5 Cost-Saving Tips for BTL Activations Without Sacrificing Impact

Leverage field force automation to optimise your BTL activation costs. Streamlining field operations like task assigning, data collection, and more.

Below-the-line (BTL) activations are a great tool for brand building. since they involve direct engagement with consumers and targeted marketing. However, BTL marketing managers often incur high costs due to the remote and unpredictable nature of their job.

Occupied on-ground BTL promoters, last minute vendor changes or high on-field expenses are common cost-draining issues in BTL activations. Lack of employee visibility can further lead to errors and increase operational costs.

But how to ensure cost-effective yet impactful BTL activations? Well, this is where field force automation software can come in handy. Let’s learn how!

5 Ways TrackoField Helps Make BTL Activations More Cost-Effective

1. Efficient Task Management

The biggest cost-draining issues in BTL activations are linked to field agents’ task allocation. Task overlaps, repeat allocations, wrong task descriptions, and shift conflicts all lead to wastage of money directly or indirectly.

💡 For Instance

Two BTL promoters being assigned the same task of setting up a kiosk will result in the waste of a day’s work for one employee. Waste of time in the workplace is equal to monetary loss! The two agents could have instead worked on two separate BTL activations.

But how to overcome these problems?

Well, field force automation is the answer!

Software like TrackoField allows BTL marketing managers to:

• Allocate tasks based on promoters’ availability and location.
• Plan tasks weeks in advance or assign them ad-hoc.
• Attach detailed descriptions with media files like voice messages to explain tasks to BTL promoters.
• Track task status in real-time – pending, in progress, completed or rescheduled.
• Use pre-defined templates to upload tasks or clone existing tasks to save time.
• Enable field agents to self-allocate tasks or reschedule them.
• Create custom shift timings so there are no gaps in the workflow.

Thus, managers can ensure equal task distribution, so no BTL promoter is over or under-worked.

2. Digital Attendance Recording and Accurate Timesheets

Do you know that time theft can cost as high as 7% of your annual payroll? Sounds shocking, right? Well, buddy punching and misreported work hours are common forms of time theft which are especially prevalent in jobs with remote areas.

Field force management software can handle this issue with accurate attendance reporting and work hour tracking. The software allows you to establish a virtual boundary (geofence) around BTL activation sites.

You can mandate your promoters to mark attendance and start tasks only when they are present in the geofence. Thus, you reduce the chance of false activations and ensure all BTL promoters reach the correct task sites.

Software like TrackoField also let employees upload geotagged and time-stamped selfies while marking attendance. That can be a great tool to eliminate buddy punching.

Another way digital attendance tracking saves money on BTL activations is by preventing unnecessary visits (plus fuel usage) to the office and the use of paper cards to mark attendance.

With digital attendance reporting, you can better monitor employees’ work hours and calculate accurate timesheets which further helps compute correct payroll.

3. Foolproof expense management

Most field jobs are travel intensive. Therefore, calculating the exact distance travelled can be a gamechanger towards saving money in BTL activations. Be it road shows or kiosk set ups, optimising expense reimbursement can lead to a lot of cost savings, especially if you use FFA.

With the software, you can:

• Calculate exact conveyance charges using an inbuilt distance calculator.
• Set a monthly cap on the expenses.
• Check employees’ location history and time spent at the expense site.
• Let BTL promoters upload images of bills and invoices along with detailed expense descriptions.

Thus, BTL activators take accountability of their expenses and refrain from inflating fuel charges or filing expense requests for buying non-work-related items.

4. Digital Data Collection

Using paper-based forms for data collection is so outdated!

BTL promoters have to carry out various surveys. They collect feedback and product ratings from customers or retailers. Agents also record data like customers’ preferences, pain points, suggestions.

Paper forms are often used for this process, but they are not practical in today’s time. Not only does paper surveying waste money and is environmentally irresponsible, but it is also slow and prone to errors.

The solution? Digital forms!

Imagine your customers could enter their own data with just a click. You would no longer have to manually fill forms for hundreds of customers. Field force management software makes this possible.  Thus, it helps automate customer surveys in BTL activations.

Here is how TrackoField’s digital form feature simplifies data collection in BTL activations.

• BTL marketing managers create forms with custom fields.
• Field agents access the forms while completing their tasks on the mobile app.
• Forms are shared via URL or QR code to customers.
• Customers visit the link or scan the code to open the forms.

With digital forms, customers can record their feedback, preferences, complaints, etc easily. All this information is stored securely on the cloud and can be converted into detailed excel sheets for the manager.

All in all, BTL promoters improve their productivity, collect data from more customers and avoid the cost of paper and stationery.

5. Report Generation and Data-Driven Decision Making

Field force management software collects extensive employee and customer data. This data can be analysed to find leakages and productivity issues. Managers can use the reports to:

• Compare actual vs completed work hours.
• View total break timings and unscheduled breaks.
• Check which tasks were started and completed offline.
• Allocate resources based on employees’ productivity.

Using historical data, managers can identify any issues which are draining costs. They can analyse why certain BTL promoters are productive and why others are not.

Managers can also assign important BTL activations to employees with the highest task completion rate and lowest rescheduling.

These data-driven decisions indirectly save company costs by ensuring all activations are carried out smoothly and on time.

Wrapping Up!

It is essential to ensure that BTL marketing campaigns are cost-effective yet impactful. Using field force automation is one way to achieve this.

FFA software like TrackoField offer smart features to save money on BTL activations. This includes optimised task scheduling, geofenced attendance reporting, and accurate expense management solution.

These features eliminate common cost-draining issues like task overlaps, time theft and wrong installations. FFA also improves your BTL promoters’ productivity, resulting in timely and error-free BTL activations.

Do you still have doubts about FFA’s cost-saving methods for BTL advertising? Well, schedule a free demo of TrackoField to learn more.

FAQs

• How can I reduce costs without compromising on BTL activations’ impact?

  To reduce costs without compromising on BTL campaign impact you have to follow these steps:
  - Ensure equal task distribution between all BTL promoters.
  - Assign important tasks to employees with high productivity.
  - Record attendance digitally to avoid errors.
  - Use digital forms to collect customers’ feedback, preferences or complaints.

• What common mistakes should I avoid to avoid costly BTL activations?

  Here are the common cost-draining mistakes to avoid in BTL activations:
  - Relying on paper to collect data and record employee attendance.
  - Not using GPS-based distance tracker to compute conveyance charges.
  - Manually assigning tasks to BLT promoters with poor guidelines.
  - Not using data analytics to make strategies.