WHAT IS FIELD MARKETING? Field marketing and marketing Team in Mumbai is becoming more popular for companies in various industries. From food and beverage to consumer goods. It’s a tool that can be used to showcase latest products or services in a face to face environment with consumers. Furthermore companies recognise the importance of having brand ambassadors and reps on the ‘front line’ introducing the public to new innovations or delicious treats. This is done in the ‘field’; around shopping centers and in retail hot spots, expos and events, university campus’ and sport stadiums to name a few. Most campaign activities focus on customer facing roles including product demonstrations, direct selling and street training teams. However not all field marketing is consumer facing such as auditing and merchandising.
Goals and outcomes of field marketing will differ from company to company. Some campaigns are designed to increase brand awareness or sales. While others may be to collect data and feedback about the product and its market. At Splatter we have all the tools necessary for the clients desired outcome to be achieved WHAT A FIELD MARKETING TEAM LOOKS LIKE. For successful field marketing campaigns companies might have dedicated teams within their business whose task it is to be creative and manage field marketing initiatives. However agencies are also on hand to support a campaign. By offering staff, management and infrastructure the client can focus on the more creative aspect of the campaign.
A field marketing agency and marketing Team in Mumbai tends to work in territories operating with reps within their own regions. Often overlooked by regional or national managers depending on the scale of the team. Although territory management is more important for wide scale national distributing business, smaller brands are recognising the importance of managing promotions on a more local scale using teams to promote, audit and sell in their regions.
WHAT CAN FIELD MARKETING DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
1. PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS
As mentioned already, demo days are a popular tool of field marketing. These campaigns can stretch from as little as one week to 6 months however some are continuous and full time. For consumer goods this would mean having brand representatives in retail stores and around shopping centers, events or road shows. Finally The Brand Ambassadors are engaging with the consumer and showing them how the product or service works. This is important as it allows a potential buyer to get hands on experience and a feel of ownership of the product; most importantly the rep is also on hand to answers any questions the customer may have. Although a sell is great the main aim of a demo campaign is brand awareness.
Food and beverage take a slightly differently approach. By handing out free samples and one off deals of their product around retail and events, consumers are getting a taste of the brands latest delicious treats and at the same time everyone loves free food! Sampling is a fun activation and is effective when bringing new products to the high street. Marketing Training Learn more about product demonstrations by checking out our in depth guide here.
2. DIRECT SELLING
Much like product demonstrations these campaigns have brand reps or ambassadors at the center of them. The difference is it’s more about the selling of the product. Sales rep might have targets to adhere to. Finally these campaigns are super effective during peak times when the difference in a sale or not can be having a knowledgeable brand rep in store.
Product Demonstrations
Learn more about what direct selling is in our guide here.
3. RETAIL AUDITS AND MERCHANDISING
Auditing takes the reps out off the front line and away from the consumer. Auditing teams are used by marketers to monitor traditional marketing strategies that they put in place across retail. Most of all audits ensure that the brand is represented as it should be on shelves and around retail hot spots. Examples are; checking POS is as it should be across the territories, promotions advertised and running and paid spaces such as gondolas are set up. The data collected from the teams can be useful for the marketers to negotiate better future deals. In addition it also allows for mistakes to be rectified there and then by the reps. Splatter offer a live system that can be monitored by the client in real team meaning that red flags in the field can be dealt with instantaneously .Store Audits and MerchandisingTo learn more about Audits and merchandising view our guide here.
4. GUERRILLA MARKETING
When it comes to guerrilla marketing the gloves are off. They are usually low budget campaigns but with the right imagination and ideas they offer up some unprecedented results. Furthermore the term ‘Guerrilla Marketing’ itself is used to refer to campaigns that surprise consumers in locations and ways they might not usually expect. For that reason the experience remains with the consumer.
5. PRODUCT SAMPLING
Product Sampling
To learn more about sampling work and what that involves view our guide here. WHO DOES WHAT?FIELD MARKETING REP: These guys and girls are the cream of the crop, they are masters of everything. Sometimes they may be conducting training sessions on major proportion for a retailers whole selling team. Another role they find themselves in are in is in the field collecting data and conducted audits. Finally everything in between including sales, merchandising, and working at events. Their primary concern is to drive brand awareness across their region through face to face with consumer and staff on a retail level.
Read about what being a field marketing rep is all about here. FIELD MARKETING MANAGER: The field manager’s role is to oversee the field reps; it is their duty to ensure the field marketing campaigns achieves the clients intended goal. As the manager of all the region, they hold the responsibility of ensuring that all reps are trained and directed towards the client’s goals. In addition the field marketing manager will work closely with the clients marketing executives to align the marketing objectives and goals with team in the field. Finally they will then report the findings and feedback from the team.
Read more about what being a field marketing manager entails here. BRAND AMBASSADOR/BRAND REP As we know by now the BA role is one of the most crucial in field marketing. Ultimately they are usually supplied by the marketing agency and are tasked with promoting and representing the client’s brand. This can work well within a University by hiring a student to represent the brand around campus; this is perfect for low budget campaigns as sometimes all it takes is giving the BA some products to show off. Some larger scale business’ use celebrities to endorse their product and services by making them the face of their brand using social media to promote to their following.
Learn about the various roles within the Field Marketing industry are by reading our guide here.
You can also join our team by signing up here. DO YOU NEED FIELD MARKETING? Field marketing as you have seen is a useful tool to accompany other traditional marketing strategies. For example a company might pay a huge amount of money for prime advertising spot during a major sports event. However if this is the case it is important for the brand to follow up with demos in stores. If there is a brand rep placed in store the following few days after the advertising campaign the customer is more likely to come over and ask some questions about the product.
Another reason you might need field marketing is to ensure your budget has been well spent. After investing into a large scale in-store promotion campaign you want to ensure that it is implemented to the standard agreed with the retailer. Data can be collected by auditing teams and analysed to see if the money had been well spent. Furthermore it also gives opportunity for future campaigns to implemented with higher efficiency and success.
A lot of people equate experiential events with music and sporting events, but we’ve started to see a lot of traction in creating cultural experiences that revolve more around art, culinary events, and social good. These types of activations can bring in people with a wider mix of interests, and with younger generations famously interested in spending money on experiences, they will only become more and more popular with brands wanting to stay relevant.
The Year of VR
How many times have you seen someone say that when forecasting trends in the technology space? The truth is, VR can be a great tool for experiential marketers, and as costs continue to come down on the technology associated with it, you will see more and more brands testing out its usefulness. That said, VR is not a one-size-fits-all solution for activations. One of the great uses for experiential as a concept is the ability to create a sense of community in a shared space. VR, by its nature, is a very singular experience. Just because you can now afford to do it, doesn’t mean you should be doing it.
Chasing impressions
Measuring the success of experiential is an ever-evolving debate, and it’s something we all need to work to get better at. That said, one pitfall I’ve started to notice is brands chasing impressions with their experiences. Impressions for the sake of impressions doesn’t create anything of actual value. I’d rather build an event that directly impacts and connects with one thousand people than one that generates a million impressions but immediately disappears from the collective conscious. Scale is important for sure, but don’t get distracted by the temptation to follow large numbers all the time.
Integration of Artificial Intelligence
AI continues to become more and more a part of people’s daily lives, as devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home have made the technology more familiar to the average consumer. Experiential can (and already does) benefit from this, as marketers can create really interesting interactive spaces that provide a wide variety of different experiences in a confined space. Customization is key, and AI can do a lot to make an event unique to each visitor.
Not as easy as it looks
As the industry grows and gathers a larger and larger share of marketing budgets, we should see an influx of traditional advertising and other marketing agencies offering their own experiential services. My tip – it isn’t as easy as it looks. The meshing of creative ideation and production capabilities is a constant push and pull, and figuring out how to bring an idea to life within a certain time frame and on budget is a skill that takes time and experience to develop. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost a new business pitch to something that I immediately knew couldn’t be pulled off, not within the stated budget, or both. Unfortunately, the brands are the ones that end up with the short end of the stick with an event that’s over budget or not what they bought in the room.
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