Promotional Models – It’s not Just About a Pretty Face

Although the way you look and present yourself is important, if you really want to be a successful promotional model the key is personality.  An energetic, positive and personable attitude is one of the most important characteristics, as you will need to be comfortable approaching people to promote any brand/product.  Promotional models are not generally employed to stand and look pretty; they are used to engage with people and need to ensure they do so in the right way.  You will need to speak well and be able to speak to people at all levels; at exhibitions you may be meeting company directors so you need to have the professionalism and confidence to communicate with them, as well as the general public.  Sales skills will also be a great asset for talking up the client’s product or service.

There are some very easy little jobs for promotional models, but equally there are jobs where you will hard work.  You must be prepared to work hard and not complain when the hours are long.  Expect there will be days when your feet hurt as unfortunately it comes with the territory. So make sure you’re prepared with some comfy shoes for the end of the day.
Good work ethics are imperative, this means showing up to your event, on time and prepared. This may be the most important event of the client’s year and they are likely to have spent a lot of money attending it. Before attending any job you will need to ensure you have fully understand the job description and have some knowledge of the company you are representing.  Some clients will provide full training prior to the event date but this is not always the case.
Always Remember, this kind of work is very competitive so you need to be good if you want to make it your full-time career.  If you take note of the advice above you will go far!  As with any job it is important that you enjoy the job and work to your full potential, rather than just do it for the money.
Summary of Attributes you will need to be a Successful Promotional Model

• Excellent Personal Presentation
• Total Self Confidence
• Great Personality
• Professionalism
• Good Communication Skills
• Good Facial Expression – people like to speak to smiley happy people
• Be Friendly to Everyone
• Pro-active
• Can-do attitude
• A great sense of humour

Why Type of Jobs do Promotional Staff do?

Promotional People are used to assist on a wide variety of marketing jobs which are usually tactical short-term assignments, such as;

• Product Demonstrations
• Product Sampling
• Leaflet Distribution
• Lead Generation / Qualifiers
• Store Merchandising and POS Placement
• Hand to Hand Print Distribution
• Night Club / Bar Promoters
• Presenting / Spokesmodels
• Retail Training
• Hospitality; Welcoming guests, registration, serving refreshments, canapés
• Modelling; Award presentation, grid-girls,
• Market Research and Data Capture
• Mystery Shopping
• Costume Characters
• Road Shows
• Publicity Stunts

Face to face marketing campaigns targeting consumers are usually planned at high traffic locations to reach as many customers as possible.  These locations could be shopping malls, high streets, supermarket foyers or large public events, such as exhibitions, festivals and county shows.  Some companies like to target their campaigns at a specific customer demographic and choose specific venues which that customer would be attracted to.  For Example, a new beer brand targeted at 20-30 year old males could be held in a pub or nightclub and to take this one step further they may choose a particular type of person to represent their brand.
Promotional Models are also used for Business to Business events which usually take place at trade shows, corporate events, hospitality areas, conferences, occasionally offices and sometimes in the retail environment.