Field marketing is a type of marketing in which companies try to get their products in front of potential consumers in the field at retail locations, events, college campuses, or in public locations.

Field marketing activities generally include promotions, demos, and direct sales.

The main objectives of field marketing include brand awareness, increased sales at desired locations, and increased engagement with buying communities.

Elements of Field Marketing

• Begins with a well-planned call cycle

A call cycle refers to a plan. It tells us how many times and at what times the store in an area will be potentially visited along with deciding what all tasks and activities will be performed at each store visit by a consumer.

• Relevant questionnaires and auditing

As a field marketer, you need to put the time in the store to set up promotions, bring in new items, and regularly audit the store. For the auditing part, the most common thing or say tool which is used is the questionnaire. These are pre-designed to collect information.

• Fixing problems and sharing knowledge with staff

This step usually takes after the brand auditing is complete. The field marketer is responsible for preventing errors and communication of the staff. It will also help the staff to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

• Collate and analyze information 

The next element to consider is the collation and analysis of the data that was previously captured using surveys and questionnaires. The information without analysis is of no use. This is the time to deeply analyze the information and take out something meaningful from that information.

Benefits Of Field Marketing

Improves Brand Perception

It enables brands to directly interact with a large number of interested audiences and also gives the customer the benefit to try and experience the brand for the first time.

It often happens at sales stalls at specific events like roadshows, conferences, etc. it provides great opportunities to gain the trust of the audience and try to make them loyal customers of the brand.

Handles Customers

Nowadays, customers are more intelligent, tech-savvy, and are also better informed. They constantly look for products and services which provide the best quality at the least prices.

They also want all their questions answered before they buy anything, even if it is of the smallest amount. Field marketing is a great strategy to deal with such customers as it gives us the opportunity to show our product to them and also handle every possible query of the customer.

Augments the Sales Effort

A field marketing strategy gives a lot of interest and potential prospects to the salesperson. They get a lot of quality leads as a result of field marketing.

With these leads, the salesperson can have a follow up with them and try to sell the products to these leads. It will be easier to sell because the customer is somehow aware of our product or service and is also interested.

Enhances Customer Relationships

It gives the company the benefit to better interact with its customers and try building relationships with the customer. We, as a brand ca constantly touch the customer at various points and try to give him the best possible experience.

This is also true after the customer has purchased our product or service. Field marketing people can provide customers with consistent answers for all their queries, thereby increasing the trust of the customers in the organization.

Provides Measurable ROI

If a field marketing plan s successful, it gives the brand a lot of tangible results. Companies also get real-time data and analysis by using field marketing.

The managers associated with this can track this data, results constantly using technology. It helps them analyze how the campaign is performing.

Accurate Targeting

Field marketing includes sales promotions, onboarding, nurturing, sampling, demonstration, experiential marketing, organizing events, roadshows, and conferences.

The marketers are the persons who are responsible for it, and it’s their duty to choose the locations, formats, sizes, etc. of the campaign. They do all this, keeping in mind the target audience.

How is Field Marketing helping brands grow?

Brand questionnaires/ audits

Field marketers are helping brands get ahead by answering well thought out questionnaires that collect information about their brand and competing brands.

It gives the brand a whole lot of data and information which the brands can use for further marketing campaigns and targeting the audience in the future.

Product Sampling and Demonstration

It refers to demonstrating the product in front of your potential audience and letting them know about your product. It also gives the customer the benefit of trying the product before buying.

If the customer likes the product, he is most likely to make the purchase on the spot. It also creates a positive image for your brand. This can also be conducted by creating product sampling door to door.

Fixing obvious problems

After a field marketing campaign, when there is some data n the hands of the company now, brands can use this data to change things, which may potentially cause problems.

It also includes product placement at the store. Other things also can happen because of the data available. As a company, you can fix a small issue like replacing old stock, arranging for special attractive product displays, build relationships with the retailers, and hence promote the brand and eventually lead to success.

Putting up in-store promotions

In-store promotion is a very crucial part of product sales. Sometimes not the product but just its placement and in-store attractiveness make the customer buy the product.

As a brand, you can also get ideas by visiting other stores and try to implement them in your business.

Taking orders

Managers of independent stores generally have a decentralized buying structure, which makes the manager responsible for making sure there’s sufficient stock on hand.

Field marketers can take product orders from these store managers while in-store, which can have a positive impact on sales.

Experiential Marketing

Not like promotions, which focus directly on sales, experiential marketing campaigns are also a great way to go forward.

These campaigns help brands build long term relations with the customers by providing them with such an experience that is new and makes them happy and more interested in the product.

Experiential marketing focuses on exiting the customer and making the shopping experience better and a memorable one.

Retail verticals where field marketing is most effective

• Food and beverage
• Home goods
• Electronics and appliances
• Beauty products
• Apparel, footwear, and accessories
• Mobile phones
• Consumer packaged goods

How to Create a Field Marketing Strategy?

Understand How Field Marketing is fit for you

Every business has different requirements when marketing is considered. Before directly going into the planning of field marketing, you must find out whether field marketing is fit for your business or not. You should also consider how field marketing will fit well with your other marketing plans and strategies.

Know Your Audience

What market segment are you trying to reach? What would they respond to in the field? Where can you most likely reach them? These are the first questions that you need to answer before finalizing your field marketing strategy.

Understanding your audience will enable you to gain insights about your audience and also will direct your efforts in the right direction enabling you to save a lot of money that would otherwise be wasted.

Set Well-Defined KPIs

What do you want your field marketing to achieve? Is it direct sales in the field? KPIs refers to key performance indicators. They are the points or data items that will help you track whether your field marketing is successful or not.

The more specific the KPIs are, the more detailed and accurate your results will be. You must ensure to inform these KPIs to your field people and provide them with a direction and way to track the results. 

Get Creative

Field marketing can be very innovative. It depends on how creative your team is. Field marketing can often complement guerilla marketing. You don’t need to spend extra money to be creative. You can simply brainstorm with your team and figure out the best innovative ideas for the purpose of marketing.

Conclusion

Field marketing can help a lot to grow if it’s well integrated with your marketing strategy for the entire business. It has a lot of benefits when it comes to engagement with the customer.

You can engage your customer by attracting them with your fun and attractive techniques and simply collect their data and try to make sales.

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