In a lot of ways, the definition of field marketing aligns with what you might expect. It’s a broad term that refers to a long list of marketing activities carried out “in the field.”

These activities include anything that involves face-to-face contact with potential buyers such as street promotions, experiential marketing, pop-ups, billboard ads, flyers, and more. Field marketing strategies go beyond handing out samples to anyone who passes by.

It’s what sets businesses apart from the competition, ringing particularly true these last few years. As we’ve seen, a company’s responsiveness to adjust to market changes paves the way to the top for those with strategy. The case for Field Marketing, the strategic practice of measurable, face-to-face brand development and customer relationship management, is now more poignant than ever. Companies that employ Field Marketing tactics – led by strong, highly trained teams – are viewed as more nimble when faced with challenges, as well as more aware of customer needs.

Field Marketing Strategy Ideas

These days, we tend to think of marketing as an online practice.

Which makes sense, as many of our efforts focus on reaching people in their inboxes, on social media platforms, as they search for information, or browse their favorite websites.

While digital marketing & conversational marketing dominate the lion’s share of the sales cycle, interacting with the physical world cannot be replaced.

Field marketing is a strategy that applies many of the same principles used in digital sales and marketing strategies: personalization, relationship-building, and audience targeting and takes them out into the physical world.

FIELD MARKETING Key Strategies & Benefits

What Are Field Marketing Activies?
Field marketing activities are promotional activities that take place outside of a traditional retail setting, such as in-store product demonstrations, trade show booth staffing, and street team marketing.

What does a field marketing team do?
A field marketing team is responsible for executing promotional activities in a variety of settings, including retail stores, trade shows, and other events. Field marketing is a great way to directly interact with potential customers, gather data and feedback, and create brand awareness.

What is field marketing in B2B?
B2B field marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on making connections with other businesses, usually at trade shows and networking events. B2B field marketing can be a great way to generate leads and build relationships with other businesses.

What Is Considered field marketing?
Field marketing is a type of marketing that involves promoting products or services in a variety of ‘real world’ settings, including retail stores, trade shows, and other events.

Field Marketing Vs Digital Marketing
Field marketing is when you promote your product or service in different brick and mortar locations, like stores, shopping malls, and at trade events. Having a physical presence, such as a store or an event, is also known as a “hard” form of marketing. Digital or “soft” marketing, on the other hand, is when you use the internet to promote your product or service.

What is Field Sales?
Field sales is the process of selling products or services in a face-to-face setting, outside of a traditional retail setting. Instead of waiting for customers to come to you, field sales agents go out and engage with the public directly, helping you reach audiences you otherwise couldn’t.

Field sales, sometimes known as outside sales, is the business practice of sending sales representatives to visit customers and sell a product or service in person.

Our tactical field marketing services are designed to generate interest in a product or service through direct interaction with potential customers. This type of marketing can take many forms, but it typically involves face-to-face interactions in high-traffic public areas such as shopping malls, trade shows, and festivals.

Field marketing agency teams usually consist of well-trained salespeople who know how to engage potential customers and overcome objections. In addition to generating leads, field marketing can also be used to increase brand awareness and build relationships with potential customers. When done correctly, field advertising is an extremely powerful marketing tool that can help businesses to achieve their objectives.

While door-to-door sales is a subcategory of field sales, cold selling trinkets and vacuums in-person isn’t what most outside salespeople do in 2020. Instead, it’s typically focused on B2B sales and new client onboarding, long-term relationship building, and account management.

Sales representatives have to take their time to build rapport with their prospects, and over the long term, convince them to try their product or service.

What Does a Field Sales Rep Do?

Exactly what a field sales rep does depends on the industry and business, but most commonly, the sales process starts with a list of leads.

It’s the job of the individual representative to take the list of company names, contact people, and phone numbers, and start relationships with and sell to as many companies as possible.

Let’s take a closer look at the main tasks and duties of an outside sales professional:

1. Track and manage leads

A field sales rep needs to collect, manage, categorize, and track the progress of leads and prospects. They typically do this in a CRM system, but in an outside-sales heavy industry, they might use specialized sales pipeline management tools.

2. Qualify prospects

Before a rep devotes hours of their time to a meeting with a potential customer, you need to verify that they need your product/service, and have the ability to pay for it. Sales reps typically qualify prospects by doing research, or over the phone, or a junior sales rep might arrange a quick preliminary meeting.

3. Make sales runs

Once you trust that the prospect is a legit sales opportunity, it’s time to prepare a sales strategy. Reps will head out of the office to pitch the company’s main offerings to local businesses or other potential clients. These runs can cover the local area or a larger territory, requiring weeks to cover.

4. Follow up with potential clients

Once a prospect is interested, the sales rep must strike while the iron is hot. Follow-ups are sometimes made over the phone but can be done in person as well. 

5. Manage accounts

Once you have closed a deal, it’s the agent’s job to schedule quarterly, biannual, or annual meetings to make sure the client relationship is healthy and productive.