There’s no better way to immerse potential customers in your brand than through experiential marketing – a form of guerrilla marketing seeing a resurgence.

Experiential marketing allows prospective customers to interact with your brands, products and services in sensory ways. The most successful experiential campaigns utilize as many of the five senses as possible – allowing consumers to see, hear, touch, smell and/or taste your product.

Experiential marketing is mounting in popularity in response to growing consumer skepticism toward traditional advertising. No longer as trusting of brand self promotion, Generations X and Y prefer to experience a product or service firsthand, before buying, in a context similar to how they might actually use the product.

Furniture and décor retailer IKEA has long been a proponent of experiential marketing. Recently, they refurbished select mid-priced hotels with their products. These hotels received a complete makeover from beds and chairs to tables and kitchenware. Hotel guests had the opportunity to live with the IKEA furniture and décor for several days, versus just a cursory look in the store, allowing them to imagine how the products might work in their space.

This campaign went beyond just affording guests the opportunity to experience the brand’s products; there was a market research component as well. Guests were encouraged to select from differently decorated IKEA hotel rooms. Their preferences and feedback were recorded and utilized for future product development.

Similarly, Aveda placed its line of products in W hotels. The placement of luxury bath products in a high-end boutique hotel reinforces the upscale brand image of both parties. This type of in-depth consumer interaction with the product goes far beyond a mere sampling effort and is particularly useful for brands with complex feature sets that aren’t easily explained within the confines of a traditional ad.

Car dealerships that loan the newest model to past purchasers while their vehicles are “in the shop,” are engaging in experiential marketing. They’re allowing a customer, who already has an affinity for their brand, to get up close and personal with all the bells and whistles the latest model offers – creating a sense of “need” the customer may not have previously realized.

Arguably the most recognizable brand in the world, Coca-Cola, created a two-level experiential marketing extravaganza in Las Vegas where consumers can purchase Coke memorabilia, have a photo taken with the Coke bears for holiday cards, and even taste test the brand’s various soft drinks from around the world. Where else can you try Bibo Kiwi Mango from South Africa or Kinley Lemon from Japan? Coca-Cola is known widely for its ability to emotionally appeal to consumers. They aren’t selling ingredients, or price, or distribution (ease of finding a Coke) – they are selling an experience.

Experiential marketing is the difference between telling people about your brand attributes and allowing them to experience the brand on their own.

Lori Turner-Wilson is an award-winning columnist and managing partner of RedRover Sales & Marketing, redrovercompany.com, with offices in Memphis and Nashville. You can follow RedRover on Twitter (@redrovercompany and @loriturner) and Facebook (facebook.com/redrovercompany).