Street Team programs can be one of the most effective tactics available for building brand awareness and leads. Unfortunately, they can also be one of the biggest wastes of time, money, and effort if done poorly. What's the secret to street team marketing success? Keep reading and we'll give you our 5 'keys to succeed' when planning a Street Team marketing promotion.
What is Street Team Marketing?
Street Team marketing is often defined as a guerrilla marketing tactic where customers are engaged in a public setting. Implementation of the Street Team has a wide variance, from standing on a busy street to assisting with set up at various events such as, farmers markets or music festivals.
The goals of a Street Team marketing campaign include
- Lead generation for an app
- Signatures for a political campaign
- Product sampling
- Building brand strength, halo effect
- Fliers, coupons and deals
Learn more about these successful Street Team campaigns we recently delivered from Hello Santa Barbara and UBER. We'll dive into what worked for these activations, and why, at the end of this article.
Always Keep in Mind
Investing in strategies that narrow your target audience will always yield better results. Conversely, a broad audience will only succeed with a low threshold for a conversion. For example, when Red Bull pulls up their vehicle in a downtown location, they start handing out Red Bull. Everybody has time to grab one and be on their way. However, if your Street Team conversion requires a few minutes of explanation, results diminish with a broad audience. Find a targeted environment where the average consumer is more likely to resonate with your product and your conversion rate will rise.
Our Street Team promotion with frank body, was a great example of using a wide audience, combined with a low barrier for engagement, free ice cream. This hooked in consumers and gave our staff plenty of time to educate consumers on the brand and offer product discounts.
Now, let's take a look at our 5 keys to succeed when planning a Street Team marketing campaign.
Setting up your Street Team Marketing Campaign
Define your goals. Most clients have goals in mind beyond brand awareness when they are putting together a Street Team campaign. But, it is important to discuss those goals with the agency you hire before the program begins. Companies like Kinetic Events know what is realistic and what isn't based on past experience. What does 'success' look like for your brand? How many sign-ups, downloads, samples, or signatures per hour? How many customers engaged?
Organize and distribute your marketing materials. This is one area that is often overlooked in the planning process. Whether you have fliers, product, iPads, t-shirts, etc, they need to get to each field manager on time. A well-organized Street Team promotion will also have brand cohesion throughout the customer experience.
Kinetic Events can be a great help when it comes to marketing materials. We have local storage units for drop off and production partners across the country. We also have iPad and technology for rent should you need it.
Choosing Street Team locations
Specific targeting equals better results. As discussed above, it's difficult to get your desired outcome without some sense of filtering. Try setting up your team at a music festival, or a farmers market. For downtown workers, target commuters during their lunch hour, or at the subway station. Whatever your target, the more time you put into defining that audience, the higher your conversion rate will be. A good agency can help you scout the right location in the cities where you are activating your Street Team promotion.
Permits and permission. Some say "it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission". That may hold true for some things, but not when you are setting up your Street Team location. Consider the time and investment in implementing a proper Street Team. The risk of setting up in a place where the team may be asked to leave isn't worth the reward. Take time to learn where you are and aren't allowed to be in advance. Even local conferences often prohibit street teams within a 1/4 mile radius of their convention. Do the homework so you don't get burned.
Be. flexible to change. Very specific locations don't always work out the way we think. A morning commuter crowd may convert at 30% compared to the exact same people coming home from work eight hours later. A single street corner could swing results widely from block to block. Working with a flexible agency that is adaptable to change during a program is the key to generating maximum ROI.
Recruiting Brand Ambassadors
Thinking ahead. Have a sense of the total Street Team activation from start to finish. This will dramatically increase the quality of your talent. First of all, every product or service has a learning curve. The longer you work with the same people, the better they will be in the field and in delivering your brand message. Secondly, when you know the details of a longer program in advance, we can hire our best people for the job. This also increases the commitment level of your staff. Finally, understanding your full program in advance helps agencies advise and adjust as a trusted partner, not just a vendor.
Insurance and W2 workforce. Worker classification and insurance compliance is especially important with Street Team campaigns. Staff are interacting with the public, representing your brand. In states like California, Washington, New York and others, new laws mandate W2 employees for part-time event work.
Training
Training materials. Activations have a range of complexity, from simple giveaways to apps and technology downloads. Writing out your brand message and the desired results is critically important. A good agency can help aid this process.
Extended training options. For in-depth Street Team marketing campaigns, or when activating with a smaller group, in-person training is the best method. Additionally, working with groups across multiple markets allow for a variety of online training formats that can work well. At Kinetic Events, we often create Google Hangouts or Zoom meetings to help train groups in different markets.
Delivery & Reporting
Delivering your program objectives is the most important part of the five steps. But, if you've done steps one through four, the delivery will be the easiest. You are now well prepared to put knowledgeable people in the field with good materials at a targeted location.
Technology integrations. Using technology for your campaign is divided into staff technology and engagement technology. First, staff should be using check-in/check out apps that will help determine work hours and location. Engaged consumers should be integrating with your social media or lead generation forms. Second, consumer use of technology will vary depending on the activation. It's important to consider the need for rentals of Ipads or computers in advance. Many agencies offer these devices for rent at a low cost.
When the Santa Barbara region was damaged by wildfires, Hello Santa Barbara organized a Street Team program at Union Station in Los Angeles. Step and Repeat LA provided augmented reality backdrops and Kinetic Events provided the Street Team talent This is a great example of enhancing a Street Team environment to engage customers. Image on the right from Step & Repeat LA.
Reporting. Post-event recaps are critical to understanding the success or necessary adjustments to a program. If you want to create a recap report, several form builders can help. The key is to know what you are looking for in advance. This way, your Street Team staff can gather that information in real-time. Examples of reporting questions would be the number of consumers engaged. Additionally, photos of the setup or pin drops at locations can also be valuable intel.
Conclusion
Implementing a Street Team marketing campaign requires extra thought and planning to achieve optimal results. Unlike trade show booths or in-store demos, a Street Team engages the general public. The effort you put into narrowing your audience will pay dividends. Furthermore, the offer, selected team, and real-time reporting can dramatically affect results.
If you have any questions for Kinetic Events, don't hesitate to reach out. We have years of experience with Street Team programs and are happy to share our knowledge.