Whether you call it event marketing, experiential marketing, live marketing, participatory advertising, or any other moniker, this is a brave new world of blowing things up, building in a technological overlay to real-world places, and convincing otherwise sane passers-by to dance or change clothes in the street—all with the motive of engaging consumers.

We talked with some of the smartest minds in experiential marketing to find out how they pull off memorable events—and make sure there’s significant consumer engagement long after the event is over.

Here’s what they told us:

Create an event within an event

Try to create an event within an event where you can touch a consumer one-on-one, where you can engage directly, and teach them about your product, and do so by interacting in a quality way. Have a truth-or-dare themed campaign, ask people to dance in the middle of the street, etc.

According to reports, 250,000 new products are introduced to the world each year. We’re overwhelmed by so many new product entries, which range from sophisticated new technologies like the Nest thermostat and infomercial sensations like Pyjamas Jeans. To complicate things, brands are introducing new line extensions like Kraft Sizzling Salads, Disney Appmates, and a wealth of “new and improved” products from venerable brands like Gillette and Kleenex.

But the fact remains that the success rates of new product introductions and innovations have improved little over the last 20 years. Reports show that 66% of new products fail within two years, and a startling 96% of all innovations fail to return their cost of capital. This is due to a number of factors, including economic conditions, an explosion of consumer touch points, shifts in decision-making behaviour, and the deluge of information marketers have to sift through to ensure they are up to speed with the latest trends.

How many unread emails do you have in your inbox? 300? 800? Or maybe, if you are like me and are on countless mailing lists, 2,644?

We get a TON of emails every day, and a lot of them are never opened. People are inundated with boatloads of information – more than ever before in history! But we don’t have more time to soak it all in. The chances of your email being ignored are pretty high – unless of course, you have a rockin’ sockin’ subject line.

Your subject line is your first (and maybe your last) impression on users. In many ways, your email subject line is more important than your email body. After all, a great newsletter is worthless if it never sees the light of day.

There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to creating slam dunk subject lines. We’ll be covering 9 different types of effective email subject lines and sprinkling examples throughout.

There is a holy grail in the workplace, but like the one in the popular book and movie “The Di Vinci Code,” it’s not exactly what you’d expect. In any company, the products and the location are important.

So, too, are the branding strategies, packaging and pricing — but in the end, it’s the employees who make the difference. That’s why it’s so important that you motivate them to move mountains.

There are lots of examples of great companies and their highly motivated employees: Apple, Disney, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Coca Cola, Zappos and Wynn Resorts are a few that come to mind.

It’s been more than half a century since Philip Kotler first published his principles of marketing, which has defined the practice of millions of professionals worldwide ever since.  It’s no stretch to say that before Kotler, there was no marketing profession.

What made Kotler different than what came before is that he took insights from other fields, such as economics, social science and analytics and applied them to the marketing arena.  Although it seems basic now, it was groundbreaking then.

Do you want to drink a venti double mocha skinny chai latte? Do you even know what that is? I don’t. We found in a customer survey that 70% of shoppers were also confused by the choices (and their obscure names) on store’s café menu.

Resisting the urge to add customer choice allows shoppers to enjoy more time savouring their coffee and less time “playing coffee Cluedo”. While there may be some customers who want the complicated drink names, (it’s not that important to them) the majority would prefer simplicity.

A recent research shows that less choice more often than not leads to a lower effort service experience. When customers are faced with outcomes for a service experience, 84% chose something other than choice, a low-effort experience.