In Store Activation in Field Marketing

There are so many different field marketing jobs and so many facets to field marketing that it can sometimes feel a little tricky to get our heads around all of them. However thanks to popular TV show The Apprentice, many more people have become more interested in the way the business world works, and will have seen field marketing in action.

The Apprentice often focuses very much on the merchandising side of product development. Getting the branding right, pitching to the right people, and making sure your selling point is one that stands out. What we see on The Apprentice however, is usually a fairly rushed version of how field marketing actually works.

When they do market research on the show for example, they often just ask a dozen or so people what it is they’re after and that’s it. However to build up an effective marketing campaign you need to collect data from thousands of people rather than a table full. A marketing consultancy team would gather and interpret data which is important to a campaign, as is collating that data into an easy to understand report.

Something that a few of The Apprentice candidates did very well was targeting an appropriate audience. Whether it was school children or pensioners, they teams usually had a target audience. In field marketing, the people that work in store need to be the right people for the job and are thus handpicked. If you’re targeting a festival you want your field workers to be young, energetic, and enthusiastic. If you’re working to promote an anti-aging skincare product, then it’s better to choose an older woman that consumers can relate to.

Giving away samples was something that The Apprentice candidates occasionally did a little too much of. One such example was when they gave a free massage before the customer had to pay for anything. Not a great idea to give a luxury service away for free. Try before you buy is often used in supermarket sampling however, which can encourage shoppers to consider new things.

The Apprentice candidates sometimes fell short, but many of the basic principles of field marketing were in operation. Look out for potential field marketing campaigns near you!