Ambassadors are modern representatives of goods or services of a certain brand, who are also its fans. Previously, this role was assigned to actors, singers, famous personalities, but now most companies give preference to ordinary people.
A new ad format?
Young serious companies need promotion. But how do you get people to trust the brand and use the recommendations offered by the ambassador? According to marketers, trust in a branded product will appear when ordinary people who use similar products in everyday life recommend them.
Ambassadors talk about new products of a certain company, speak at events, inform about news on social networks. But this kind of collaboration does not apply to traditional advertising. True ambassadors express their opinion about the value of the brand, share and protect it.
Translated from English, the word means ambassador or messenger. The activity of brand ambassadors is most often based on a non-profit basis. A person of such activity is not an official representative of any brand. Don’t complain to him. This is an ordinary user of the products offered, who talks about it in an interesting and exciting way.
In addition to ambassadors, the staff of modern enterprises includes:
- Evangelists are customers who use the product and are willing to share it with others for free;
- lawyers are advocates for a certain brand of goods, defending the interests of the brand, but having no official relationship with it;
- brand faces – promote products, take part in various events, but are not required to use them.
Brand ambassadors work with the company under a contract and receive income for their activities. Such work can become the main one for a person, or it can be an additional part-time job. In the first case, the full fee is paid. As incentives, a person is given free products or services that they represent.
Contractual relationship
If it is enough for a person who is the face of the brand to take part in a photo shoot or go to several parties, the working hours of the brand ambassador are not regulated. You can not play sports a couple of times a week, and the rest of the time to occupy the sofa. Subscribers feel hypocrisy, which negatively affects the reputation of the brand.
The terms of relations and cooperation are discussed in detail with the ambassador of the company. Usually it is exclusive. The Ambassador is not allowed to work for another manufacturer’s brand.
The contract is not much different from a regular employment contract. It contains clauses about the duties of the employee, wages and termination conditions. The contract is drawn up in duplicate and signed by both parties. Notarization of such a document is not required.
The optimal duration of the contract is from 6 months to a year. The appendix to the main document includes a list of information contained in the ambassador’s texts. This is done to maintain consistency and synchronization with the mission and direction of the company.
Communication formats
The main condition for the activity of brand ambassadors is to present their favorite product in order to attract the interest of subscribers to it. Direct sales and taking orders are not included in the functions of ambassadors. They recommend products that they themselves regularly consume. What should a brand ambassador be able to do?
- Clearly express thoughts and convey information to the client.
- Show imagination.
- Show brand preference.
For example, if you imagine a shampoo of a certain brand, but in fact you are an adherent of another brand, then the numerous questions from the audience will cause irritation. The audience instantly catches insincere notes, mood, as a result, interest will be replaced by distrust of both the ambassador and the brand itself.
The main duty of the ambassadors is the mandatory use of the selected products, accompanied by interesting stories about it. In addition, you need to convey to subscribers and viewers about the directions of the manufacturer.
There are various forms of communication with subscribers:
- texts in social networks “Instagram”, “Facebook”, “Vkontakte”;
- YouTube videos, short videos and full video reviews;
- photo shoots on various topics with the company’s products;
- competitions for drawing branded products.
The brand ambassador can independently organize events, and also takes part in general meetings organized by the brand. Master classes, meetings and seminars are held.
Most often, the choice of communication remains with the ambassador. The contract concluded between him and the manufacturer specifies the formats that must be followed.
The result of the activity are new customers from the audience of viewers and subscribers. These representatives trust the products of this manufacturer. As the number of such people grows, it becomes easier for a brand to sell its own products.
Is it profitable?
The essence of ambassadorship is to systematize rewards when a person receives gifts, bonuses and awards in the form of products of their favorite brand. The list of the most common incentives includes:
- increasing discounts;
- personal coupons;
- free products;
- gifts;
- exclusive product;
- travel;
- Participation in events
How to become a brand ambassador?
Today, anyone with an account on social networks can engage in such activities. What do you need to do to present yourself? A person who is ready to fulfill five conditions can become a brand ambassador:
- Help your favorite brand without asking for a monetary reward, content with gifts or branded products.
- Create your image.
- Develop social networks.
- Be consistent.
- Determine brands to collaborate with.
To promote their brand, companies prefer cooperation with interesting and extraordinary people who have the ability to captivate the client and tell about their personal experience of using products. The ambassador’s recommendations should be of benefit to those around him.
The company is interested in any audience. A person with a small number of real viewers is more likely to be an ambassador than a blogger with tens of thousands of fake members.
You need to create content for your readers, become an opinion leader, engage subscribers and friends. People will definitely be interested in where you can buy sneakers and what kind of mascara to make up your eyelashes.
Your personal profile should not contain garbage, empty reposts and unsuccessful shots. An ambassador needs a single style and one theme. Content should be updated with relevant publications in order to attract an audience.
A list of goods and services used in everyday life will help you decide on your brand. If a girl uses certain cosmetics, she knows the positive and negative characteristics of this company and will be able to clearly express her opinion.
In any company, you can find out if the loyalty program for ambassadors is working. If yes, apply to participate. In the absence of a program, write a commercial offer and send it to company representatives. This can be done on social networks with your own program running.
An ambassador does not need to have special skills and education. Knowledge of the main tasks of the marketing sphere and the features of product promotion will be an advantage. Representatives of the company do not need to spend time on additional training.
The Ambassador is preparing to communicate competently with his viewers and readers, maintain a personal profile on social networks.
Working with content
The Ambassador is a real fan and consumer of branded products. Here, special skills are important, the talent to build a dialogue with the audience. If the ambassador turns his activities into hidden advertising, the subscriber will feel cheated, which will lead to negative consequences.
A brand ambassador must be able to tell a story in a way that captivates the audience. An important trait is charisma and the ability to inspire an audience. One-on-one communication between the ambassador and participants will be a big advantage. In a simple conversation with brand adherents, sometimes you get more useful tips and learn about their attitude towards the company.
Working as an ambassador with content includes the ability to:
- write texts competently and interestingly;
- select high quality pictures;
- take video.
The ability to promote a personal brand and form your own audience will also come in handy. But it is not necessary to have knowledge of marketing theory and knowledge of advertising. If necessary, this will be trained in the company.
Work examples
There are many examples of the activities of ambassadors:
- “The girl works as a manager in a large company, reads contemporary literature. After reading various publications, she puts up brief reviews, shares with subscribers on her page. One of the literary editors offered to share her reviews of her own books published by them. After completing the task, the girl was rewarded with a set of interesting books and a loyalty card.
- “Angelina leads the right way of life: she takes care of her own health. The girl buys only natural ingredients that are hard to find in the store. The delivery service of such food provides services and brings the order to the house. The girl talks in networks about her diet, the quality of natural products, uploads photos. And the company offers free gifts, discounts and bonuses.
- “Vasily prefers sushi only from a specific brand. To meet friends, the guy orders delivery. After that, he posts beautiful photos on the networks, but which depict cheerful and contented faces eating delicious food. The company gives a discount coupon for a future order.
How to choose an ambassador?
Companies often hold different competitions to select brand ambassadors. Students of Russian universities, graduate students and others can take part in them. The advantage is on the side of a person who uses branded products, is ready to tell his opponents about it, speaks foreign languages, and has interesting projects.
The selection of candidates is quite simple: participants submit applications, receive competitive tasks, solve them and continue their online studies. The company promises its candidates free training, the opportunity to be in the office and practice in interesting projects.
Marketers have picked up some useful tips that you can use to successfully grow and develop as an ambassador:
- Define favorite brands.
- View the loyalty program, terms and conditions.
- Do not abuse paid posts, this leads to a loss of trust.
- Relationships with partners and audiences on social media are based on professionalism and courtesy.
- Don’t be fooled by negative comments.
- Don’t let members get personal.
The brand ambassador promotes products from the heart, sincerely, as he himself prefers to use it. He is not ashamed to recommend the product to his own audience of viewers. This is a real fan of the products, with the skills and knowledge of working with people in social networks.
