Looking for a brand ambassador you are? Find them quickly you will after reading this article!
This Article Isn’t (All) About George Clooney. Kinda…
Whenever most people think about a brand ambassador, they immediately imagine a celebrity, a sports star, or at least a good-looking guy/girl with a shiny smile. You know, the George Clooney type of ambassadorship.
Partly, this is true. These endorsements have been paid for by major global marketing companies and were directed to the various general audiences out there.
However, not many of us can get George Clooney or Leonardo DiCaprio to be our brand ambassadors – and it’s not only about the price. Most businesses simply don’t need brand ambassadors of that caliber.
Picture this video commercial I have just made up: George Clooney rolling up in his Rolls-Royce (rolling in Rolls-Royce – that phrase alone is golden!). He slowly comes out of the car in his perfectly neat, beige suit and starts walking towards you. Then, with a gracious smile on the face and that «hey, baby» look, he says: «I branded my own cookie company at VG. Boy, do they deliver! You know, they also helped me out with the website and Facebook page!»
Weird, huh? Not that George Clooney would agree to it because he surely wouldn’t want to devalue himself by supporting some local brand rather than a worldwide established company. Still, I’d love to see that one happen someday 🙂
Anyway, most of us don’t really need celebrities for a brand ambassadorship. What we need, though, are people with a considerable following on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and a positive attitude towards our product. Nothing fancy, really – it’s all down-to-earth production that makes it work.
In case you missed our previous article where we talked about what brand ambassadors are, what they can do for your business, and what makes a great brand ambassador, be sure to read this article first “What Is a Brand Ambassador?” before proceeding to the next paragraph.
The Next Paragraph
Now, that you’re familiar with the basics of brand ambassadorship, it’s time to raise the $64,000 question: where in the world are you going to find them? Especially, considering that your budget is tight, and there’s not much time to waste.
The answer is simple: your only chance is to start looking for an ambassador among common people using all means available. «How do I do that?» you might ask. Well, this is how.
This Is How You Do That
There are a few guidelines I tend to recommend my clients whenever their task is finding a brand ambassador. Here they are.
1. Describe Your Ideal Brand Ambassador
Your first move would be letting your fantasy go and thinking about your brand for a couple of minutes. While you’re at it, ask yourself these questions:
- What is my brand like? (your vision and mission statement, more in this article «What Is a Vision Statement and How Is It Different from a Mission Statement?»)
- Whom do I appeal to? (your target audience – read more here «How to Create Buyer Persona for Your Business and Get More Clients»)
- What does my typical customer look like? How does he/she feel like? (buyer persona)
- What living person would embody my brand perfectly? (riiiight…)
Write down all the answers. No, seriously, write them down – it helps. Got it? Now, add these must-have brand ambassador qualities to whatever you have in there:
Relevancy.
To your business, that is. Do you really need a blogger who writes about car tuning when your business is selling organic produce? Even if this blogger has 1 million followers, that wouldn’t be exactly a match if you know what I mean. Who you need is a person whose audience matches your target audience pretty close. Forget about the numbers – a thousand dedicated followers are much better than a million passive by-standers (or by-browsers, so to say).
Credibility.
I would add «respect» here as well. Before you entrust a person with your brand, you want to make sure he or she is getting enough respect not only from his community but also from other similar communities on the Internet. You don’t want to see your brand’s going down along with the reputation of your new brand ambassador. So, dig up as much information about his/her «street rep» as possible, and then make the decision.
Wide Reach.
Not just many followers. Wide reach means that your potential brand ambassador also has well-established connections and influential followers, whom you can benefit from as well if they spot your brand.
Enthusiasm.
This is the most important quality by far. If your candidate for the brand ambassador isn’t really enthusiastic about working with you and your brand, you can call the deal off – nothing good is going to come out of this. Enthusiasm is not something you can fake (at least, not for an extended period of time). Plus, let’s be honest – how many of us have substantial sums of money for brand ambassadorship? Which brings me to the point – ideally, your future brand ambassador should be working if not for free but for a very moderate compensation.
Instead, think about how you can entice the guy by providing him/her with something exclusive, custom, something that other customer can’t have – like, a special sort of plums named after your ambassador (if we’re back on the produce track). That would be a nice reward worth talking about!
2. Start Looking for a Brand Ambassador in the Appropriate Places
These are the two most typical options for small businesses:
Among Your Staff or Friends.
If you have several people working for you, they might as well be your very first and best (who knows?) brand ambassadors. If these people share your passion and positive attitude towards your product or service, why not offer them an endorsement opportunity?
If it’s your friends, they might even do it as a favor. Your main concern here is to tell a simple OK-ness from admiration. Brand ambassadors are not OK with the things they endorse – they adore them.
How to do it:
- ask your staff/friends if they use your product
- if so, ask them how they feel about it
- if they love it, offer them to share your link online once (on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram)
- if the response is positive, offer them a brand ambassadorship opportunity
Among Your Customers.
Customers are your best friends. Hey, didn’t you know? If you need to sift through your customers in order to find the one appropriate for the brand ambassador role. Here’s what you should probably do:
- go through your customer database and find those who have had business with you more frequently than others
- next time one of them is back for more, reach out to him/her and ask the same questions as above, with friends and staff (how do you feel about my product? and so on)
- if they are passionate enough, offer them the brand ambassadorship option and ask if they’re ready to take their love and admiration over to the social media to support you
You can entice these people with a lifetime discount, or a priority service, or a custom product – there’s gotta be something.
3. Let Your Potential Brand Ambassadors Experience Your Product/Service in Full
The reason is simple: you don’t want these people to spread the wrong or incomplete information about your product. They’ve got to practice what they preach; otherwise, the potential customers will be given the wrong impression, and, therefore, won’t be satisfied as promised.
How to achieve that:
- freebies! Give away free samples of your product or render your services for free to those who you’re viewing as potential brand ambassadors. Let people concentrate on experiencing your product and not worrying about the price, availability, or delivery. Do it for them.
Plus, this kind of policy reinforces the firm relations between you and your brand ambassador.
Conclusion
Those were the tips for seeking brand ambassadors (and finding ones). Finding a brand ambassador is not a rocket science – what you need is to apply a bit of common sense and hard work.
Remember one thing: no matter how great your brand ambassadors are, they’re no good if your product is sh*t. Be all about the product, and the rest will follow nicely.
The right thing to do would be share this article with your friends on the social networks – just click on one of the icons of social media, it’s that easy.
If you have further questions on the subject, please write them in comments – I’ll be glad to answer.
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