Promo staffing to fill those gaps in your team and really fire up your promotional marketing efforts sounds simple enough. Make a few calls, hire a few temps and you’re set! The truth is, some companies are better served than others when it comes to fulfilling their temporary hiring requirements.
Have you ever hired event staff to work the crowd and create a buzz about your brand, only to see them stand shyly on the sidelines? Ouch. Hiring the right promo staff is critical to you maximising the return on your investment, and getting the most reach from your promotion.
We’ve collected 7 lucky promo staffing hacks…tricks of the trade from those in the know. Here’s how to optimise your promo staffing strategy.
1.Avoid the pain of direct hiring promo staff
You can be forgiven for thinking you might save a few dollars by recruiting temporary staff directly. Cutting out the middleman and having the opportunity to closely screen staff yourself might seem attractive; but it can be extremely time-consuming.
There’s hours of interviews, training, contracts and paperwork to complete, and what’s worse… there’s no guarantee your staff will turn up on the day of your event! If your direct-hired temporary staff don’t show, will you have a backup plan at your fingertips?
As a dedicated promotional agency we’re obsessed with sourcing the best of the best. We recruit via our website, social media, headhunting, job boards, advertisements, modelling schools, messages in bottles, private investigators…haha not really; but we do go to great lengths to find the BEST talent in the business, and we’re doing it ALL the time.
2. Should you choose a talent agency or recruitment company?
Where is the best place to turn? Should you outsource your promotional team via an agency or recruitment company?
When you engage the services of a staffing agency or recruitment consultancy, they are responsible for ensuring your promo staffing needs are met. Great operators will ensure there are talented staff on standby, should a problem arise with delivering the original allocated team members.
Your agency or recruitment company has done all the hard yards. Staff have been interviewed, screened, paperwork is filed, and they should only make it on the books if they have a LOT to offer our clients. If the staff’s performance is poor, it’s a direct reflection on the recruitment company or agency, so the best companies invest a lot of time into building supremely talented teams.
Some recruitment companies can deal with temporary staff with expertise in anything from administration, to nursing, to hospitality. When it comes to providing specialist training in the promotional space, and having a deep background understanding of the promotional marketing industry, recruitment consultants may not be able to offer as much industry-specific expertise in the area.
When you’re looking for killer promotional staff, you want the team that have hired and recommended them to be killer promotional strategists! In our view, dedicated promotional staffing agencies have more to offer in terms of the end-to-end client support, and overall success of an event.
3. Be super specific in your promo staffing needs and objectives
The more information we’re given about your brand past, present, and future goals, the more opportunities there are for our promotional staff to engage with your target market on a deeper level. Professional promo staff don’t want to see “hand out 1,000 flyers” on their brief. They want to be able to tell customers the story of your brand, to represent you with the confidence and enthusiasm that your customers will remember fondly.
From the agency account manager perspective, detailed information helps us choose the candidates that will be perfect for your company. Personality, experience, tone, character, skills, training, all come into consideration when matching talent to a brand.
4. Ask your account manager for their advice and input
If you’ve chosen a specialist promotional staffing agency, chances are your account manager has a wealth of experience in the marketing and promotional industry. They will know the skills and talents of their team member’s in your area, and can help you capitalise on those strengths. A promotional marketing campaign is a strategy, and hiring a team to blitz it should also be strategic and well-planned.
Sometimes the perspective of third-party professionals can offer some golden insights in unlocking the true potential of your promotional staffing efforts.
5. Think beyond the event to enhance your marketing materials
Your promotional material doesn’t need to be limited to the floor of your particular event. If you’ve hired promotional models or brand ambassadors to represent your brand, you could benefit from a photo shoot or creating promotional videos to use post-event across social media and/or on your website. Your promo staff could shoot a product demonstration video, or a series of brand messages for future use.
We have singers, dancers, actors, models, mascot performers and a whole swathe of talented souls who love nothing more than putting their vibrant, energetic personalities to good use. Helping a brand be seen, heard, understood and most of all, remembered is their idea of fun job – not just a job well done.
6. Plan meticulously before you hire
The more organised you are before you approach a staffing agency, the more likely you are to receive a well-oiled, prepared and confident team. Event staff should be seen as an extension of your team, reflecting your brand’s image to perfection. If you’re working things out as you go, that’s what your team will be forced to do…which doesn’t look that great from a customer perspective.
7. Don’t underestimate the power of diversity
Diversity in your promotional staffing team is very powerful. If you have a group of very similar talent talking the same language to the same people, you could be missing out on a broader market. This could seem a little counter-intuitive when we think about brand persona; but your target…especially in Australia, could still come from a broad range of backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities. You don’t want to be seen mis-representing that. Think about how many diverse people fit this buyer persona…“Male professional, 25-40yrs, family-man, urban location.”
We don’t succeed unless you do!!
Helping you get the most out of your promotional marketing is at the core of our operation. Hiring and delegating great talent is one thing. Working closely with our clients on supercharging their event ideas and strategies is our secret weapon.
By implementing just one or two of these lucky seven promo staffing hacks, you should see a noticeable difference in the overall organisation, preparation and performance of your temporary staff. We can’t succeed unless you do! You can be assured we’re always working towards that common goal. Happy staffing!!
AMS Promotions is a team of Account Managers, Marketers and Promotions specialists. Operating nationally with a pool of over 6,000 beautiful and talented promotional staff and models, we’re driven by exceeding your promotional goals and celebrating your success. Get in touch.
1300 368 969