Casting the net

The Internet’s ability to reach consumers initially sent shudders through the field marketing industry. But are web-based alternatives such a threat to face-to-face marketing?

As we all know, you can do anything with the Internet. If you succeed in holding the target audience’s attention, you can market your own product – web-based or not – at minimal cost. You can provide added value, carry out research, offer promotions and much more. The world is your laptop.

But that “if” is a big one. However inspirational the idea behind your website, if you cannot communicate those benefits, along with navigation guidance, to the end user inspiration counts for very little. While online banking can target the early adopter among consumers, websites aimed at the independent retail sector, for example, have to work harder at building up a user base. They cannot rely on a minority of more web-wise outlets to make the site viable.

Since WH Smith group set up its Connect2U joint venture with Axon group last June, about 1,200 newsagents have registered as users of the online market. By the time the website is rolled out nationally in early summer, sales and marketing director Chris Stephens expects the number of users to have risen to 3,000. By the end of the year the target figure is 8,000, out of a total retailer population of about 55,000.

Connect2U realises that achieving these objectives will not be easy. Trade press communication, local marketing – including promotional events – and online communication are all being mobilised. But field marketing is likely to be the single most important element in the mix.

“All independent retailers, within a targeted area, receive direct mail – anything from brochures to mouse mats – and for a lot of the more switched-on retailers, that will be enough,” says Stephens. He has no doubt though, that the majority will require face-to-face contact to recruit them to the site.

An initial universe survey established which retailers had PCs and Internet access. Even so, the field marketing team will have to cover a lot of ground and the campaign will not be cheap. Stephens says: “Although it is expensive, given the nature of the product, it’s going to be necessary if we want to get people to use the website.”

The investment could have benefits on many levels. Not only will it pave the way for improved online links with those who register, it will boost Connect2U’s chances of attracting advertising and promotions from some of the bigger brands stocked by newsagents. The better-planned the initial field marketing operation, the more value that will accrue from it further down the line.

Specialists

Specialist agencies are also, unsurprisingly, convinced of the advantages of field marketing over alternative channels, when it comes to promoting website usage. Sure Field Marketing managing director Richard Finch says: “The figures for response to direct marketing are one or two per cent if you are lucky.”

“Face-to-face is the most cost effective way of signing new users and then keeping usage up.” He says that this is the case, since many individuals need to be physically signed up and have the website demonstrated to them.

It is not only Connect2U which is using field marketing to promote website usage in the high street. Aspen Field Marketing took part in a nine-month training period ending December last year, on behalf of Johnson & Johnson. The training instructed staff from independent opticians on how to use the J&J’s Vistakon website. Aspen joint managing director Gary MacManus, echoes the experience of Connect2U. “You will always have the early adopters,” he says. “But if you want to get beyond that stage, as in the diffusion of all innovation, it is all to do with word of mouth and face-to-face contact.”

Micro-sites

For MacManus, the link between field marketing and face-to-face contact is a self-evident one. But that is not always the case. Connect2U’s Stephens comments that the website “will be a field marketing tool in its own right”, meaning brands will be able to use it as a channel of communication. But is this field marketing or a substitute for it?

Richard Thompson, chief executive of Mosaic Technology, previously EMSChiara, believes the answer to both questions is yes. Mosaic is due to roll out its b4youbuy.com online service later this year. This provides micro-sites, which gives consumers the option of logging on for advice, when purchasing products from a client’s website. A questionnaire gauges an individual’s knowledge of a product and will either allow different levels of information to be provided online or prompt a phone call direct to the consumer.

Mosaic may be an established field marketing agency and may see the online venture as a logical extension of its field service. But for many, such definitions merely muddy the waters around a subject which is already widely misunderstood.

According to Alison Williams, chair of the Field Marketing Council (FMC) and managing director of FDF Field Marketing, the discipline is one of the fastest-growing in marketing and the least understood. Research carried out on behalf of the FMC found that many potential users of field marketing failed to realise that it involved sampling. Mosaic’s move may merely serve to confirm their misconceptions.

“People come to us because they require face-to-face contact,” says Williams. “We are able to define and approach only the people the client wants us to sample. When you are working on a more remote system, as you are through the Internet, you won’t have that much detailed information. Use of the Internet will also depend on how progressive the client is, how safe and exact they feel this sort of contact is and what sort of return they feel they will get on their spending.” This comes across as a weighty caveat.

Aspen’s MacManus is more direct. He says: “The industry is stretching its definition of field marketing to the boundaries of stupidity,” he says. “Field marketing is face-to-face, and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.”

Others argue that it is not field marketing which needs the Internet, but the Internet which needs field marketing. Andrew Mitchell, business development director at brand experience agency RPM, says that much of his work involves creating tangible retail environments for clients, who otherwise have only a virtual presence. Projects include the Yahoo!-branded “shops” in major English cities.

EPM

As Connect2U demonstrates, field marketing can be used to prime future users of Internet communications. But this order can be reversed, with e-mail access being harnessed to build up momentum for live field marketing events. By compiling e-mail permission marketing (EPM) databases, brands and the agencies which serve them are able to target consumers for specific products. This can be used to steer already receptive consumers to events, says Mike Garnham, managing director of Headcount Worldwide, and the same potential is likely in the future from interactive TV.

“The recent introduction of EPM will increase the return on investment from live field marketing events,” says Garnham. “So if an agency runs a roadshow for a major sporting goods manufacturer, it would be able to select a wide range of sports enthusiasts, in the area of the event, using EPM. The e-mail can provide a promotional mechanic or simply give directions of how to find a location.” Garnham maintains that for most types of communication, the customisation of messages to specific consumer groups would incur higher costs than with e-mail.

Client access

Of course, one other overlap between the Internet and field marketing is in client access to data collected face-to-face. In fact, this is more likely to be through better-protected intranets and extranets, which would allow clients to view updated data in their own time. Aspen explains that it is introducing visualisation techniques, which map trends over time, geographically or for given retailers.

One concern is that security may suffer as client data is communicated through intranets. But the FMC does not believe this will be a problem. In terms of client confidentiality, says Williams, the standards applied by field marketing companies are already high, and will remain so. “We have always held large databases on behalf of our clients,” she says. “Our standards will probably not need to vary because we already have to be so careful.”

Guidelines

The FMC has just published its Best Practice Guidelines, under the auspices of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), but issues relating to electronic data are notable by their absence. Anyone interested will have to access the Trust UK general e-commerce guidelines, which can be reached through DMA’s website.

Whatever bolt-on services agencies feel they want to offer their more technically oriented clients, it seems that field marketing will remain rooted in its face-to-face identity. Rather than being threatened by web-based alternatives, field marketing stands to gain from the online world and not only in terms of client data access. Personal contact and live events can play a vital role in laying down solid foundations for a strong virtual brand – just as electronic communication can, once it is established and targeted, do wonders for the cost-effectiveness of a live marketing event.

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