Every industry in the market plays a competitive game. To stay on top of your niche, your brand should stand out from its competitors. Companies accomplish this by integrating a combination of different marketing campaigns. With so many marketing approaches and strategies today, which one would you pick?
Running an ambassador program is one of the best marketing campaigns you can utilize today. With the rise of the Internet and the use of social media, having a face representing your brand can be a significant advantage to your business.
In this article, you’ll be looking at what a brand ambassador program is all about, the pros and cons of using it in your business, and a short, helpful guide in starting your own.
What Is a Brand Ambassador Program?
A brand ambassador program is a marketing campaign characterized by working with influencers to reflect and deliver your business’s identity, voice, and message to potential customers. It’s a powerful marketing strategy that takes advantage of the best of both worlds: the power of figures and word-of-mouth advertising.
Establishing a brand ambassador program can stem from the following goals and motivations:
- Build a community focused on your brand’s products or services
- Increase your sales and presence, both online and offline
- Create and share content that people will learn from
In short, starting a brand ambassador program is hitting three birds with one stone, as brands establish their own too, hopefully, achieve these using one marketing campaign.
Companies use brand ambassador management software to run their campaigns as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. Click here for more info to try it out on your campaign.
Types of Brand Ambassador Programs
Furthermore, brand ambassador programs are further divided into different types, which mainly depends on their role in your marketing plan:
1. Affiliate Brand Ambassador Program
The affiliate marketing structure is prevalent today in social media influencers. In this program, you’ll partner with individuals or organizations, your ambassadors, to become your affiliate marketers. They have the potential to earn a small commission for purchases encouraged by their endorsements.
An evident example of this is when influencers add a product link of products or services they’ve promoted in their content. If you purchase from their affiliate link, they’ll earn money from it.
2. Requirement-Driven Brand Ambassador Program
If you want to build the most reputation through this marketing technique, the requirements-driven ambassador program suits your business best. In this program, influencers are given a specific time frame to promote your brand in exchange for stipends and free products.
This setup works best for personalities with high presence and content engagement rates. This way, you can increase brand awareness while maximizing your return on investment (ROI).
3. College Brand Ambassador Program
As its name implies, a college brand ambassador program invites students from colleges and universities to promote their brand inside their academic premises. Introducing your business to educational institutions is a smart marketing move, especially if you’re still a startup.
This method will work seamlessly with your business if your target market is people in the age range of 18 to 25 years old. When choosing students as your ambassadors, make sure to review the school’s policies first, as some institutions don’t allow external campaigns.
4. Informal Brand Ambassador Program
Lastly, an informal brand ambassador program occurs when your customers themselves are doing the marketing. Referral marketing is the most common form of this program, where you’ll encourage your customers to invite new customers, such as their relatives and friends, so that they can earn rewards like freebies and discount codes on their next purchase.
What Makes an Excellent Brand Ambassador?
Essentially, your brand ambassador will become the middle entity in encouraging clients to take part in a product or service purchase. They’re a vital part of your marketing campaign that can highly influence people’s decisions—whether your customer would buy it or not.
Since your sales and company image are dependent on your ambassador, you shouldn’t simply hire anyone, right?
This is where finding the best brand ambassador comes into play. Here are some striking qualities and skills that you should look for in a brand ambassador:
- Knows your brand exceptionally well
- Loves to interact with the public
- Possesses excellent communication skills
- Delivers authenticity and honesty
- Has basic marketing knowledge
- Exhibits a strong public presence, particularly in social media
- Possesses authority and credibility in their niche
Pros and Cons of Establishing a Brand Ambassador Program
After learning the basics of a brand ambassador program, next is to discover how it’ll help your business or put your business at risk. Fortunately, learning more about this marketing strategy can keep you away from potential marketing pitfalls.
Advantage 1
They’re a proven strategy for boosting online presence and reputation.
Disadvantage 1
Unpleasant, controversial news about your ambassadors can instantly impact your brand negatively.
Advantage 2
Ambassadors provide reliable and continued commitment to your brand, and some companies may even be lucky enough to find loyal ambassadors.
Disadvantage 2
High-authority ambassadors endorsing many brands may not remember your company well due to many packed commitments.
Advantage 3
Choosing the right ambassador with known expertise in their field can build stronger customer trust and loyalty. For instance, if your brand ambassador is a dermatologist, customers will more likely try your products since an expert recommends them.
A Few Words on Building Your Program
Operating your own ambassador program can be challenging if it’s your first time utilizing this marketing strategy. To close this discussion, here are few tips for building your own brand ambassador program. First, set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound (SMART) goals for the marketing campaign, such as setting key performance indicators (KPI) to meet. Do you want to build brand awareness? Improve your image? Or enhance customer retention?
Before looking for ambassadors, define first what you’re looking for. They can be brand loyalists, employees, target audience blenders, or niche ambassadors. Then, find them on influencer platforms like Instagram and YouTube. You can also publish an application form to find ambassadors interested in working with you.
Build meaningful connections with your ambassador and never treat them according to what they can only offer your company. Always show your appreciation to your ambassadors. Be open to them regarding marketing-related issues and challenges.
Lastly, focus on giving your ambassadors and customers a memorable experience than a sales-focused one as it can make a better impression.
