Why Your Promotional Event Failed

There’s a lot that can go right when running a live promotional event for your product or service: increase sales, generate leads, grow brand awareness, connect with prospective clients etc… But, there’s plenty that can go wrong once an event starts, no matter how prepared you think you may have been.  There are typically many moving parts within a live event and failure to excel in one area can sabotage all of the hard work you put in beforehand.

If you’ve recently had a promotional event not go quite the way you drew it up, now is the time to reflect on what went wrong.  Here are some key areas that may have held your event back:

Failed to Identify Your Audience

This is probably the most prevalent mistake that event planners, promotional staffing agencies and business owners make when organizing an event, and it is also one of the most costly.  If you don’t know who your audience is, your event is not going to be a success.  

Without knowing your audience, you typically cannot:

  • Communicate to them in their language
  • Know where they frequent
  • Reach them with your marketing
  • Create a realistic budget
  • Pick an appropriate venue
  • Create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for your event

If you do not put in the time to research your target audience prior to a live promotional event, your promotional staff will be in for a long day.  If you aren’t sure exactly what you need to do to identify your audience, this Eventbrite article lists three key steps to develop your understanding: creating a persona, research, and market sizing.

Poor communication

In any situation that you are trying to engage with consumers, communication is key (just like your relationship counselor taught you!).  It’s equally important to have strong communication between the client and the promotional staffing agency, as well as among the promotional models & brand ambassadors that will be running the event.  Everyone needs to be on the same page.

Making sure that there is a direct line of communication to account managers and having contingency plans in place in case anything goes wrong is invaluable.  If you’ve had a difficult time as either the promotional staffing agency or the client trying to get in contact with the other side, chances are that small problems can quickly become big problems.

Failed to identify the Team Lead

Once an event begins, making sure that brand ambassadors and other promotional staff have a point-person on location is critical for running a smooth live promotional event.  If you don’t have an on-site Team Lead at your promotional event, clients and consumers alike won’t know who to address their concerns with.  There can be anywhere from 3-30 brand ambassadors working a given promotional event and someone needs to be in charge.

Having a Team Lead will greatly increase the lines of communication within the event, as well as post-event if either the agency or client has questions or concerns.  If for any reason issues arise during an event, the promotional staff need to have a source for answers.  

Lack of Teamwork

This seems obvious, but we all know how easy it can be for teammates to lose sight of the bigger goals of an event, or even our everyday jobs.  If your promotional staff has even just one bad egg that may not be pulling their weight or is bringing negative energy to an event, the foundation can begin to crumble.  “That’s not my job” is a phrase that should be eradicated from your team’s vocabulary.  

With very few in-house promotional teams these days, it is not uncommon for a team of promotional staff to consist of brand ambassadors & models who have never worked together before.  This puts pressure on promotional staffing agencies to acquire the kind of talent that has the ability to work in a variety of environments with various personalities.  A Team Lead should assign roles to each brand ambassador or promotional model if this was not done previously, but they need to be willing to help one another outside of these roles.

Unprofessional Brand Ambassadors

This is embarrassing for all parties involved and cannot be tolerated.  Whether promotional staff were on their cell phones during an event, having inappropriate conversations with other staff, or showed up with dirty and unkept uniforms–consumers will not be drawn to approach a booth filled with staff simply looking to collect a paycheck.  They are called brand ambassadors for a reason and should reflect the client in a positive and professional manor.

A great way to avoid this kind of behavior is to have extensive training for brand ambassadors so that they can understand the client and better represent their personality and mission.  Staffing locally and vetting talent on a consistent basis can also help promotional teams be better equipped to handle the environment they are working in and relate to consumers in the area.

To learn more about Modern Talent and the services we offer please visit our website at: moderntalentusa.com.  If you would like to book Modern Talent for your next event, please click here.

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