Kicking in the Door of Promotional Marketing

Hi everyone!


The blog has been neglected, but will soon evolve with Rockstar Field Marketing which operates on the evolving edge of experiential marketing with strong social media presence and traditional field marketing. We also contract out as Rockstar Field Photography, primarily for sports, action images, commercial marketing, event photography, and portraits. Our team of photographers are ready to tackle any challenge.


Today we're going to line out not just a simple how to on where to find promotional work and opportunities but how to dramatically take it to the next level, and brand yourself! Working as an independent contractor requires the grind of reading your job listings daily, whether it be craigslist, job boards, or even your inbox, it demands the dedication of a morning routine. Working 'part time' can be a 24/7 career, so we've got a crack list of some of the hottest resources currently available to cut your office hours down with more efficiency.

Craigslist - Craigslist is the dominant classified advertisements. I no longer look in the newspaper for jobs (or couches for sale) and turn to the online source which is free to the advertiser, and only requires a access to the Internet. Often look in the 'event gigs' category, although listings are also included in the jobs section also

Eventspeak - The established community forum of the industry that serves not only as an open public forum connecting recruiters also as a clearinghouse for agencies and independent contractors in airing disputes, contract claims, and applause.

Stuck for Staff - The leading job board for both agencies and staff i connecting for both last minute activations and longer tours. It's detailed agency listing alone earns it a notation.

Marketing Rockstar- Another competitive job board.

Google - I kid you not, everything is on google.

LinkedIn - Establish your name on the professionally minded networking group.

Facebook/twitter/blogger - Brand yourself and realize what you put online that your boss or your boss's boss can read

How you present yourself in your applications is with a resume, a photo, and an email. Tweaking your resume to perfection and gearing it's voice to the job you are seeking and the company you are applying is oldschool and powerful. The promotional resume mirrors an actors resume as it is more important to list the events you've been on and the positions you've held as to the traditional resume listing your employers and job duties for each. Most promotional staffing companies are content with a snapshot quality picture of just you with a good smile or expression, they want a photo of just you and not with someone else cropped out, but it doesn't have to be professional. A professional headshot though, and photos of you in action at events step it up and make you look your best for high profile clients, which is where we're going with this. 

Every time you write an email, that is your cover letter, and I have to say I wonder when the last time someone has actually bothered to read my attached resume after my email recaps the best events I've recently been executing and the results for those clients. The email also is a quick place to further advertise yourself as a brand, including with your signature your name and your phone number, include your facebook, website, blog, or twitter. In the current era where content is king, operate on the same scale of branding yourself and at every event try to capture yourself in a few good promotional images and you'll have dozens of images that speak a thousand words more than your resume. You can highlight these any number of ways whether it be facebook albums, fan pages, blogs, or other mediums like model mayhem, any images hosting, or your dot com.
Social media is an obvious place to promote not only your clients and products but also a place to brand yourself! More and more are companies turning to facebook and google to research potential candidates for high profile events or even in corporate or managerial positions in any industry. Try looking for yourself on the internet and seeing what you can find, and then thinking of what you'd like to find create that as your content whether it be facebook, google, linkedin, a website, a blog, a profile on stuckforstaff, or a profile on some obscure unprofessional group you wouldn't want your boss or your boss' boss to read.

While involved in a campaign consider using social media as an extra tool to draw more attention to you event! Facebook has a large draw from your personal connections, and twitter has an even more powerful system of searching public tweets and gathering live and post event data. I have used social media to absolutely swell and nearly overwhelm myself in my hometown during my seasonal work as a tax preparer for Jackson Hewitt in which our traffic at the location I manned was doubled from last year (due to several reason including a reduction of 3 to 2 offices in Green Bay). I have also reached out to our target audiences groups on facebook (highschool pages for the K-Swiss train for life now program and marathon and race events for connection with my sales job with Spibelt) and driven immense amounts of traffic to websites, booths, and store locations, all generated from social media which is completely extra to the spectacular results achieved in the field.

Consider investing in a nice camera, or a functionally durable one, or even an iphone/smartphone (which also claim the humongous benefits of constant access to your email and gives you the ability to respond immediately 24/7). When you are selected for a manager position along with your recaps you are often requires to submit several photos. I try to take photos for both agency and client at an event regardless of whether I am managing it or not. There is a gray line though where you must be very sensitive. If taking out a camera impedes your ability to do your assigned job, and especially if taking those pictures is not your job, it could get you in trouble and detract from the quality of the event's execution. For higher profile events companies often hire professional photographers directly and unrelated to the promotional staffing itself. At Rockstar Field Photography we produce commercial grade photography and not only take those contracts ourselves, but often provide photos as an additional courtesy to our clients.