Most event staffing agencies can agree that one of the things we look forward to the most is seeing all of the fun photos and videos after a promotional event. Since we can’t physically be at every event to take photos, it’s important brand ambassadors and boots-on-the-ground capture great, high-quality photos, not only for us, but for our clients too!
We have a motto here at InCast…photos or it didn’t happen. At the end of the day, stories can be told and claims can be made, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Truly—photos make a huge difference in the overall success of your event, in more ways than just one.
In this article, we will dive into the importance of capturing pictures of your activation. We’ll talk about how it elevates your customer’s experience, the tangible ROI you can collect from doing so, and how to share them once you’ve got them. So—let’s get to it. Here are a few main reasons why collecting photos of your activation is essential and an industry-standard best-practice.
Activations are fun, period.
When you host a killer event, you want those memories to last forever.
A good example of this would be a recent activation that we had the opportunity to staff. This major event was not only fun, but star studded too! At the activation, our brand ambassadors were able to meet, and take pictures with singer/songwriter Lizzo.
As you can imagine, this was an opportunity they didn’t want to miss. Because of the photos they captured they were not only able to show proof they met Lizzo, but they had a memory that they could keep forever too.
Photos are fun, and people love to make memories. As an experiential staffing agency that’s seen a lot of event success over the years, one thing we always love to see is when activations include fun, interactive ways for their event attendees to take photos. There are two key takeaways for this:
Your event should include fun, interactive ways for your guests to take photos because it is the most optimal way to collect shareable moments.
A great example of this would be Instagram’s activation to promote their new stories feature. At the activation, customers took their picture in front of an Instagram themed background, and posted it to their stories to promote the new feature. This not only elevated the event’s guest experience, but it also paved the perfect path for collecting valuable UGC.
Help guests tag the appropriate brand accounts when sharing their User Generated Content (UGC)
Event photography is incredibly important because it will provide solid event evidence.
As a professional experiential staffing agency that’s been in the business for a long time, we’ve learned this is key. Not only do photos show us how the event went, but it also gives us a good idea of what our brand ambassadors were doing to achieve success.
Visual evidence gives us a tangible way to reflect on what went right and what could be improved on next time. We recommend taking photos of your activation not only for the memories, but for a valuable learning experience for your staff as well.
Collecting fun photos for your feed and online profiles will establish you as a fun and credible BA. This will entice more staffing agencies to want to work with you, which will help you match with high quality events.
Photos can also be a great way for brands to collect consumer data for targeting in the future.
It is important for any event marketing activation to be-able to collect enough consumer data so that they can measure the campaign’s overall effectiveness and results. Some key stats to monitor would be:
These metrics can help the brand marketing team to gain deeper insights into how consumers felt about the overall success of the event.
The more impressive the event experience is for the consumers attending, the chances of creating a higher social reach and brand awareness are increased dramatically.
People like to buy from brands they feel a deep emotional connection to, and photos help brand activations establish that bond. The more fun you have with customers and the more you can provide social proof of that fun, the better your activation will be.
(light bulb) Best Brand Agency Tip: Use the photos of your activation to help your customers get a visual feel about who your brand is and what you’re all about.
There is a viral impact that can happen in the world of social media.
Having quality photos to post or display plays a vital role in that. The more opportunities that you have to showcase, the higher your chances are of reaching more people. Whether you’re a brand, event planner, or staffing agency, having quality documentation that you can share from the activation event is essential.
People utilize social media on a daily basis. Because of its value to businesses and the event planning industry, photo activation that integrates with social media is becoming a standard at festivals and events.
We live in the millennial era, where people want to brag and show their friends where they go and what they're doing. Event organizers should take advantage of this reality when marketing their events.
Here are a few key places we recommend sharing your activation photos:
The more social proof that you collect and display over time, the better credibility you build for your brand.
We hope that you enjoyed this article and found all of the information to be helpful. If there is one key takeaway we want you to get, it’s this: “Pictures or it didn’t happen”, period. Whether you’re looking to remember a memory, leverage your event ROI, enhance your customer’s experience or promote your business online, pictures will provide you an endless amount of value to do just that.
Eager to learn more? Get in touch with our team today to book the best brand ambassadors for your activation!
Whether you’ve had a horror-story worthy experience or are just looking to avoid such a catastrophe, you know hiring the right partner to staff your activation is essential. Here you’ll find everything you need to know about vetting your activation staffing agency. We’ll cover what could go wrong if you don’t, what will go right when you do, and we’ll even give you our top four ways to properly vet an experiential marketing staffing agency.
When choosing an event staffing agency, you should be selective and strategic. Finding a recruiter who can effectively represent your brand in this market is critical. Ultimately, it can lead to an overall win or loss for your 6-figure activation investment.
Often called in the final stages of activation planning, your event staffing partner will be the one who sets the tone for your entire event. Contacting your event staffing partner early in the planning process is the best way to ensure success during the activation. Without the proper staff in place, the event cannot reach its full potential. This is why it is critical to hire an agency that knows the industry inside and out.
If the agency is not reputable or established in the industry, it could result in unqualified or unreliable brand ambassadors at your event. When you have unreliable brand ambassadors, this leads to a bad experience for customers. Bad customer experiences will reflect negatively on your brand, and result in an overall loss for your event.
On the flip side of this experience, if an agency does not take proper care of its BAs, then the BAs bad experience can also leave a negative impact. It is essential for agencies to build trust with their BAs, so that the BAs are set up for overall success. You’ll know the staffing agency is not a good fit if:
When you vet your activation staffing agency in advance, not only will you get quality Brand Ambassadors, but you will also gain a valuable business partner setting you up for success.
Your staffing agency shouldn’t just look to fill all of the necessary positions, they should look into who is BEST to fill those positions. When you hire a staffing agency that does their research in advance and invests in quality relationships with their Brand Ambassadors, you can expect:
When you hire us for your experiential marketing staffing needs, these are the standards you can expect from InCast Marketing Brand Ambassadors.
It’s easy to see why it is important to vet an experiential staffing agency, here’s how to do it. There are several strategic ways to ensure that the agency you hire is both qualified and reputable. Here are to top four ways to vet an experiential marketing staffing agency:
The first way to vet an agency is to check out their reputation online. Read their case studies on their website and look into how they represent themselves on social media. This will give you a quick indicator to whether or not they are industry professionals.
Check out InCast Marketing on Instagram here and Facebook here!
Don’t just take the agency’s word for it though. Get an inside source and find out what their brand ambassadors are saying about them. An easy way to do this is to browse industry listing sites such as Trusted Herd. Here, you can read multiple brand ambassador reviews to see which agencies are or are not qualified staffing experts. Look at the most recent reviews and how frequently they are left so you know the staffing agency is consistent over time.
Check out InCast Marketing’s Rating on Trust Herd here!
Another great way to see insider reviews from past staff would be on LinkedIn or Glassdoor. This will give you an even better idea of how the agency handles its overall operations over time.
Follow InCast Marketing on LinkedIn here.
A qualified agency should have no shortage of good references on deck. When vetting your staffing partner, make sure that you reach out to their past partners to see how their events went. This will give you an excellent idea of what it is like to work with that staffing agency.
Request references by contacting us here.
We’ve heard all the horror stories of events gone wrong, so we’ve set out to change the game. We do things differently here at InCast because we want to see the success for everyone involved in the activation industry. Here is a little insight into how we set ourselves apart from other national and international experiential staffing agencies:
Just as you are vetting us, we are vetting our events so we can find the best BAs to match each activation. We do all of our research in advance to ensure the most qualified and professional BAs are chosen to staff your event.
To us, clients are not just faceless brands that need positions filled. We deeply care about the event’s overall success and our partnership with a brand. That’s why we do our research in advance to know what kind of event we will be staffing, and which of our BAs will be the BEST fit for the job.
We’re consistently building our network of talent. We work with some of the best and most qualified BAs in the industry. We ensure that each and every one is set up for success, and we offer a wide variety of skill sets for our clients to choose from. Looking to kick off your career as a BA? Apply with us today!
A big problem we have seen first-hand in the staffing industry is the payment of brand ambassadors. There are many horror stories of BAs getting underpaid, paid late, or not even paid at all. Our office is doing our part to fix this industry gap by maintaining a lean office budget. We work 100% remote, and that allows us to allocate better rates to our brand ambassadors, resulting in satisfied, high-performing BAs.
Not only do we provide some of the best rates, but we also provide advancement opportunities for our BAs to become team leads. We want to ensure quality performance, so we reward our staff to strive for their very best at every activation.
Don’t just take our word for it. Vet us and see what our brand ambassadors and past partners have to say about InCast Marketing. You can read more about our client success stories here.
