan this QR code to download our app for a chance to win a prize by spinning the wheel
- Take our 1-minute quiz to get a coupon code or free product
- Sign up for an account on our site and register for rewards to get a $20 coupon code
- Use this link to download our free ebook on an important topic
- Stop by our booth to try our technology and get a free drink ticket
There’s no limit to the creativity you can put into your in-store displays or experiential marketing tactics at in-person events to drive online traffic. Imagine what will wow your customers and put it into action. Your brand will become a memorable part of their experience and lead to more opportunities to capture a sale and their loyalty. Want more useful marketing tips? Sign up for our monthly newsletter.