How to craft tantalizing customer experiences

When considering the customer journey, what a brand manager or communicator is really doing is crafting a customer experience.

Every touchpoint for your organization, from acquisition to the conversion of a sale, is part of a relationship you develop with a customer, building brick by brick with content, marketing copy and earned media placements. Many of these interactions have moved online as marketers and communicators have become hungry for measurable tracking.

However, Christa Carone, president of CSM North America, says you shouldn’t ignore experiential marketing opportunities.

“In this age of advocacy, brands need more than consumers,” she says. “They need fans.”

Carone has made a name for herself over the years with live brand activations for companies like Xerox, working with organizations like LiveNation, Cirque Du Soleil and others. For her, the key to grabbing customer attention is to entertain and delight.

“We remember the first concert we attended, our first major league game, our first Broadway show,” says Carone. “As sports and entertainment prove to us over and over again, there is no better way to win and connect with fans than through live experiences, where the energy has the potential to become contagious and moments become memorable.”