Brand ambassadors often play a significant role in many businesses and
organizations. Companies may have started attracting consumers, but these
people can now become representatives in deals involving B2B interactions.
The role of an ambassador has become relevant in the digital age
nowadays. Many people go to social media to check what their loved ones are
purchasing. Some are often at a loss with the thousands of products available,
and they turn to see what their colleagues or friends recommend.
You may want to know what these people can do to your business. Some are
even asking what are brand ambassadors and how they can start a program about this.
If these are the things that you also want to know, then this post is for you.
Definition of a Brand Ambassador
Brand ambassadors are people who promote products and raise the
consumers awareness of a specific brand. This can help derive sales, and the
objectives are more attained rather than spending on expensive advertisements.
In history, the ambassadors are often good-looking, and they are known
to be celebrities. They have followers, and today, other people are calling
them influencers. Many well-known personalities are still acting as brand
ambassadors, especially when it comes to the beauty industry. However, this is
done only by businesses that directly sell to their customers.
Businesses that are selling to other companies often need the help of a
brand ambassador for the entire organization. In the past, these people were
usually famous superstars or even founders of their own companies. Read more
about celebrities being ambassadors on this site here.
However, as the rise of social media and technology is taking over the
world, many non-executive employees are not effective as brand ambassadors.
Some of the employees have first-hand insight into the products, culture,
mission statements, and services that a company offers to answer questions and
convince others to invest in the business.
Why Does a Business Need an
Ambassador?
In todays social media and digital age, the employees now have a
sizable network by the thousands. Some have thousands of friends on platforms
like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Whatsapp, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and
many more. Aside from this, many may unknowingly share that they are already
working for your company.
Over 90% of employees today use social media for personal purposes.
According to a study by Weber Shandwick, about 50% are talking about your
company already. With services like emails, social media, and more, the B2B
employees can create a significant network of people who trust them and with
whom they have rapport.
Some of the critical attributes of influencers are often influence,
trust, and rapport. They are considered a business currency, and the more a
person is trusted, the more he is going to be valuable as a brand ambassador.
The relationships of the employees they may have in your company can be
stronger than those they associate with. Putting this program in place will
leverage these networks and relationships and result in explosive growth.
Who Can be a Possible Brand Ambassador?
Some may hire employees within their organization to be the new face of
their products. Others may rely on outside sources like popular Hollywood stars
or influencers on social media to represent them. In the experience of the more
successful companies, the employees can work better than the outside
celebrities who can be unreliable sometimes.
Potential people who can do the job efficiently may include the
engineering team, HR, marketing, product, management, and communications. Some
of the examples of the results that they can do are the following:
·
Sales: The sales team can create new opportunities,
reduce the overall sales cycle, increase the lead pipelines, and ad revenue
·
HR: Improvement of the talent pool, recruitment,
retention, and builds the brand of the employer.
·
Marketing: Brand awareness, lead generation, web
traffic, and social shares
·
Product
& Engineering: More
product awareness and leadership
Usually, it is the employees who are connected with the people outside
of the company that will drive excellent results. On average, its known to be
the marketing, sales, and management who can drive the most revenues. Read more
about improving your sales and marketing at this link: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-techniques-used-increase-sales-63530.html.
How are they Driving the Results?
The roles of a brand ambassador include doing phone calls, messaging,
emails, and one-to-one channels. They communicate through social media, or they
organize events. One of the key results that will bring success is to -have a
plan about the program of getting a brand ambassador, and the goals should be
clear.
Some of the best tools include customer relationship management or CRM
platform. Having a CRM tool will allow you to measure and manage the efforts
that everyone is putting into the project. This makes the goals measurable, and
it usually manages the teams size and how the talent of the representatives
can impact customer decisions.
Where is the Starting Point?
When you have an ambassador program in place, know that the sky’s the
limit for the brand and products that will be represented. Whether you choose
to work with influencers or hire an ambassador within the organization, you may
want to consider starting with your companys workforce.
In time, the success is going to attract more employees to join.
However, in the beginning, it is essential to start small and take things one
at a time. Successful brand ambassadors usually grow from the bottom to the top
and not the other way around.