During a promotional sampling campaign, there is nothing more important than having experienced, enthusiastic, and qualified staff to represent your brand effectively. Having good samples is only half the battle, you need effective staff to distribute them! Read on for our top 5 tips for hiring sampling staff.
Product sampling staff work as a team offering various, usually free, samples to the public as part of a marketing campaign. Their role is to attract potential customers and allow them to get a direct taste of what your brand has to offer. Sampling staff can distribute anything that you require (within reason of course) from food and beverages to cosmetics, newspapers, pens, and more! They distribute free samples of your product to increase public knowledge of the product and entice customers. Or they may distribute miscellaneous goods that are branded with your logo. For example, keyrings, stress-balls, pens, etc.
WHAT ARE OUR TOP 5 TIPS FOR HIRING SAMPLING STAFF?
During the hiring process for product sampling campaigns, it is important to be selective. The following 5 factors should be considered when hiring sampling staff:
1. TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
Do the job candidates have experience working on promotional campaigns, engaging with the public, and working within a team as well as independently? You need confident enthusiastic staff to best promote your brand! The public will likely be intrigued by your freebies, but they may need a nudge from a friendly staff member to actually engage with your samples.
2. YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Consider your target audience. For example, if your target audience is teenagers, then consider hiring young modern product sampling staff to represent your brand. If your target audience is new mothers, then hire young women or ‘real mothers’ who can more easily relate to the people you are trying to attract.
3. THE NUMBER OF STAFF REQUIRED
Consider how busy the location of your event is- this will help you to decide how many members of promotional staff you will need.
Hiring local staff may also be an advantage as they will likely be more familiar with the area and people. Thus increasing the chance of engaging successfully with the public.
How many members of the public are you hoping to attract, and how many samples do you have to distribute? If you have too few staff members there may be large queues or people may take a sample without engaging with your staff- which has much less of an impact. Moreover, your budget must also be considered! Push Promotions aims to create an appropriate staffing package for any given budget.
4. THE TYPE OF SAMPLE BEING OFFERED
If you are offering food samples, it may be beneficial to hire staff who have qualifications in food handling and safety. Push Promotions has lots of staff in our 3000+ staffing database with Level 2 Food Hygiene Certification, as well as trained baristas, barmen, and mixologists. There are also further sampling regulations to take into account when sampling alcohol- see our article here for more information.
5. STAFFING AGENCIES
Consider using a promotional staffing agency, like Push Promotions, to hire your product sampling staff. They will already have a large network of experienced sampling staff, and know how to hire and manage them. Always check the reviews and case studies of an agency before working with them to ensure they are reliable and reputable.
WHAT DO I NEED TO GIVE MY PRODUCT SAMPLING STAFF PRIOR TO THE EVENT?
You should provide a detailed brief and job description for all the selected staff prior to your promotional event. This should include information about your company, product, or service, and what you expect from them during the event. This is so the staff members have sufficient information to promote your company in the most effective way possible.
It is important for your staff to have brand awareness in order to create the best brand experience for the consumers. They should also know who your companies target audience is so that they can engage with relevant members of the public- making the conversion from a sampler to a customer more likely.
Staff must be clearly informed about what is in the samples. This is especially important if it is a food, drink, or cosmetic sample as people may be allergic to an ingredient, which could have potentially fatal consequences.
Consider giving your sampling staff branded t-shirts or accessories. This will help to further raise brand awareness and also makes your staff instantly recognisable.
HOW CAN PUSH PROMOTIONS SUPPORT YOUR EVENT?
Push Promotions have a network of experienced staff who have supported product sampling events for several years. We supply staff nationwide, including promo staff, product sampling staff, leafleting staff, and product demonstrators.
We have previously worked with big brands e.g. Leon, Cider, Innocent, and Benefit. To read about more our staffing experience, click here. We often provide product sampling staff to shopping centres and train stations such as The Bullring and Grand Central.
We handpick our staff based on your requirements and ensure that they are fully briefed and trained prior to your event. Moreover, we have a 24-hour backup service, which means we can supply additional staff on the day if anyone rings in sick or it is busier than expected.
For more information check out our website or get a quick quote here.
