08:00ENTRY 01
What field marketing is
Store-level execution of the brand plan — resets, audits, displays, demos, distribution gap closes, and broker support that protects what the headquarters team negotiated.
Education site · field marketing roles, hiring, and outsourcing for emerging CPG
Field marketing for emerging CPG · in-house vs. outsourced
Where the brand meets the shelf.
FieldMarketingManagers.com educates start-up and emerging brands on what field marketing managers actually do, how to hire one, and when to work with outsourced groups such as Survey.com, Basemakers, Dirty Hands, and others.
Reviewed08:004 framesWhat · why · in-house · outsourced
11:005 rolesWhere field reps actually move volume
14:005 stepsPlan · hire · brief · execute · review
A field marketing manager is the person who turns distribution into velocity. Without one, authorizations sit on shelves and brands learn the difference between being placed and being bought.
— Conzumables Network · field marketing
08:00 PlanThe fundamentals
Four frames before you hire your first field rep.
Field marketing managers are the connective tissue between your brand plan and the store-level work that converts shoppers. Get clear on these four frames before staffing the function.
10:00ENTRY 02
Why emerging brands need it
Authorizations only convert if product is on shelf, faced, priced, and visible. Field marketing is what defends a launch from out-of-stocks, missing tags, and lost endcaps.
12:00ENTRY 03
When to hire in-house
When you have a defined region, repeatable retailer programs, and enough store volume to justify a full-time manager who owns the calendar end-to-end.
14:00ENTRY 04
When to outsource
When you need national or multi-region coverage on day one, or when you need flexible reset, audit, and demo capacity without building a payrolled field team.
Pinboard — field notes
11:00 StaffWhere the work happens
Five roles a field marketing function actually plays.
Whether the function is one in-house manager or a contract group, the field marketing remit clusters around the same five roles. Match the role mix to your stage and channel.
ID·01Role
Distribution & resets
Confirms authorizations make it to shelf, fixes shelf sets, closes voids, and works planogram resets store by store.
ID·02Role
Audits & store data
Walks doors to capture facings, pricing, signage, and out-of-stocks — the data that tells brand teams whether the program is actually live.
ID·03Role
Displays & secondary placements
Builds endcaps, side stacks, clip strips, and seasonal displays that turn promotional plans into in-store visibility.
ID·04Role
Demos & sampling
Runs in-store demos and sampling events — particularly important during launch windows and category resets.
ID·05Role
Broker & retailer support
Backs up the broker network with on-the-ground execution and feeds retailer headquarters teams the proof points that justify continued support.
15:00 AuditField marketing stack
Field execution lives in a four-layer stack.
Emerging brands often hire one person and call it field marketing. The stronger frame is to see the function as four distinct layers — and to choose, layer by layer, whether to staff it or contract it.
Curriculum coverage
In-house manager · outsourced group · broker partner · retailer compliance.
FieldMarketingManagers.com is the orientation layer — covering both the in-house manager role and the major outsourced groups (Survey.com, Basemakers, Dirty Hands, and others) that emerging brands evaluate.
- 01
In-house field manager
A direct hire who owns the calendar, regional priorities, and the day-to-day relationship with brokers and retail accounts.
- 02
Outsourced field group
Contracted teams (e.g., Survey.com, Basemakers, Dirty Hands) that provide reset, audit, and demo capacity at multi-region scale.
- 03
Broker partner network
Sales-focused brokers that need field execution support to defend the authorizations they sell in.
- 04
Retailer compliance & reporting
The reporting cadence that proves to retailers and to your own leadership that the program is actually executing.
Punch listPractical process
Five steps from job description to executed program.
- Step 01Define the role
Write a one-page brief that names the geography, retailer mix, store count, and reporting cadence the function will own — before deciding in-house vs. outsourced.
- Step 02Choose in-house or outsourced
Compare the cost and flexibility of a single in-house manager against a contract group. Hybrid models — one in-house lead plus a contract team for reset surges — are common for emerging brands.
- Step 03Brief the field team
Translate the brand plan into store-level instructions: priority retailers, SKU mix, planogram intent, display assets, and audit questions per visit.
- Step 04Execute the calendar
Run the field calendar against retailer reset windows, promotional events, and broker meetings. Keep the cadence predictable enough to spot variance.
- Step 05Review and tune
Tie field activity back to scan data and shipments. Kill the routes that don't move sell-through; double down on the ones that do.
RolodexCurriculum links
Continue the field marketing curriculum.
Survey.com
Outsourced field merchandising and audit group — common option for brands that need multi-region coverage without building a field payroll.
VisitConzumables Network
The Conzumables education hub — orientation across the operating layers emerging brands have to learn alongside field marketing.
VisitTradeSpend.org
Trade-spend planning curriculum — the budget side of the in-store programs your field team executes.
VisitMasterBrokers.org
Outsourced sales-management orientation — the broker-side complement to the field execution covered here.
VisitFieldMarketingManagers.com educates start-up and emerging brands about what field marketing managers are, how to hire them, or work with outsourced groups such as Survey.com, Basemakers, Dirty Hands and others
Get the framework
Staffing your first field marketing function?
Send your channel mix, target retailers, store count, and current execution model. The curriculum team returns a role brief, an in-house vs. outsourced comparison, and a recommended cadence for your first 12 months.
Email the curriculum team