What Is Field Marketing and Why Is It So Important for Modern Brands?

If you’re looking to integrate field marketing into your brand and you’re not sure where to start, the Dee Set team is here to help.

But what is field marketing? 

The field marketing definition can be tricky to tackle at first if you’re new to the world of retail marketing, which is why we’ve created this blog.

Field marketing techniques have proven themselves to be a beacon of light in this sector, especially when it comes to helping businesses to diversify themselves and stand out on the shelves, becoming a crucial strategy for modern brands to adopt.

Here at Dee Set, we don’t just talk the talk. Our team of field marketing managers is proud to specialise in innovative field marketing solutions that can help you maintain and attract customers, all while hitting your sales goals. Whether you’re looking to launch a new product, enhance brand awareness metrics, or gain deeper consumer insights, our expert team has experience designing and executing impactful field marketing campaigns tailored to our clients needs.

In this blog post, we’ll delve into the intricacies of field marketing, explore its unique advantages, and highlight its impact so you can see why it is a strategy worth giving your time, money, and attention to. 

We’ll also discuss why you should trust us with your field marketing strategy - get in touch to find out more!

What is Field Marketing?

So, what is field marketing?

At its core, field marketing involves personalisation, customer relationship-building, and audience targeting. Field marketing typically involves direct, face-to-face interactions between brands and consumers, typically in a retail environment or at events. 

Unlike traditional marketing (which often relies on broad-reaching campaigns through media), field marketing campaigns focus on creating personal connections and experiences. They include activities like product demonstrations, sampling, in-store promotions, experiential marketing, and merchandising.

It could be argued that field marketing strategies are more effective in leaving a lasting impression for shoppers, especially in comparison to more digitised approaches. This is because the consumer gets to directly interact with the product on offer and may have the opportunity to talk to a specialist about any concerns or questions they may have before finalising a sale. 

Field marketing's primary goal is to engage consumers in meaningful ways, leading to increased brand awareness, loyalty, and sales. It’s about bringing the brand to life in front of the consumer, providing tangible experiences that can significantly influence purchasing decisions.

Field Marketing in Action

It was recently reported that 62% of shoppers purchase items on impulse when attracted to an appealing display. Adding to this, 86% of shoppers are willing to pay more for a better shopping experience. Investment into field marketing management is something that pays off and it's clear that shoppers also see the difference too! 

Shockingly, it was recently reported that 67.3% of B2B marketers are unwilling to invest in field marketing because they think its success can’t be measured accurately. This could be the main reason why some brands refuse to invest in such an effective strategy - however, we’re here to disprove that myth! 

In fact, the success of field marketing can be measured by analysing the following measures:

• The number of people reached.
• The number of leads generated.
• The number of new customers.
• Sales revenue during the field marketing campaign.
• The percentage lift in sales in the period after the field marketing campaign took place.

How Does Field Marketing Differ from Other Retail Marketing Strategies?

While retail marketing strategies encompass a wide range of tactics that can benefit a brand in many ways, field marketing stands out due to its emphasis on direct consumer engagement. Here are some key features and benefits that field marketing provides:

• Direct Interaction: Unlike digital or traditional advertising, field marketing involves face-to-face interactions, allowing brands to directly address consumer questions and concerns. During this interaction, brands can communicate their values, to build on brand loyalty until they become customers.
• Experiential Engagement: Field marketing creates memorable experiences through product demonstrations, samples, and events, which can leave a lasting impression on consumers.
• Real-time Feedback: Through successful field marketing campaigns, brands are able to see tangible results due to real-time reporting through the use of field marketing reporting software. This enables them to make swift adjustments to their strategies.
• A Localised Approach: Field marketing often targets specific locations or events, making it highly customisable and relevant to the audience. This approach helps them cater to the specific needs of the target audience.
• Take the Pressure Off Your Sales Teams: For some brands where it is applicable, they may take the opportunity to directly sell to consumers at their field marketing events. This allows sales team members to focus on other business matters whilst the field marketers build on lead generation.

At Dee Set, we’re a leading field marketing agency in the UK. What makes us stand out from the rest of the crowd is our focus on innovation and technological advancement. Retailers and brands who trust us to deliver the services that can help propel them into the spotlight, make use of our dynamic field marketing technology which can provide fresh performance insights in an instant. We can make impact remotely, or we can send our field agents out to capture impactful photos with our powerful image recognition software.

Our image recognition capabilities and technology can be utilised to judge the status of your in-store displays and promotions, and analyse how visible your products are to shoppers, providing razor-sharp insights within seconds. Our expert team of field marketers and analysts can calculate your current engagement and reach by finding out what works and what doesn’t. 

This data can then be used to improve your in-store field marketing operations and ROI in the future.

 The Impact of Field Marketing on Your Brand…

Now, more than ever, it's important for retailers and brands to develop innovative strategies to help boost their visibility and sales. We’re currently facing turbulent and competitive times in the retail sector, with shoppers now seeking value alongside price when it comes to the products they buy. Brands are also fighting to remain dominant with the growing rise of own-label products, so it seems that the battle to stay relevant whilst maintaining meaningful customer relationships is a hard feat.

However, retailers and brands who choose to invest in field marketing can take advantage of the numerous benefits that can significantly enhance brand presence and performance in the market. 

Here’s how it’s done…

A Host of Brand Awareness Metrics and Data Insights

One of the many benefits of field marketing is that it has the potential to provide businesses with a treasure trove of data that can reveal insight into shopper behaviour. This is invaluable for retailers and brands, especially in these turbulent times, helping them to shape their future field marketing strategies. Qualitative and quantitative data can both be gained from this approach, as they will often extract valuable information from leads generated, sales figures, customer engagement levels, and even surveys.

A Competitive Advantage in the Modern Retail World

In this era of digitalisation, we are probably more accustomed to seeing online marketing campaigns than physical strategies - digital marketing is still effective, retailers and brands need to be visible where it matters the most. According to Agile Retail, 64% of UK consumers prefer to shop on the high street instead of browsing online - this highlights the point that brands should still focus on strategies which boost their presence in person. 

But how can this be achieved when thousands of brands are currently fighting for engagement? In the crowded retail market, differentiation is key. Field marketing gives brands a competitive edge by creating unique and engaging consumer experiences that stand out from traditional advertising. By creating memorable experiences, businesses can build stronger brand loyalty and encourage repeat purchases, helping brands stay ahead of their competitors.

Create a Personalised Customer Experience for All

Personalisation is a powerful tool in modern marketing that can make shoppers feel valued and can often be a deciding factor in them engaging with your brand again. 

Field marketing excels in this area by delivering tailored experiences to consumers, whether through customised product demonstrations, personalised offers, or one-on-one interactions. By deepening your connection with shoppers, you’ll be enhancing the consumer experience and driving long-term loyalty.

Brand loyalty schemes can be particularly useful here, enabling you to tailor your rewards and offers to consumers, based around what they like and what they don’t like. You can collect data through your loyalty app, before using the actionable insights gained to create a personalised experience for your customers.

Field Marketing in Action: Case Studies

To truly understand the power of field marketing, let’s look at some of our most successful case studies:

• Case Study 1: Helping to Kickstart the Euros in Sainsbury’s:

Dee Set recently supported our Nectar360 partners in-store by bringing The HEINEKEN Company, PepsiCo and Kellogg Company's activations to life in-store with some eye-catching, branded showcases ahead of the Euros 2024. These displays also featured the use of some digital screens which helped to create a memorable and eye-catching experience for shoppers.

• Case Study 2: Nyx raises the bar: 

NYX, a professional makeup brand, sets a high standard for experiential retail. They create a fun and interactive environment for cosmetic enthusiasts, using various methods to engage their media-savvy customers. They frequently hold meet and greet events with influencers they partner with, also offering customers an immersive shopping experience by utilising technology like TV monitors and interactive discovery stations.

• Case Study 3: Poundland’s immersive product launch: 

To promote their latest makeup collection which they collaborated with Love Islander Demi Jones on, Poundland combined field marketing with influencer marketing to launch a meet and greet event at their flagship store. The event enabled Demi to talk about the new collection in detail to customers, and also provided the ability to buy products at the event.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out our case studies to see some of our success stories in the field marketing world…

Discover New Field Marketing Campaign Ideas with Dee Set

It's clear that field marketing is an essential strategy for modern businesses looking to build strong connections with their consumers. It’s a technique worth investing in that can really help to push retailers and brands into the spotlight, due to its ability to provide a memorable, personalised experience that can generate valuable insights and create a competitive edge. Because of this, we think that field marketing is indispensable in today’s retail landscape.

Creating an effective field marketing plan can take a lot of time and effort, which many businesses may struggle to find whilst other pressing business matters need attention. Don’t fret though – you can trust in Dee Set to manage the entire process for you. Using our data-led approach, we’ll help you improve the stature of your business, increasing both your ROI and the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

We offer a wide range of services, including merchandising, promotional compliance, fulfilment and stock management, using our dynamic tech to ramp up your strategy. 

So, what are you waiting for? Explore the possibilities of field marketing with Dee Set today and discover how we can help you to thrive in the modern retail world. Get in touch and we’ll start developing a dedicated field marketing campaign today…