How Brand Ambassadors Drive Growth and Engagement

What is a Brand Ambassador?

What value do they create in today's retail environment?

A brand ambassador is your brand’s presence on the street and its eyes in the store. A brand ambassador can be a valuable link between your company and your distribution channels and your customers.

Rather than pitching the hard sell, brand ambassadors connect to people in ways that are helpful. They share their enthusiasm and knowledge, and connect in a genuine and personal way. They function like an in-person “last mile” link between your corporate communications, advertising, and promotions, and the place where purchases happen and where brand connections are made.

In this white paper, we will answer the question: What is a brand ambassador? And we will specifically explain: What is the difference between a brand ambassador and an influencer? Finally, we will take a look at trends, and consider what goes into creating a professional brand ambassador program. We include an examination of your options for putting one in place.

What is a Brand Ambassador?

Social media has changed the meaning of the idea of a brand ambassador.

When thinking about what is a brand ambassador, the classic definition is: A well-trained specialist who works for, represents, and advocates for your brand to channel partners and customers.

Brand ambassadors directly engage at key points across your distribution channels. They may train and inform retail store personnel, such as store managers and staff on the sales floor. They might work at your trade shows. They sometimes interact with your brokers and distributors. They can also plan and run promotional events.

A professional brand ambassador is more than a fan, they are a well-informed and well-trained emissary for your products. They are a personal point-of-contact for your brand at the grassroots level. As the human face of your brand, they embody your brand’s vision and promise, bringing them to life.

To create and keep a loyal customer base, you need more than advertising and promotion. Too many loyalty programs are overly transaction-focused, relentlessly trying to drive people to buy. These programs miss doing the work of building a relationship. That’s where having a professional brand ambassador program pays for itself.

Your brand ambassador works to create positive experiences, facilitates helpful interactions, and is an informative, helpful source of information. Whether it is training a retail floor clerk or trouble-shooting an issue for a customer, a brand ambassador is brand advocate who builds relationships, something that is far, far more valuable than a transaction. They are key to creating loyalty.

What is the difference between a brand ambassador and an inluencer?

If you Google "brand ambassador," you will find a mix of articles that are really talking about brand influencers. A brand influencer could be a celebrity spokesperson or someone active on social media who has built a following of fans.

The fundamental difference between brand ambassadors vs influencers is that brand influencers bring an existing following or fan base to your brand. They attempt to convert that audience into becoming fans of your brand, as well.

A brand ambassador, on the other hand, may be quite anonymous. Unlike an influencer, an ambassador doesn't seek celebrity or to be internet famous. Instead, they focus on serving, helping, educating, and representing your brand to its customers.

While members of your staff or executive team can be brand evangelists, being a brand advocate is a sideline to their main responsibilities. Being a fan and talking up your brand is not the same as being a brand ambassador.

What is the difference between a brand ambassador and a brand influencer? The brand ambassador is a brand retail representative focused on being a brand liaison and helping your customers, not like a brand influencer exploiting their fans.

What Does a Brand Ambassador Do?

The role of a brand ambassador is as varied as the brands they represent. What does a brand ambassador do exactly? It depends. The most effective programs are built around the strategic demands of your business and product, your distribution channels, your customers, and, ultimately, your goals. Elements to consider may encompass:

BRINGING YOUR BRAND TO LIFE

In a retail environment, at promotional events, at pop-up happenings and on street teams, or even at tradeshows and meetings, your brand ambassador represents your brand. In these settings they humanize and personalize your brand attributes and your brand value proposition.

INCREASING AWARENESS AND REACH

Working as a brand liaison, your brand rep connects your marketing tactics to grassroots actions. They extend the reach of your marketing activities to build awareness and excitement at the point-of-purchase or point-of-engagement, such as running launch events and in-store promotions.

BUILDING UNDERSTANDING

Effective professional brand ambassadors help tell your brand story. When customers understand your brand and product, they have a better experience with it and perceive your brand as having greater value. Brand ambassadors may provide training to channel partner retail staff. They can hold customer workshops and demos for both staff and for customers. They can lead question-and-answer sessions and troubleshoot customer issues.

ENGAGING STAFF AND CUSTOMERS

Engaging customers across platforms and building on existing marketing tactics creates trust and loyalty. Your brand ambassador can get retail staff and customers involved with your brand by running in-store events, giveaways, and promotions. They might also contribute content that retailers can use on social media, in promotional outreach vehicles, and in stores.

STRENGTHENING YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Your competitors can meet your price. They can copy your package. They can out-shout your ads. But they cannot duplicate the relationships, expertise, and resources that your brand ambassador brings to the marketplace. A well-run program shows you care for and are committed to your channel partners and customers, which makes your brand truly stand out in a competitive market.

PROMOTING LOYALTY

It is human nature to connect with people rather than products and places. The power of the human connection cannot be overstated. Social media and personalization can bring the brand closer to channel partners and customers, but it is the work of a well-trained and motivated ambassador—and their activities—that cement the connections that underlie true customer loyalty.

DRIVING MORE SALES

You can run your promotional programs and pop-up events through a trained and locally placed brand ambassador to make them more effective. Brand reps can, with their on-the-ground knowledge, carry out your plans more fully and effectively. They can personally manage and hand out SPIFS (Sales Performance Incentive Funds) to retail staff, intensifying the impact of this incentive.

Trends in Brand Ambassador Programs

While working through brand influencers is getting all the press attention, companies are quietly rediscovering the value of professional brand ambassador programs.

A strategically designed and realized program gives you the control and capacity that you cannot get through brand influencers and the typically hands-off and one-off nature of their relationships.

SOME OF THE TRENDS BEHIND THE RESURGENCE OF PROFESSIONAL BRAND AMBASSADOR PROGRAM INCLUDE: