Building and maintaining a stellar reputation is a key part of running a successful business. How the world perceives your brand influences customer loyalty and satisfaction amongst other things.
Brand ambassador programs are a fantastic way to nurture a trusting relationship with buyers. They can represent your brand values and ideas. They can also attract new customers and encourage existing customers to stick around.
So what exactly is a brand ambassador and how do they benefit you?
In this article, we provide a brand ambassador definition and explain the different ways they can contribute to your business. We will also share what makes a good brand ambassador and how you can find people that fit your brand.
What Is A Brand Ambassador?
A brand ambassador is someone who acts as a representative of an organization. They do this by advertising the company and presenting its ideas and values as an extension of themselves.
A brand ambassador embodies what the company is about. They share their extensive knowledge about the company with the world, which boosts brand awareness.
Partnering with a brand ambassador can be an indefinite collaboration or a temporary one, depending on the needs of your brand.
While it may sound similar to influencer marketing, having a brand ambassador is slightly different. An influencer collaboration usually involves making a sponsored post or two to get your brand in front of their following.
In contrast, it’s a brand ambassador’s role to create consistent content that links to your brand.
What Do They Do?
The brand ambassador is the bridge between the customer and the business. They bring humanity and give a face to brands, offering audiences a way to connect with businesses on a more personal level.
A brand ambassador builds this bridge by speaking about and sharing content about the company and its goods and services. Most brand ambassadors work online so they may post about your brand online via social media platforms or online community platforms (blogs, websites, and other media.)
However, an in-person brand ambassador program can also exist through live talks, workshop engagements, and word-of-mouth marketing.
The brand ambassador’s job is to represent your brand positively to the world by embodying its principles. Essentially, they become an advocate for your brand.
Who Can Be A Brand Ambassador?
There are various routes you can take when choosing who you want as a brand ambassador. You can:
- Search for existing followers of your brand who visibly and actively endorse your product. Working with someone who already loves your brand will authentically direct your collaboration. And it won’t feel ingenuine to customers.
- Consider micro-influencers. They may not have the largest audience but they will have power in a specific niche. What matters is engagement. Have they built a community that trusts and engages with their content?
- Employee brand ambassadors are another option. Employees already know all about your company. They have a privileged look into what kind of content would enhance your brand reputation. Plus, if someone is willing to be a brand ambassador, it means they are already committed to your company and loyal.
What Can Brand Ambassadors Do For Your Business?
Now that you know what a brand ambassador is, what are the advantages of hiring one?
Well, brand ambassadors offer your business various advantages that you cannot access with traditional marketing forms.
Here are some of the things a brand ambassador can do to benefit your business.
Bolster Marketing And Sales Efforts
Your ambassador can contribute immensely to your marketing and sales strategies. They become a part of these teams as they advocate for your brand and products.
An ambassador becomes a living, breathing advertising model for your business on social media and other spaces. Their influence and word-of-mouth marketing can drive sales and increase traffic to your eCommerce platforms.
Build Faith In Your Products & Services
The marketing offered by a brand partnership is invaluable in cultivating trust in your products and services.
Even if a customer doesn’t immediately go from hearing about your stuff from brand ambassadors to checking out a cart, there is value. 90% of people are likely to trust a brand if it is recommended to them.
Prospective customers look to respected figures, social media influencers, and other industry experts. These people guide them on how they should spend their money.
Having products visibly represented by brand ambassadors is an important step in the customer journey. In fact, 63% of consumers (18-34 years old) “trust what influencers say about brands much more than what brands say about themselves in their advertising.”
Humanize Your Brand
It can be tough for customers to connect with your company if your brand image does not have a face to it. This is particularly true for corporate companies that buyers may experience as an entity removed from their personal lives.
Using a corporate ambassador humanizes your image. It gives the world a tangible view of you – a starting point for a customer relationship.
With the right brand ambassador, you can nurture an authentic and positive connection with potential customers.
Contribute To Your Digital Presence
If you’re looking for an influencer to be your brand ambassador, then they will already have a sizable audience following them as online figures. This online status is what makes them attractive as collaborators for your business. Their content can reach tons of online users and their influence, even more.
As a result, this power over the online space can translate to enhancements in your company’s digital presence. Influencer brand ambassadors can drive traffic to your website or eCommerce store from their social media.
Something as simple as tagging you in social media posts can also grow your brand’s social media accounts as more people visit your pages.
Generate Brand Awareness
The expansion of your online presence leads to an expansion of your reach as a brand. So, a collaboration with other online agents can increase brand awareness and strengthen brand recall and familiarity.
Working with an ambassador increases the chances of people thinking, “Oh, I know that brand because they worked with so and so.”
If increasing brand awareness is your aim in working with a brand ambassador, you can create a targeted strategy. For example, if you want more people from Italy to know about your brand. You can work with a popular Italian figure who has the audience you need.
Expand Your Content Archives
It’s tough to create good content these days. The online and social media space is so inundated with information and media that your content can just be redundant.
When a brand ambassador already has a dedicated audience, you gain access to amazing promotional materials. And you can use it again and again.
Most online brand partnerships, including brand ambassador programs, involve content creation. The ambassador creates content centering around the brand’s message and advocating its products. Your company can stipulate that any content created belongs to your business or be available for later use.
That way, your ambassador contributes to your content archives, cutting back the time you spend racking your brain over what to post.
Can Save You Money
Finally, (and, of course, the bottom line matters) brand ambassadors are an effective way to get bang for your buck in the marketing space.
Compared to traditional marketing forms, ambassador partnerships can give you access to a wide audience for less money. You can really spread out your marketing budget by working with several brand ambassadors in a campaign.
If the person was already using your products openly on social media, they may market your products in exchange for free products. This saves you money on your budget that you can allocate to other efforts.
What Makes A Good Brand Ambassador?
The main thing that makes a brand ambassador good for your company is fit. Do they really represent what your brand is about?
Working with an individual that doesn’t suit your company defeats the point of having a brand ambassador entirely.
A good brand ambassador will resonate with your brand message. This will be something inherent in how they live their life and their personal brand. They shouldn’t have to emulate values for advertising’s sake. By extension, this will allow them to connect with your customers and the audiences you care about.
Another aspect to consider about brand ambassadors is their audience and social skills.
You want somebody that already has an audience that ties into your brand. A brand ambassador who is already respected in your industry will bolster your company’s reputation.
You need to know that they have a genuine following that engages their content and values their input. Their reputation and influence are what will make them an effective representative for your business.
Finding The Right People For Your Company’s Brand Ambassador Programs
Finding the perfect representative for your brand doesn’t have to be an impossible feat.
The most important thing is to define your brand values and create a profile for the kind of person you want. For example, a cosmetics company might see its ideal brand representative as someone with a lifestyle personal brand online.
You also need to know your aims. Are you trying to increase sales or maybe build an online community? What you want will guide the kind of person you work with.
If increasing sales is the goal, you may need someone with an extremely large following. If you want to make connections, it would be less about numbers. You’d have to prioritize the strength of the relationship the potential ambassador has with their audience.
With these basic ideas, you can find a suitable brand ambassador.
To find out more, check out our article on how to create a brand ambassador program.
Conclusion
Collaboration is an essential and consistent part of running a business. You just cannot do it alone. Your business’ success can come down to the quality of your collaborative circle.
A brilliant and fitting brand ambassador can be just the addition you need to make creative collaboration work for your business.
If you think about it really, an ambassador becomes an essential member of your sales, marketing, and PR team. They have the power to transform your brand image, increase customer loyalty, and enhance brand awareness and visibility.
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