Field Marketing is a general term that encompasses face-to-face marketing activities carried out in the field. These activities may include street promotions, conferences, sales, and various forms of experiential marketing. Field Marketing, therefore, refers to any marketing activity that is performed in the field.
Understanding field marketing
Field marketing is used to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and build customer relationships. It is the domain of experienced and well-trained marketers who are tasked with interacting with the brand’s target audience to encourage them to make a purchase decision.
These marketers may work in the B2B context and as a result, possess marketing and sales expertise to meet with prospects across multiple touchpoints. They may also work in the B2C context and present themselves in locations where the ideal buyer tends to congregate.
Field marketing campaign types
In truth, there are many different settings in which a field marketing campaign can be run. Some of these include:
- Experiential marketing – a face-to-face strategy where the consumer is immersed in a product or service to engage them with a brand.
- Product demonstrations – this is a common approach that many consumers are now averse to. However, free samples and giveaways are still effective in some situations if the consumer is also able to experience the brand hands-on.
- Conferences – for B2B campaigns, it can be useful to offer educational experiences at conferences to build brand awareness.
- Tradeshows – another approach well suited to B2B brands. In this case, businesses demonstrate their products and services to prospective customers at industry-specific tradeshows.
- VIP dinners – for a more intimate form of field marketing, exclusive restaurant dinners for very important prospects can also be effective in turning them into customers.
- Direct selling – where brand representatives make sales at the point where the interaction is made. This is sometimes used in combination with demos if the prospect has expressed interest in the product or service.
- Retail audits – not every field marketing strategy must be customer-facing. Retail audits involve companies visiting retail stores to collect data on the way their products are displayed, signed, and promoted. This allows them to determine the effectiveness of in-store marketing and adjust the strategy if necessary.
Field marketer responsibilities
Some consider field marketers to be more like salespeople than marketers. As we noted earlier, however, the field marketer is a well-trained and specialist role that combines elements of both sales and marketing.
Here are some of the main responsibilities of a field marketer:
- Researching, planning, and executing the delivery of field marketing campaigns.
- Ensuring they possess detailed knowledge of products and services.
- The monitoring of industry trends or the emergence of new competitors.
- Negotiate mutually beneficial deals with third-party retailers and partners with respect to merchandise and promotional display placement.
- Manage social media accounts for each campaign.
- Share important lead and customer intel with sales departments.
Key takeaways:
- Field marketing refers to any marketing activity that is performed in the field to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and build customer relationships. It may occur in both a B2B and B2C context.
- Field marketing campaign types include tradeshows, conferences, VIP dinners, retail audits, direct selling, product demonstrations, and experiential marketing. Note that not all campaigns are necessarily customer-facing.
- Field marketers possess a blend of sales and marketing skills, which makes the role highly specialized. Some of their duties include the research, planning, and execution of campaigns and the monitoring of industry trends or the emergence of new players. They must also be able to negotiate beneficial outcomes with key stakeholders.
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