I’ve recently heard a number of local businesses talking about hiring “street teams” to help in their promotions. The stigma is generally that you’ll be able to find some cheap labor who can pass out some flyers or other materials supporting your business and through the increased visibility, create some buzz and hopefully new customers. This is like throwing a dart from a moving vehicle.
Example:
A local four-star restaurant wants hit neighborhoods surrounding it, especially highly trafficked areas, with a street team. The restaurant owner says he just wants to see a few people come to the restaurant and was thinking about passing out menus.
Meaning: The restaurant owner doesn’t know if he really is looking for a street team – he just wants nearby residents to be more aware of the restaurant and hopefully convert them to customers.
He could go ahead and just hire some college kids to pass out menus but could cheapen the reputation of the restaurant by doing so. He also would have no way of knowing whether it was effective or not.
Before choosing any method of marketing or promotion, you must always define the following:
- What exactly do you want to do and what specifically are you hoping to achieve?
- Who do you want to target/reach?
- How will you measure success?
- What is your budget and time frame?
Once you answer these questions, you can move forward determining what the best methods and options are for your company and goals.
Hi Tessa, as a former music industry vet who was part of the Virgin street team when street teams were not even known to the majority of the world, I concur.
It’s also critical that someone putting together a street team understand that it is possible to have those helping out work for free. . .for swag instead of $$. The individuals making up the team, though need to know what the key objectives are, how they’re going to be accomplished and how they’ll know when they’re achieved.
It’s a business “move” that needs to be handled like a business move.
Rock on, Doc
It’s also critical that someone putting together a street team understand that it is possible to have those helping out work for free. . .for swag instead of $$.
Not from a monetary position in that case, as much as the relationship benefits. When fan-based programs create value for their fans as well, they feel much more invested in the artist and are likely to be life-long fans. In this position, they often become the promotional vehicle themselves, regardless of the street team initiatives.
It is always easier to sell something if you are already a habitual user.
I think it was legendary concert promoter bill graham who once commented in an interview on just how powerful of a marketing tool a fan can be, and how he found the best way to get them to go out and promote and event was just by giving them a free t-shirt or poster…I’m paraphrasing because I can’t find the article but he was one of the first to utilize ‘street teams’ to go out into the community and promote his upcoming shows.
I’ve ran two street teams while in college with one band that is actually now a top 40 indie band (I decided long before they actually became successful to hand off my duties to someone else… i still haven’t decided if that was a mistake or not).
How I view street teams now is the same way I view brand evangelists… if you can find that core segment of followers/fans/consumers who will gladly and graciously go out of their way to promote you or your product, that word of mouth endorsement beats any copy you could write on a flyer. Add in the possibility of free products, or better (as Tessa pointed out above) some sort of brand relationship benefit, then you’ve got a team of marketers who require little to no training, cost practically nothing, and can have more impact on a neighborhood than any amount of local advertising ever could. A good example is the band Umphrey’s McGee. Their street team members get free tickets and occasionally free band gear (shirts, cds, etc..) for helping spread the word about upcoming shows in their area. They’ve even had a pre-cd release party for a large group of the street team (pretty much any member who could make the trip to the venue) where they got to hear their new album before anyone else, followed by a full-blown meet ‘n’ greet. It cost them practically nothing, but guaranteed them a large group of brand evangelists who would promote their music, even at other band’s concerts (I’ve seen some of them handing out Umphrey’s McGee’s mix CD’s at Ben Harper concerts even).
Going back to the original post:
Your goal should first be to create brand awareness/buzz – get the consumer excited about your product or in this case restaurant so that they’ll actually go there.
Your secondary goal should be retention – make sure that once you’ve gotten them to your restaurant (or purchased your product) that it lives up to or exceeds the expectations fed to them by the street team.
Thirdly is conversion – If you can find a way, even via incentive, to take those recent customers and turn them into new members of your street team…. then you’ve just gained yet another cheap/free marketing tool. In the case of the restaurant, that could even mean giving a discount or gift to returning patrons who bring friends or others who have not tried the food there yet…. heck, that might even help entice their friends to show up just for that free extra incentive for checking out the food with your already converted customer!
street teams are powerful, but they can also harm your brand image…. your street team members are brand ambassadors… in the same way that their word of of mouth endorsement can motivate positive action, it can also very easily harm your brand image. They’re representing your brand, whatever that may be, so if they are rude, don’t understand your brand, or in any other way leave a sour taste in the consumers mouth, then you’ll have a hard time changing that persons mind about your brand image.