What’s the key to marketing in the 21st century?
People, not ads. Here’s why. As a company or business owner, if you are
still stuck with the traditional method of advertising, then, you are probably
missing out on tons of benefits that come with the new rave. That’s right!
There’s a new rave and companies are keying into it at the speed of light. So,
what’s the new rave? Brand ambassadors!
It’s totally normal if at this point you are
probably picturing Selena Gomez or David Beckham marketing your company’s
product or service. That’s not exactly far off from the idea but let’s get you
started on what a being brand ambassador really means. 3, 2, 1 and here
we go!
Who is a Brand
Ambassador?
A brand ambassador is someone who represents your
brand, product, event or service. Simply put, a brand ambassador is a creative
way of referring to someone who markets a brand, product or service through
grassroots, face-to-face or “word of mouth” marketing strategy.
These are people that are essentially doing the marketing for a
brand.
The term refers to a person who is hired by an organization or
company to positively present and represent a brand in order to strengthen the
customer-product-service chain and increase awareness and sales. A brand
ambassador lives, eats and breathes the brand he or she represents. (Just
kidding, that’s a hyperbole!) If you are also thinking of trade show hosts,
in-store promotional members, and street teams, you are right! These are
brand ambassadors!
They employ both online and offline techniques to ensure that a
brand, service or product is effectively marketed such that, people are influenced to patronize that brand,
service or product. Voila! It’s that simple.
Recent surveys indicate that a substantial number of purchases
are as a result of “word-of-mouth” referral. So, it’s not the fancy ad that got
the pounds trickling in but someone somewhere who told someone else somewhere
else “Hey! You should totally check this out, it’s good stuff!
“(Okay, this is getting too irrelevant. Let’s get back to why we are here.)
So, word-of-mouth is one of the best strategies for any brand to
thrive. People will most likely patronize a brand if the referral is
coming from someone they trust. This is why more and more companies are
creating ambassador programs, one-to-one customer engagement, and ambassador
platforms.
So what do smart brands do? They incorporate ambassador marketing into their
marketing budget. It’s a win-win, they simply connect with people who support
their brand, build strong relationships and create an ambassador community that
will help them spread the word in a more efficient way that any advertising
campaign can do.
Mind-blowing, right?
A brand ambassador produces results through communication tools
either publicly, such as social media, or privately including emails, messaging
and one-to-one marketing strategies.
Types of Brand Ambassadors
There are basically two broad types of brand ambassadors: paid
and unpaid brand ambassadors.
“Wait, did you just say unpaid? Like no salary?”
Shush! Let’s tell you about them.
When you think of brand ambassadors, you are most likely
thinking of the paid ambassador. (Well, it’s the most common ambassador
type and we all know why). A paid brand ambassador is paid by a brand, either
through money or free products and services (The Good Life). Paid brand
ambassadors include your favorite celebrities and social media influencers
a.k.a. macro influencers (which kind of makes sense now, when you think of all
the review videos you see on YouTube or Instagram).
Paid brand ambassadors are one of the best
options for brands due to their strong media presence and a large number of
followers. This gives brands the opportunity to connect to a larger audience.
The unpaid ambassadors are equally as important, although, they
may not guarantee a large audience like the paid ambassadors. They are the
micro influencers. The unpaid ambassadors consist of loyal customers or
enthusiasts who refer a brand to friends, families or colleagues through
word-of-mouth. Unpaid ambassadors are a more authentic and trustworthy avenue
to market a brand, due to their proximity to their audience. Unpaid ambassadors
could also include online reviewers who write positive reviews advocating a
brand and encouraging others to patronize it.
So, no salary?
Yes, no salary.
What is Ambassador Marketing?
Nowadays, programmatic advertising, Facebook and Google search
ads alone won’t do the magic. This does not mean that those are not effective
methods of creating awareness and increasing sales but the world is rapidly
evolving and so are the trends.
More and more companies are adopting ambassador marketing as a
marketing strategy.
Why Ambassador Marketing?
There are a couple of reasons why ambassador marketing
strategies have usurped traditional marketing strategies. Here’s some:
Putting up ads on TV or emails is great but people are sick of
getting spam every time. And how many people watch TV these days? Social
Media is the in thing.
A-ha! Social Media it is then! So, you decide to put up ads on
Social Media too right? But here’s the thing too, people are sick of ads
popping up in between important chats or while watching a video. This is
why the ad blocking technology was created. So, adios! Social media ads. Now,
your audience is probably blind to your ads on social media, TV, and emails.
How do you reach them?
So, here’s the thing, most people will talk to people they know,
trust and like to get advice when making a purchase decision. For example,
you’d most likely ask someone or Google “reviews” about a particular hotel or
restaurant before making reservations. This is why brand ambassadors are the
real deal. People influence other people’s decision even when it comes to
making purchases.
What are the Brand Ambassador Marketing Strategies?
Now that you know why you need brand ambassadors, you may be curious
about what marketing strategies these brand ambassadors will use to help
strengthen your brand image and increase sales. There are many ambassador
marketing strategies that brand ambassadors use. But these can be broadly
categorized into three: Social media, Online reviews, Ambassador/Affiliate
marketing software.
Let’s run through them, shall we?
1. Social Media
Again, it’s the 21st-century a.k.a. the digital century. Brand
ambassadors use various social media platforms to spread the word about a
brand. This is completely different from an advertisement. This time,
your brand is projected through a person via social media.
Brand ambassadors can help share content or links relating to a
brand to their friends and families on social media platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. In many cases, these brand ambassadors are remunerated
with product bundles and free samples.
2. Online Reviews
Yelp or Tripadvisor is also a great online brand ambassador
marketing strategy through which brand ambassadors can review your business. If
you want to improve your reviews online, all you need to do is enlist the help
of your brand ambassadors. You can in return, pay them per positive review or
send them gifts.
3. Ambassador/Affiliate Software
The emergence of brand ambassadors and affiliate software make
it easier than ever to manage and scale brand ambassadors’ social media
campaigns. With these softwares, you can track the activity of each ambassador,
their value added to your brand and incentivize them appropriately. You can pay
them according to their contribution or send them free products. The
distribution channel, in that case, doesn’t really matter as long as you can
track the results and measure the ROI.
Don’t forget that this type of brand ambassadors already like
your brand and product. So, in most cases, they will be just fine receiving
free samples from you.
What is a Brand Ambassador Program?
Bet you’ve heard the phrase “brand ambassador program” before, if you know
what it means, good for you. If you don’t, that’s why you are reading
this.
So, it’s established that word-of-mouth marketing is one of the
most effective tools a brand can ever employ. A substantial amount of purchases
are influenced by word-of-mouth rather than ads. This is why many
companies are creating their personal brand ambassador programs.
Get to the point already!
Patience people, patience.
A brand ambassador program is designed to utilize the passion of
a brand’s most enthusiastic or loyal customers by giving them exclusive
benefits and the autonomy to carry the brand’s message to consumers. It is
basically creating a word-of-mouth scheme to help a brand, product or service
receive optimal recognition and thrive.
Brand ambassador programs are designed to suit the personal
needs of a brand. A brand ambassador program that works for one brand may not
work for the other. That said, there are four types of brand ambassador
programs. These are affiliate marketers, informal brand ambassadors, college
ambassadors, and requirements-driven influencers.
This video from Adam Erhart tackles how to effectively build
brand ambassadors:
Affiliate Brand Ambassador
Program
This type of brand ambassador program is modeled on the
affiliate marketing structure. This involves a partnership between a brand and
some individuals, usually influencers or bloggers. These individuals function
as affiliate marketers. This means that they promote a brand and in
exchange, get a commission whenever a purchase is made through their promotion.
This
brand ambassador program is a win-win for both sides as both the brand and
affiliate marketer profit from the purchases.
College Brand Ambassador Program
This type of brand ambassador program is more popular than the
other types and easily comes to mind when people think of brand ambassador
programs. This type of brand ambassador program simply involves a partnership
between a brand and students. The brand leverages the students’ internal
connections to raise awareness for an organization and increase its sales.
College brand ambassadors use word-of-mouth and social media promotion as
their brand ambassador marketing strategies. Other marketing strategies include
spotting outfits that advertise the brand they represent, hosting on-campus
events, handing out product samples, putting up posters or coming up with
ingenious ways to promote the brand they work for.
College ambassador programs are ideal for brands whose target
consumers fall within the college or university demography.
Informal Brand Ambassador Program (Referral
program)
The informal brand ambassador program is less structured than
the other types. Anyone who shows unwavering loyalty or love for a brand
can join this brand ambassador program. All he or she needs to do is
spread the word about the brand to friends and families. Informal brand
ambassadors may get incentives for purchases made based on their referrals. It
is a highly efficient and powerful type of brand ambassador program.
Requirement-Driven Brand Ambassador Program
Requirement-driven brand ambassadors complete certain actions
for a brand within a specific time frame. In this case, a company might reward
the ambassadors with free products or money. Most of the time,
requirement-driven brand ambassadors are influencers with high content
engagement rates. This helps brands increase their ROI and raise awareness for
their brands. The requirement-driven brand ambassador program is an economical
way to develop a brand since the company only gives out free products or
stipends to their brand ambassadors.
Top Brand Ambassador Programs
So far, you’ve learned the concept and types of brand ambassador
programs.
But, does brand ambassador marketing beat the good old
traditional marketing strategies?
Well, a survey of some top brands that have adopted this
marketing strategy will convince you just how effective and profitable brand
ambassador marketing is.
Maker’s Mark
Maker’s mark has one of the most popular brand ambassador
programs: The Embassy. This brand treats its ambassadors with recognition and
utmost respect (People love to be treated right). Their brand ambassadors are
rewarded with freebies such as special tastings; business cards and wait
for it… get their names burned into the side of a bourbon barrel. (How
special is that?)
This makes it super easier to recruit new brand ambassadors.
Lululemon
Oh, the company that sells athletic gears?
Yes, that one.
One thing you probably don’t know about this brand is its
impressive brand ambassador program. This brand is targeted at the hip,
athletic and vibrant unit of the society; the youth. This is why their brand
ambassadors identify with this group of people. For promoting the brand, brand
ambassadors are rewarded with recognition, autonomy, and fee products.
Lululemon’s ambassadors are mostly athletes. This is a strategy to further
build the brand’s credence.
So, if you are a company looking to promote your brand, there
are several platforms which can help you access the right brand ambassadors,
an example of such is Inbassador.
Inbassador helps brands expand their
reach by giving them unlimited access to word-of-mouth among their customer
base. This is achieved by reviewing the social media profiles of your customers
to obtain the number of followers on each platform and their engagement rate.
This is achieved in five simple steps:
1.
Connect your shop.
You can upload your CSV file or connect your data from Magento, Shopify,
WooCommerce or MailChimp in a single click.
2.
Find influential customers.
3.
Boost sales.
4.
Track the results of each ambassador.
5.
Just kidding. That’s all!
