What is a Brand Ambassador? Who Are They and What Do They Do

• T-ROC Staff
• Dec 21, 2020
• 11 mins read

Want To Become A Brand Ambassador? Here’s What You Need To Know

Brand Ambassadors represent the face, the voice, and the attitude of a brand to its customers. An ambassadorship is a job made for individuals who love meeting and interacting with people. Brand ambassadors are enthusiastic about sharing their brand insights and opinions with the world, both face-to-face and through social media with the help of online content and marketing.

What is A Brand Ambassador?

A brand ambassador is hired by a company in order to bring its products, messaging, and brand image to a community. Some companies might call them product demonstrators as well. Think of brand ambassadors as buzz creators who use their social networks and interpersonal skills to generate interest in a brand. As a brand ambassador, you’ll also represent your brand at special events and in-store marketing efforts. Often, these special visits include conducting product demonstrations for your customers or giving away free samples. Exact job descriptions depend on what type of brand you work with and what products you represent as an ambassador.

What Does a Brand Ambassador Do?

The primary responsibility of a brand ambassador is to represent the brand positively in a multitude of settings. This includes social media, physical promotions, and even employee referrals. They participate in promotional events, interact with potential customers, and might even help in field team management. Their job description often includes being corporate influencers and creating a vibrant and inviting image of the brand.

How Brand Ambassadors Affect Business

Brand ambassadors play a crucial role in employer branding, shaping how the company is perceived by both potential customers and prospective employees. Their testimonies and recommendations can strongly influence consumer decisions and add authenticity to the brand’s messaging. That’s why businesses invest significantly in brand ambassador programs.

Understanding Brand Ambassadors and Their Importance

Types of Brand Ambassadors

Throughout marketing history, businesses have leveraged the persuasive power of individuals or entities widely respected and admired by the public to influence consumer behavior. These are known as brand ambassadors. They come in different forms, including: experiential, celebrities, influencers, and employees. The types of brand ambassadors include the following:

• Experiential Brand Ambassadors
• Celebrity Brand Ambassadors
• Influencer Brand Ambassadors
• The Power of Micro-Influencers
• Employee Brand Ambassadors

Benefits of Brand Ambassadors for Businesses

Increased Brand Visibility and Awareness

A standout brand ambassador program can significantly increase brand visibility and awareness. Through their personal networks and platforms, ambassadors will introduce your brand to a broader audience.

Enhanced Brand Reputation and Credibility

Brand ambassadors, especially celebrities and influencers, can greatly enhance a brand’s reputation and credibility. Having a notable figure represent your brand boosts trust among potential customers.

Improved Customer Trust and Loyalty

Customers tend to trust the opinions of individuals over brands. This trust can translate into loyalty towards a brand and drive a consistent flow of returning customers, making ambassadors invaluable assets.

Higher Customer Engagement and Conversion Rates

Engagements and conversions tend to be higher for brands that implement ambassador programs, as these ambassadors engage customers on a more personal and genuine level.

Cost-effective Marketing Strategy

Whether it’s celebrities, influencers, or employees, hiring an ambassador is a cost-effective marketing strategy. Their organic reach not only saves advertising costs but also brings in a high return on investment.

The Difference Between Brand Ambassadors And Influencers

Some articles and online forums use the terms “brand ambassador” and “influencer” interchangeably, but it is important to understand the key differences between the influencer and brand ambassador definitions.

An influencer is a person who has a large social media following, typically more than 10,000 followers. Influencers often work with brands and businesses for one-off sponsorships. Some influencers do not create sponsored content at all, as it is not necessary for their role. For example, think of a reality TV star who makes a sponsored Instagram post about an online clothing company. While the sponsored post can make them money, if the post never went up, they would still be an influencer regardless.

On the other hand, a brand ambassador’s job can be described as working with a brand or a multitude of brands consistently over a certain time period. Unlike influencers, most brand ambassadors are required to create content that in some way connects to the brands they are ambassadors for. A great example of this is a celebrity who is a spokesperson for a luxury fashion brand. You will often see them wearing the brand on the red carpet and appearing in product photoshoots and commercials.

An easy way to remember the difference between these job descriptions is that influencers can be brand ambassadors, but brand ambassadors almost always are influencers or celebrities.

Duties & Responsibilities of a Brand Ambassador

Promoting the Brand

Brand ambassadors use their personal networks and generated content to promote a company’s products or services.

Strategies for Promoting a Brand as a Brand Ambassador

Standout brand ambassador programs have unique strategies in place for promoting a brand. These may include interacting with customers online via a social media post, becoming knowledgeable about the product, assisting with store execution, and creating engaging and interesting content.

Utilizing Different Marketing Channels and Platforms

Part of a brand ambassador’s job involves leveraging personal networks and social media marketing to share promotional content and positive experiences about the brand.

Creating Positive Experiences and Interactions

An ideal brand ambassador helps build positive experiences and interactions among prospective and existing customers through active interaction and engagement through different platforms, forums, and venues. This person helps instill brand loyalty among customers by creating a positive perception of the brand.

Representing the Brand

At the crux of what a brand ambassador does is the representation of the brand in an ideal light. They act as the face of a company by being familiar with the company’s retail services or products, its branding strategy, its values, and its target audience.

What Makes A Good Brand Ambassador?

The most important quality every brand ambassador should possess is the ability to effectively communicate and connect with people. You must be able to engage potential customers both through one-on-one channels and at special events. You must also be able to reach out through social media and online content as a trusted brand advocate and expert. Execute a good brand ambassador strategy. In other words, you should be a pretty good talker and a creative and intelligent writer.

You also have to like being in the service business. After all, when you’re involved in an ambassador program, your job is to promote the brand positively by helping potential customers understand and believe in it. That means knowing your brand and products inside and out and being ready to answer customer questions, earn their trust, and prove to them that your brand is the one they want or need. This takes someone who genuinely loves the service industry. Does this sound like something you’re interested in? Then maybe you’ve got what it takes to be a part of a brand ambassador program.

Ready to become a brand ambassador? Check out positions available throughout the United States to find the right one for you.

 

A Few Key Brand Ambassador Traits

A Love Of Learning

As an ambassador, you have to remain on top of what your brand stands for and delivers to customers. For instance, if you’re an ambassador for a new brand or an established brand that’s introducing new products, you have to be among the first to know the ins and outs of these new offerings in order to effectively represent them to the public. A big part of your job is also learning about your competition. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses will make it easier for you to make a strong argument for your brand.

Social Media/Content Savvy

One of the biggest and best platforms brand ambassadors have is social media. The truth is, you should already have a pretty sizeable and active social following if you plan on exploring a career as a brand ambassador. You should know how to optimize social media and generate online content that is constantly changing throughout sales cycles. The company or brand that hires you will likely expect you to already be proficient in Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

Ready To Go Where The Brand Goes

Unlike a traditional marketing role, a brand ambassador position will take you places – literally. Part of your responsibilities will be to attend, if not lead, special brand events and programs. You’ll need a reliable form of transportation. You should also expect to lift and tote a good amount of free products and display materials with you. If you’re able to lift about 50 pounds comfortably, you should have no problem when it comes to getting around in your brand ambassador role.

Confident And Willing To Offer Your Opinions

Companies want brand ambassadors who are real assets to the brand. They want you to provide honest feedback on the programs that you’re working with and that help you perform your job better. You might be asked to test out a new brand and give your opinion or evaluate new products to find their strengths and weaknesses. Plus, you’ll be on the front line of retail, so you’ll enjoy first-hand knowledge of how effective brand marketing and messaging are when connecting with your audience. Don’t be afraid to be a sounding board for your company. It’s what a good ambassador program expects.

Your Steps To Becoming A Brand Ambassador

1. Determine What Your Personal Brand Is

Your “brand” should be a combination of your personality, interests, goals, etc. This personal brand should allow followers on social media accounts to easily understand the type of person that you are.

Choosing a niche is a great starting point when determining your personal brand. For example, if you are someone that actively participates in and is interested in the world of personal fitness, use that as your niche.

After you understand your niche, use your personality and other unique factors to set yourself apart. Are you someone who is great at making animated videos? Maybe you can create animated videos related to your niche of personal fitness.

2. Consistently Create And Upload High-Quality Content To Grow Your Following

When companies hire ambassadors, they are looking for people to consistently promote the brand online and boost the company’s reputation. The phrase “consistency is key” is absolutely true in the world of brand representation and ambassadorship. Algorithms used by many social media companies almost always look at consistency when determining what to push forward to their audience.

Another great way to grow your following is to ensure that the content you create is high-quality. Planning out content that is both consistent and high-quality can be stressful at times, which is why using planning tools and calendars can be extremely helpful.

3. Start Your Ambassador Journey Brands That Fit With You And Your Audience

Once you have created your personal brand and have started the process of creating and posting great content, try to find an ambassador program that aligns with you and your followers. When you work with businesses that complement your personal brand, your audience is much more likely to reward you in terms of engagement.

To follow the above examples, at this point, you’re someone who is interested in fitness and makes animated videos as part of an ambassadorship with a fitness company.

4. Expand Your Reach With Larger Brands

This is the moment you have been waiting for! After you have determined your personal brand, created and consistently uploaded high-quality content, and worked with a brand that fits your audience, the time has come to expand.

At this point, you will be in the perfect position to negotiate bigger and better deals with brands that are willing to pay the rates you have always wanted. This is the time when you can finally make the money you want, all while deciding your own hours.

Final Thoughts

If you are interested in becoming a brand ambassador, it is important to understand how the process works and how mutual benefits for both parties involved can be achieved.

Like any other job role, the more work you put in, the better results you will see. Being a brand ambassador is not something that happens overnight, but with the right mindset, you can do it!

 

About T-ROC & How We Can Help

If you’re interested in exploring jobs as a brand ambassador, there are countless opportunities across the United States, from Washington, D.C., to Washington State. You’ll find them on popular job search websites like Monster.com and Indeed.com. You can also find great opportunities with The Revenue Optimization Companies (T-ROC) by searching the company job portal.