Technically, the answer is yes. Realistically, the answer is no.

Why the gloomy outlook on companies doing experiential marketing in-house? We’ve seen it fail time and again for a number of reasons. The company’s staff doesn’t have the time or experience to pull off this type of marketing event. It didn’t have the right people (or enough people) representing it at the activation. A brand paid too much to rent a space or equipment, which meant it didn’t get the return on investment it needed in the event.

In this post we shed light on four reasons why companies should hire Factory 360 for any live or event marketing campaigns. We also discuss how an experiential marketing agency can help businesses overcome those obstacles.

Staff time and experience

Everyone is too busy these days. It’s likely your marketing team doesn’t really have time for a major undertaking like a high-quality experiential marketing campaign. They can contribute invaluable information about your marketing strategies and goals to an outside consultant, but asking them to do all the work is likely too big an undertaking.

In addition, it’s likely that your marketing team may not have a member with experience putting together event marketing campaigns. They’re even different from typical marketing events like consumer thank you celebrations and product sampling days. Even if your team has great event planning and marketing experience, they still don’t know the ins and outs of this specialized field. Better to leave it to the experts.

Fresh and broad perspective

Here’s another reason companies shouldn’t try to execute experiential marketing in-house: Agencies provide a fresh perspective. A good experiential marketing agency know what’s been done before and, as a result, can help you come up with truly creative ideas. Experiential marketing programs have to be cutting edge and different from what everyone else is doing. If you inadvertently do the same thing everyone else in your industry is doing, your campaign may fall flat.

And as companies continue to do more with experiential marketing (according to the Event Marketing Institute’s 2015 EventTrack study, 79% of brands said they were planning to spend more on event marketing in the next year), it becomes harder and harder to keep up on what all your competitors are doing. Don’t subscribe to every experiential marketing blog out there if you don’t have to. Let us do the reading and the research for you.

Industry knowledge that saves you money

Planning an experiential marketing event is a bit like planning a wedding. There are all kinds of tricks event planners can use to save the couple money. They know how much is too much for a facility, where the bride can go to save on the amazing light displays she wants, and that the groom’s plan for fire jugglers during the reception is going to land them in trouble with the fire marshal. Sometimes they can even arrange for discounts because they have relationships with people in the industry.

Experiential marketing agencies have a thorough understanding of what locations are best for certain types of activations, how much is too much to pay in fees, and how to meet all of the regulations put in the place by the facility and any relevant governing bodies. This knowledge will save you time, money and headaches. It will also help you get the most out of the campaign.

Access to brand ambassadors

Experiential marketing activations take people. Probably more people than your company is willing to spare on any given day. If you’re planning multiple activations in several cities, including cities where your company doesn’t have a presence, it’s expensive to fly people there and cover all of their travel expenses.

You also want to make sure the people representing your company are the right type of people for your audience. For example, if you’re doing multicultural marketing and no one in the marketing department is bilingual or bicultural, they may have a hard time relating to the people they need to approach. If you’re trying to reach college students and the median age of your staff is 40, they won’t do a very good job of making your brand seem cool.

Those are a few of the reasons it’s a good idea to use brand ambassadors for your experiential marketing event. But recruiting and training those folks is probably more trouble than it’s worth for your company.

It’s no trouble for an agency like Factory 360. We have a well-established network of brand ambassadors who love advocating for different brands. They come from a variety of demographic groups, and have proven to us in the past that they can do a great job of engaging people and offering value to your activation. We even have a model network if your campaign could benefit from being represented by very good-looking men and women.

All of our clients know exactly who is representing their brand. They also know those people are well-trained to ensure that key messaging doesn’t get lost.

Are you ready to start a relationship with an experiential marketing agency today? Factory 360 is your go-to team for everything related to event or live marketing. We have the staff time and expertise to plan and carry out an incredible event that helps you meet your goals. We bring a fresh perspective that will make your event a one-of-a-kind experience for consumers. Factory 360’s leadership has plenty of industry knowledge you can use to your advantage, and we have an unparalleled brand ambassador network. Contact Factory 360 right now to learn more about what we can do for your company.