How to maximise the footfall at my store, event…

I am sure there have been moments when you thought, I wish there were more people entering my store, attending our event, or visiting our stand at an exhibition? Whilst you may think these are moments, they are in fact questions my team and I constantly receive and provide answers for on a daily basis.

How To Maximise Footfall

The answer is always pretty simple, all you need to do is go out and interact with people, finding potential customers by talking with them face-to-face. You can either do this yourself, by using your own staff, or by outsourcing this element to a field marketing agency like GottaBe!

For nearly 8 years now, GottaBe! has been working with various companies to maximise their footfall. We may live in a digital world, attached to smartphones and tablets, but this doesn’t mean we must stop engaging with our customers in the most old fashioned way possible – face-to-face!

You do not need to be afraid to talk to people by stopping strangers in the street, chatting with them, pointing them in the direction of your business, giving them a sample where appropriate or handing out promotional flyers with key information and offers on it – it’s easy.

Then all you need to do is repeat, repeat, and repeat…

A Mini Case Study

I remember a few years ago, a shop owner phoned me and said: “Tomasz, I have opened my store 3 weeks ago and only had 12 customers come through the door. Please help me!”. When I asked her what marketing she had done, she informed me that she had put an advert in a local magazine (although this wasn’t due out for another 2 weeks), created a Facebook page and had hung a sign above her window – not great!

As a result, I suggested that she gets some flyers printed and stand outside her store, handing them out to people as they walk past. However, she then said “I am scared to talk to people in the street and if I do this then who is going to be selling my stuff?”.  So I answered her with a simple solution, to use one of our bright and bubbly Brand Ambassadors who are extremely confident at interacting with people – his name was Jamie.

Jamie walked up and down the High Street dressed in a t-shirt with the stores branding on it, actively engaging with potential consumers, by stopping them and having a chat, giving them a flyer and inviting them into the store. Within minutes of the activation, the store had seen the same number of customers as it had in 3 weeks, people were intrigued and the till point was ringing. All down to good old fashioned face-to-face marketing.

How GottaBe! Can Help With Field Marketing

GottaBe! works with a number of brands with a High Street presence, including one of the biggest of them all – Specsavers. On nearly every occasion, no matter the brand, field marketing has delivered better results than any other marketing they had used.

Why? With TV, radio, online, print – it’s very hard to measure the ROI (unless you have a coupon, dedicated URLs, etc.) and it also takes some time for the activation to kick in – whilst field marketing is much quicker, almost instant – you should start seeing ROI on the day of the activation.

Do It Yourself Or Outsource It?

If you can do it yourself, then do it – face-to-face is a great way to find out who your customers are, what they think of your company and what you have to offer. If you would prefer to be at the business, closing the sales then either send one of your own staff (again, if you can afford to be one man down) or outsource it to a field marketing agency like GottaBe!. Make sure you give them a good brief beforehand – whoever is going to be doing it, will be representing your business and acting as an extension of your sales force.

At GottaBe!, we work very closely with our Clients to ensure we understand their business, their offerings and most importantly, their aims and objectives for the campaign. This is then all put into writing and the brief is shared with our handpicked Brand Ambassadors before they start the activation.

Clients call upon my team for staffing on a daily basis – from needing someone for only a few hours to more regular promotions – once, twice, weekly, monthly. We use local staff in the area where our Client is based and maximise the reach by going to places with the highest footfall.

Field marketing can be beneficial to businesses of all sizes and types – whether you have one branch, 10 or 100, whether you sell mobile phones, offer money transfers or serve coffee. Also, it comes in handy at events, during key holidays incl. Bank Holidays where the footfall on High Streets is usually much higher than it usually would be.

Finally, I would recommend you going out there and trying it! On a weekly basis, I am getting my hands dirty by getting involved in activations that GottaBe! is executing on behalf of our Clients across the country. Trust me, it is priceless experience that is most importantly, fun and educational!

P.S. All of our HQ staff must complete at least 1-2 days of promo work per month.

Need Help With A Field Marketing Activation?

If you need any advice with planning a field marketing activation then please do not hesitate to contact myself or one of my colleagues – we are here to help! And with over 5,000 Brand Ambassadors on our books, I am sure we can find someone that’s perfect for you.

Written by Tomasz Dyl, Managing Director, GottaBe!