Looking to market your real estate business and get more clients?

Experiential marketing may just be your ticket to developing new business relationships, and catering an open house with desserts is a great way to offer a special experience to potential clients.

Not sure what experiential marketing is and how it can help you as a realtor? Read on!

What is Experiential Marketing?

Experiential marketing, also known as engagement marketing, is a strategy that focuses on selling a prospective client an experience.

The idea is that, by creating an emotional connection and building engagement with you and your business, you can attract new clients in a powerfully personal way.

This type of marketing is used across a wide range of businesses, but can be particularly helpful with lead generation in real estate. 

The key to successful experiential marketing is to provide potential new clients with an experience that is valuable and connects them emotionally with the business. This often involves face-to-face interactions and offering a service or event that is unique and allows for active engagement rather than passive experience.

Traditional Marketing Vs. Experiential Marketing

Traditional marketing strategies often involve broadcasting messages to potential customers in the form of ads. While this can be extremely effective, it is missing an element of human connection and personal engagement that experiential marketing offers in spades. Experiential marketing is personal, tailored to the potential consumer, and involves some exchange of feeling or information.

Examples of Experiential Marketing in Real Estate

Engagement marketing can be a winning strategy for realtors. Since real estate property on its own can be fairly lifeless, experiential marketing helps inject some fun into the process of buying or selling. For those looking to buy personal property, it is important to remind them that they are in the market for a home, not just a house. This is also true with commercial real estate, where people are buying a home base for a business, not just an office. Emotional connection to the realtor themself can also be an effective way of gaining new clients. Here are a few examples of experiential marketing as it applies to real estate:

• Educative Experiences (These are events offered to provide education on a topic that is useful to clients, and, in the process, get some of them on board with your business. For real estate, this could mean open office hours where you guide prospective clients through what the process of buying or selling a home might look like. This way you provide something of value that attracts new clients to you, and then can reel them in with your personality and abilities.)

• Events (Fun events are another way of drawing people in and providing them with an engaging experience. With real estate, this could mean throwing an open house that is impressive and engaging. If someone walks through the door who does not already have broker representation, they are able to see how you go above and beyond for your clients and will be impressed.)

• Online Connection (Social media on its own can be a tool for engagement marketing. Get viewers involved by sharing a video on how to set up an open house, or post polls that allow social media users to vote on how rooms should be staged in a property. You can even partner up with a local influencer. Use these real estate marketing tactics throughout the preparation and during the event to reap the benefits.)

• Partnered Events (Another way to set up successful, engaging events to boost your real estate business is by partnering with other local businesses. Maybe hire a popular DJ to play music at an open house, find a fun company to cater, or get a popular home improvement DIY influencer to join the event and give tips.)

How Can Experiential Marketing Help Your Real Estate Business?

The idea of selling potential clients on an experience matches up well with real estate. Not only are you selling people the idea of the emotional attachment they will have to a piece of property, you are also selling them on the experience only you can give them.

You want to highlight how well you treat your clients and what lengths you go to to understand their desires in addition to your ability to provide results.

By using some of the strategies mentioned above, you can get that face time with potential clients and show them the kind of real estate experience they’ll get with you on their side.

After all, you are the best marketing for your business because you know the ins and outs of your real estate work and you can connect on an emotional level. By providing a unique experience for potential clients, you take the first step towards putting them at ease and encouraging them to seek your services for themselves.

Plus, by hosting a memorable event, you pave the way for natural word-of-mouth advertising. (Think: “I went to this amazing open house yesterday…”) Some potential buyers may even post about the event on social media, spreading the word about your business for you! 

Experiential Marketing in Open Houses

Open houses are an example of an experiential marketing event. By making an open house an engaging experience, you can create that emotional connection with potential clients. Even if the people who walk through the door at an open house are not in the market for that particular home, you can sell them on your abilities as a realtor. 

Here are some idea for how to make your next open house an experience:

• Live Music (Take an open house to the next level by getting a band, instrumental trio, live singer, or DJ. This will create an inviting atmosphere, provide an experience that goes beyond a simple showing of a property, and draw people in. Advertise the open house on social media using the name of the artist you’ve invited, and you generate interest right away.)

• Teach About Home Improvement (Another option for experiential marketing in open houses is to provide a lesson that has value to potential new clients. An idea for this educational experience would be to bring in someone to talk about home improvement to open house visitors. This type of event is valuable for both home sellers and future potential clients! And it’s an instant conversation starter for you to capitalize on.) 

• Use the Best Part of the House (Make the most of what the property has to offer! This is a great way of focusing on the most saleable features of a home while also creating a memorable experience for those attending the open house. For example, strategically place a musician on a patio with gorgeous sunset views of Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles, or set out an array of brightly colored popsicles pool-side to show off a great backyard.)

• Get a Theme (Themed open houses can be fun to put together and offer an additional element to the experience for those in attendance. Host a barbecue during a 4th of July open house, include a light display and eggnog for a Christmas week open house, or provide ice cream and chill music to recreate a beach day experience.)

Catering for Real Estate Open Houses

By using catering services for your real estate open house, you can play up one of the above party themes and provide an unforgettable experience. Catering allows you to seek out food that will make the event extra special, and also takes some of the burden off of the planning. That way you don’t need to buy snacks or materials yourself, you can simply select a menu that features the items you were hoping for and then welcome people in the door. Catering an open house is a special touch that will make a great first impression to potential clients!

Why Cater an Open House With Desserts

Almost everyone out there has a sweet tooth of some sort. Desserts are fun and indulgent, and remind people of the carefree nature of childhood. By catering an open house with desserts, you can play on these emotions and contribute to the experience. 

Sweet treats lend themselves well to most open house themes, and can foster emotions that you are looking for in your experiential marketing strategy. For example, ice cream in a variety of sophisticated flavors can be a welcome relief from the heat on a hot day. Or alcohol popsicles can be a classy and exciting touch to a twilight open house that potential clients will remember. 

Beach Town Pops for Open House Dessert Catering

Beach Town Pops has all the sweet treats and confectionery delights that you need to cater your open house in the Southbay Los Angeles area. With a variety of adult and kid friendly flavors of ice cream, gelato, and popsicles, our dessert menus add something special to the open house experience. 

 Here are some ways to incorporate our desserts into your open house event:

• Ice Cream Cart (Rent an ice cream cart for your open house to add an extra attraction to the event. You can give your open house a carnival theme, advertise the event as a cool place to go on a hot day, or draw in potential clients off the street with the promise of delicious flavors and special treats.)

• Boozy Popsicles (Boozy popsicles are the latest trend in adult sweets. They provide a small serving of alcohol in a number of mouthwatering flavors. Find out how you can serve alcohol at your Los Angeles open house, and select some boozy popsicles for an exclusive adult open house experience.)

• Fun Themes (Beach Town Pops has sweet treats that go along great with a bunch of open house theme options.)

• Family Fun (Selling a property made for families with young children? There is no better way of winning over parents than by bringing joy to the kids!)

Reach out today and start planning your catered open house to boost your business with experiential marketing!