There is often unclarity and confusion regarding exactly what field marketing is, and how it differs from trade marketing and retail merchandising. Some companies may also wonder exactly how the practice can benefit them. An understanding of field marketing software and what it does – both for brands and the consumers they service – will reveal myriad benefits for businesses of nearly any size.
What and Where Exactly is “The Field”?
Field marketing is a type of marketing that involves working on the floor to connect with consumers. When producers and retailers refer to “the field”, they are talking about the sales floor, service site or retail location that move products into the hands of patrons. Marketing done here involves distributing, selling and testing the effectiveness of promotional materials, as well as sampling products on-site and evaluating the response to these in-store promotions. Ensuring that consumers are having a positive experience with the goods and services being offered to them is the main goal of field service professionals.
The most important resource available to any field service specialist is mobile field service software. In particular, field marketing software enables users to create and conduct events that collect and evaluate advertisement effectiveness and consumer satisfaction. These procedures, when used correctly, can help brands gain significant ground on their competitors and stay ahead of the race long-term.
Some Field marketing software allows brands to maintain and improve their sales and consumer satisfaction include:
- Research through brand questionnaires and audits. In-store footwork is not the only job of the field service worker. These specialists can also conduct brand research and audits of advertising effectiveness before ever setting a foot on site.
- On-site product demonstrations and sampling. The effectiveness of sampling, coupon distribution and product demonstrations is well known in the retail industry, and these tasks are easier than ever when field service software is utilized to plan and promote these small-scale events.
- Fixing issues with displays in-store. Although store staff is responsible for stocking shelves and maintaining displays, field service professionals can fix obvious problems with these displays, and evaluate their effectiveness from an outside perspective.
- Creating and initiating promotions on-site. Vesting field service pros can set up store promotions and assist employees with running the remainder of the sale or special.
- Taking product orders on behalf of independent store owners. Operators of independent stores are responsible for placing their own stock orders, which can be a daunting task. Field service specialists can help them perform this task and therefore boost sales by providing more product to move.
- Designing and conducting experiential marketing events. Whereas many promotions are focused on one-time discounts and deals, experiential marketing involves providing events and experience that forge long-lasting relationships with customers and help them to know and love your brand. This is one of the most important functions of field marketing.
Putting these techniques to work to boost sales and keep customers happy is part of what makes field marketing so indispensable to modern business, and field marketing software one of the most important tools for today’s most successful brands.