Whilst offline patron engagement is well established, direct and online is the new frontier for patron engagement strategies and is becoming a socially led phenomenon unrecognised to most social theorists and old school marketers.
In the past, patron engagement has been generated predominantly through television, radio, media and physical billboard advertising. However, the only conclusive results of these campaigns were sales or investment figures.
So what is patron engagement exactly? Paul Greenburg from HubSpot sums it up brilliantly and resonates equally from hard core punters to mild mannered after work crowds.
"Customer engagement is the ongoing interactions between company and customer, offered by the company, chosen by the customer."
Quite a buzzword among online businesses today, patron engagement is a measure of a brand’s interaction with its customers across all touchpoints throughout their lifecycle.
Consistently engaging customers on a variety of channels help brands build and strengthen a ‘human-to-human’ connection with them, through technology platforms and adds value beyond just transactional relationships.
If there’s anything that hasn’t changed from the good ol’ brick-and-mortar times to this day and age of thriving online businesses, it’s the firm belief in the mantra ‘Customer is King’. And with iconic marketing campaigns such as ‘Share a Coke’ (Coca Cola) or the ‘Big Sleepover’ (Ikea), giant multinational corporations have taught us that customer engagement is a key pillar of any other business strategy for happy, returning, and loyal patrons.
Patron engagement is no longer limited to sales, support, or services; instead, it’s an ongoing practice of brands anticipating patrons and partygoers’ needs and keeping in touch with them to foster lasting relationships, loyalty, and hence, business growth.
Often used interchangeably, patron engagement or online-only engagement involves actively interacting with your audience with messaging that interests, educates, or motivates them, and encourages two-way conversations with your business basis their stage in the buying journey.
With more and more venues adopting the patron-centric approach while developing their digital marketing strategies, patrons engagement inevitably holds center stage in order for them to build top-of-mind awareness and achieve the intended inbound growth.
High patron engagement represents a strong emotional connection between a customer and a brand. Increasingly, venues and bars need digital platforms to help roll out new and innovative marketing strategies around patron engagement as highly engaged patrons represent 23% more revenue according to Gallup research.
Being able to execute precise patron engagement strategies can provide sales solutions and meet key performance indicators for brands. This can lead to more significant revenue opportunities and promotions.
So if your venue or brand needs help implementing digital strategies around patron engagement and empowering your fans to promote your brand for you contact the team at appollo. We would love to help?
