- Be a master at selling the experience.
Why do people travel from around the world to experience Oktoberfest? For some, yes, it’s all about the beer. Some travelers would certainly contend that the beer from certain places around the world is the best and only the best. For some, it’s the food, particularly the pretzels, and the music. Individually, these are all great, but when you add them up, they have created a special moment like no other. Oktoberfest producers are masters at selling the experience. From selling social acceptance, and exclusivity, since the festivities only come around for a few weeks during the year.
Question is, how do you as marketers create this kind of incredible experience when customers interact with your brand? Are you making the best use of your customers or potential customers with engaging and interactive information? Would the marketing campaign include such components as an interactive website, a helpful series of videos, or a contest hosted across multiple social platforms? Go for the engagement and personality to a target audience in today’s marketing realm. Use this strategy to gauge the effectiveness of your products and/or services. So if you’ve got it all together in this area, then you need to come up with a clever name or tagline to brand your incredible experience?
- Be a Master at Planning
When dealing with Oktoberfest it’s all about the planning. Right down to the smallest of small details. Planners coordinate this event month in advance. To prepare people for the great celebration. It’s geared to target the consumer. Oktoberfest’s producers begin to plan the festivities. Through decades of practical knowledge, they’ve grown to understand their target demographic inside and out, and are therefore able to effectively market to them. This unique event is actively kept in the public eye all during the year to build anticipation prior to the event and also to recap the experience long after the end of the Festival.
So what can you learn about creating a marketing plan that works?
- Begin with a snapshot of your company’s current situation, called a “situation analysis.”
- Describe your target audience.
- List your marketing goals.
- Develop the marketing communications strategies and tactics you’ll use.
- Set your marketing budget.
- Be a Master at Branding.
A great way to build your brand is by creating a story that your audience genuinely wants to be a part of and will be excited about the experience that is a part of it all. Engage your audience, evoke emotion. Your job is to tell the story that will captivate your target audience. The people of Oktoberfest have stood behind their story for 181 years and they aren’t changing it or swaying anytime soon.
–Trevor Hayworth
IMC Hawks Blog 
I actually have a friend stationed overseas in Germany who just celebrated Oktoberfest! He was telling me about all of the marketing strategies done to encourage the troops to attend. Very interesting!
This was an effective article, telling the reader to plan “Right down to the smallest of small details.” was a great tip . For giant events like this, more than often everyone makes sure the big things are planned out and forsake looking over the little things. Once that happens its the worst feeling seeing something that was viewed as being a small problem ; completely ruin an event.
I have never been but a decent soft pretzel is definitely a motivator to plan a trip and attend Ocktoberfest! I agree that story telling is key when it comes to marketing because it’s often created as a sales pitch in disguise and has proved to be very successful, especially for globally known events like Octoberfest!