There are several directions a company can take when deciding how best to market their brand or product, but B2B companies still continue to invest heavily on event marketing. In 2017, B2B companies spent $108 billion, the largest portion of their marketing budgets, on live marketing events in the US.
Face-to-face communication, demonstration, networking, and relationship building are more beneficial to a company’s bottom line than other forms of inbound marketing efforts are able to provide.
One of the most promising ways for companies to generate attention is by hiring a promotional marketing professional. Promotional models and brand ambassadors help promote your company, brand, product, or service by creating a positive experience and environment that your customers will remember you by. They have the adaptability to adjust to the expectations of your marketing strategy, brand information, and company background while using poise and persuasion to generate new leads for your business.
However, finding staff for your company’s live marketing event can seem tedious compared to other tasks to prepare for your event. Fortunately, there are promotional staffing agencies that can help eliminate the stress of finding promotional personnel and allow you to focus on your core business objectives instead.
Unfortunately, when searching for an agency to book your event, you could come across a fraudulent agency instead, one that will simply pocket your money and not provide promotional personnel services. Such a situation can be troubling, but there are red flags to look out for when deciphering an agency’s legitimacy. For instance:
They don’t have a business address or a personal cell listed on their website. If there is no way to contact the agency offline, its because they don’t want you to. They don’t want anything being traced back to them when you discover that you’ve been taken advantage of. For instance, should you want to file a small claims case against them, you won’t have a physical address on hand to properly serve them.
Email domains and 800 numbers are easy to create, but also impersonal and shady. Promotional staffers are typically on call 24/7, as they have several events happening concurrently and need their clients and personnel to be able to contact them should they need to. They want to be readily available for you, so it’s of no issue to them to provide their contact information. Therefore, only being given an 800 number and not seeing a business address listen on their website should be cause for concern.
They’re not listed on the Better Business Bureau. To determine if the agency you’re conducting business with is legitimate, then they’ll most certainly be accredited with the BBB. The BBB follows eight standard guidelines for rating a company based on their BBB standards for trust. Also, companies have to pay to be thoroughly examined and reviewed by the BBB, which they do in order to obtain trust as well as to possess a good reputation. So, if the agency you’re working with is listed as “accredited,” then you can be sure they are legitimate.
Their spelling and grammar is incorrect, and their email message sounds off. Sure, everyone makes errors from time to time, but if words are regularly misspelled and grammar is consistently wrong, you’re likely dealing with a fraudulent agency. Any agency that wants to be taken seriously by their clients and their staff will give them the decency to sound professional without any mistakes in all forms of content.
Their website is unprofessional without a lot of information. Legitimate companies want you to know who they are and ensure you that they are trustworthy and professional. This is easily done through their website, for instance on their “About Me,” and “Services” pages. Illegitimate companies try to withhold any personal information they can from you. They won’t bother to include information about the background of the company, or the staff. Further, they’ll fail to describe company services in detail presumably because they don’t understand the industry.
To take advantage of everything that live marketing events can offer your company, then hiring a professional ambassador to generate brand awareness is ideal. Staffing agencies are fortunately available that will book the best promotional personnel based on your preferences, however, there are some illegitimate agencies out there. If they don’t offer any personal information, their business isn’t registered or listed on the BBB, and their content lacks insight and the correct usage of words and grammar, then simply end all communication with them.
Jenna Bishop 