Posted by Dan from www.searchlaboratory.com
Field marketing has traditionally been a one way experience. You show up with a portable display, some samples and promotional products to hand out and hope that enough people remember you. However there are increasingly more and more options to not only show your product and service but to actually engage with your customers and clients to create a two way conversation.
Review
It’s an easy technique but also great way to engage. Say you want to test your new roast duck flavour potato chips. When you hand them out ask people to tweet their review to #roastduckchips. Maybe include the hashtag on a silicone wristband or a pen to help intrigue people. If you want grab attention then a LCD or Plasma screen showing the reactions will be help you stand out that little bit more. Of course with this approach you are bound to get a few negative comments but that in itself offers and opportunity. If you have someone monitoring the twitter feed then they can respond to useful criticisms and show that you are listening. It doesn’t just have to be twitter either. Facebook messages or even plain old email can help achieve the same thing.
If you really want to encourage these reviews then you can turn it into a competition. For example with the above example maybe you could offer five random tweeters the chance to tour the chip factory or some free promotional merchandise such as branded t-shirts.
Creating a viral event
An attention grabbing piece of field marketing can go viral, for example the attached videos show Angry Birds fan playing their favourite game for real http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIBZQkj6SY and Lynx (then UK name for AXE) meeting angels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFuUFeQIdpk. These ambush marketing events help to grab attention and give people a more positive view of your brand. They also integrate easily with online, print and television marketing. However whilst this helps to appeal to your audience, the real benefit is in watching and measuring the reactions of your customers. Every tweet, YouTube comment or Facebook like reflects word of mouth. Just make sure you know and respond to what they are actually saying!
