You may have heard of the term 'brand ambassador' and wondered what exactly that means. Well, brand ambassadors are influencers who promote a product or brand that they feel positively towards and want to share with their followers. They work directly with a brand on a regular basis (as opposed to a one-off collaboration) and this relationship has many benefits for both parties.
Brand ambassadors can be invaluable to your business as they can build trust and drive sales over time. They have an ability to kick start a sense of community that engages customers, as well as deliver brand messages, provide feedback and boost visibility, making them an asset to your brand and an essential part of your marketing strategy.
Here are 3 key ways that brand ambassadors can help grow your business!
1) Brand ambassadors help to create a community
Brand ambassadors are a way for businesses to make a genuine connection with their audience, encouraging the growth of a community. An ambassador can highlight and promote your products in an authentic way that reinforces that sense of community and establishes an emotional connection with your brand.
Having a community can be a powerful networking tool for both the ambassador and your brand, leading to trusted relationships and improved rapport with your customers.
@amcmccormack for Aaron Wallace
A past client of ours, Aaron Wallace, worked with the Pink Ship team to develop an ambassador programme that created a community around the brand and their products. This community was called #AWAmbassadors, and helped the brand to grow their online presence and level-up their relationship with their customers.
2) Brand ambassadors humanise your brand
Through engaging with your customers as a community, ambassadors humanise your brand. This turns you from a faceless company into a real human being with opinions and the ability to influence. This human connection cultivates loyalty between you, your ambassadors and your customers, and in turn, can help your business make sales and achieve growth.
3) Brand ambassadors drive brand visibility
As with influencer marketing, a good ambassador programme will get your brand in front of more eyes, provided that the ambassador is relevant to your business and industry. That part is important because they need to have an audience that aligns with your target market.
People are more likely to engage with content if it’s coming from someone they’ve actively chosen to connect with. Having a brand ambassador means their audience becomes your audience and vice versa, increasing your brand visibility.
Remember: the relationship should be mutually beneficial!
Both parties receive benefits in an ambassador programme. The brand collaborates with the ambassadors for visibility, engagement and feedback, and the ambassadors enjoy the perks of community, event invitations, free goodies and exclusive offers. Ambassadors support your brand and may advocate naturally for you but, in return for their help and to keep a great relationship, it is good practise to offer rewards.
At Pink Ship, we built an ambassador community for our client Cloré Beauty called the #CloreCommunity. This network has been a hugely successful move for Cloré, with increased customer engagement, audience growth and sales. It is key that we support and give back to the influencers that help make it happen by involving them in events and initiatives, as well as offering free goodies and paid work.
@organizedkhaoss and @itsjewelstarr by 📸 Pink Ship | @shannnaaaeee by 📸 @rich3dee
We often work with Cloré to plan and prepare events just for the #CloreCommunity, in order to make the brand a valuable resource for them, as well as local residents, creatives and businesses. For Cloré, it's all about giving back!
Omega Mighty x Cloré Beauty Product Launch with Pink Ship