Over the last couple of years, the methods businesses employ to reach target audiences have evolved. Traditionally, marketers were accustomed to booking prime time TV action.
Today, a vast majority of enterprises are using new channels to promote content efficiently.
Even today’s newfangled technology may not necessarily make it to tomorrow’s cutting edge section in the papers. The times are constantly changing. As such, you need to be on the front seat to anticipate the changes and come up with great marketing plans that are sure to stand the litmus test of time.
What is a Brand Ambassador?
A brand ambassador is someone who is focused on promoting a brand and the products and/or services offered to their network. The aim? To increase brand awareness and boost revenue collection.
Investing in a brand ambassador program is a great business strategy. While there’s a widespread belief that you need to partner up with celebrities, you can always choose to think outside the box. Oscar-worthiness is not an important deciding factor, other options include using loyal customers and even employees as brand ambassadors.
Why You Should Employ a Brand Ambassador
In contemporary times, almost every employee has a considerably large professional network. During their off hours, most of them are actively involved in the promotion of the business.
Research by Weber Shandwick demonstrated just how popular social media platforms are among employees. Their data shows that about 98% of employees are on social media and about 50% of them actively talk about their places of work.
Aside from social media, B2B employees also have a wide net of people they can connect with. It is through such interactions that most of them are able to strike a rapport and build relationships based on trust.
Cognizant of the fact that trust plays an integral role in most business operations, it’s important for you as an entrepreneur to strike while the iron is hot. You can use your very own employees as brand ambassadors and reap the benefits that come with this alliance.
The biggest companies in the world actually do this. If you take a close look at organizations like Dell and Coupa, you’ll realize that they use their own workforce to boost brand awareness. Given just how much traction they’ve been able to cover through the years, it’s safe to say that they are onto something.
Who Can Be a Brand Ambassador?
As alluded earlier, employees serve as excellent brand ambassadors. Having said that, it’s worth documenting that there are some specific departments which foster positive interactions with clientele. Departments like marketing, human relations, sales, and product and engineering have been known to register the most impressive results.
The key reason behind this statistic lies in the fact that these kinds of employees actively communicate with people outside the organization. It is through such interactions that they are able to grow their professional networks and contribute towards your bottom line.
How Brand Ambassadors Succeed
Obviously, communication plays a key role in the success of a brand ambassador. Thankfully, there are various ways that brand ambassadors can sing a tune to the masses. Social media platforms are preferred by many firms thanks to the fact that you can talk to the general public all at once.
Alternatively, you can choose to employ a one-on-one approach. If this is how you’d like to roll, then, we suggest checking out email and messaging to get max rewards.
Having said all this, it’s crucial for you to have an organized ambassador program in place. As is the case with most enterprises, proper planning is key to success. Once you clearly define your goals and come up with an implementable strategy, it’s going to be easy for you to find your feet.
CRM platforms are your best bet when it comes to managing sales teams. While having the right talent in place is necessary in order to resonate with the masses, you also need to have a system in place that tracks performance.
Once you pair up a solid strategy together with some other tools, you need to have someone lead and manage the entire program.
Why Brand Ambassadors Work
1. They humanize products
Naturally, people like to buy from close associates and “normal” people. As a brand, you can take initiative to connect with prospects through social media platforms. Embracing ambassadors tend to have a positive impact on your business thanks to the emotional connection formed.
By connecting with individuals emotionally, you can tap into the very essence of how humans communicate. Once you’re on the same emotional wavelength with them, it becomes easy for you to pitch to them since you won’t sound “salesy”.
2. Power of word of mouth
Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective marketing modes out there. Notably, word of mouth advertising can have both positive and negative influences on the market. Still, people tend to hinge more on the positive aspects more than the negatives. This is because positive word of mouth tends to be more credible than negative word of mouth.
3. People are more attentive about what their friends say about a product more than ads
Irrespective of the number of online ads you run, at the end of the day, people will always listen to what their friends and family say about different product offerings.
With each passing day, traditional media adverts are just not cutting it. To cope you need to find new ways of social engagement. Brand ambassadors are one of the most effective ways to reach out.
Conclusion
The aforementioned reasons should be compelling enough for you to adopt brand ambassadors into your marketing strategy. Because social media platforms are increasingly growing stronger, there’s a need for you to invest in people who’ll keep the conversation going about your business.
Unlike precious metals, it’s quite easy for you to partner up with ambassadors. To find some gems, you simply need to keep your eyes peeled on possible brand advocates and reach out. It is through such channels that you’ll be able to build a good reputation for your brand on various platforms.
