Recruiting the best brand ambassadors for your company is one of the hardest marketing channels for any company to execute. Every social media platform is constantly evolving. Brands and government officials alike are leveraging social media and the support of influencers to expand their reach. Of course, every social media platform is constantly evolving — and the general goal for brands is to garner the support of an Athlete endorsing your brand, or micro-influencer becoming the local brand champion, or even an influencer with millions of followers to post a branded image on their newsfeed. Simply put, it seems like the shortcut to getting new eyeballs on your brand and increasing engagement.
Let’s not beat around the bush… everyone thinks that inking a contract and getting that first post magically solves the problem of getting an audience — you’re so very wrong. An ambassador program has to be constantly audited for performance and, for lack of a better word, relevant to what the audience will literally click on, or you’re wasting your money and resources.
Here are three of my secret techniques for maximizing these opportunities…
- Groom your Ambassadors from scratch. Yes, literally go out and find someone who is hustling and trying to make a name for themselves and put them on a commission structure and grow them while growing your brand. History has proven time and time again that consumers want to get behind underdogs — especially when it is a human being and not a corporate brand. To analyze what’s out there and handpick someone that aligns with your company’s values and feature your green ambassador on your social media pages, spend money to retarget their followers and their unique website traffic by creating sales funnels, and most importantly, support this ambassador — he/she will remember that you supported them during this nascent stage of their career.
- Only showcase the specific ambassadors if they’re attributed to the consumer. Okay, this one might take some explaining but put yourselves in the shoes of a fan. You get curious when you see an athlete posting an image with this cool new product that you’ve never heard of. Hence, you click on the link (or the call-to-action that is displayed), and instead of seeing a landing page that features the Athlete as vocal and visual support of the brand, you see no athlete or someone completely different. SMH! You went 90% of the way there because the Athlete used their clout to create confidence in the brand, and then you messed it all up on the landing page! The right way to handle Ambassador-generated traffic is to create customized experiences for the traffic that they generate where the consumer doesn’t get confused and feels like the Ambassador is part of the sales process.
- Differentiate your value-add proposition if an Ambassador is recommending the product. Simple — If you have an opportunity to customize the product with the name and likeness of the Ambassador, then do it. Let’s say your company sells paleo sauces, and you’re working with someone named “Pepper Bae” (yes, I know I’m getting creative here), and Pepper Bae sends traffic to a landing page… you can create a custom recipe ebook that features images of Pepper Bae that comes for free with any purchase! Sit back and imagine you’re a fan of Pepper Bae and you came across a brand that he/she is endorsing — you get to the site. You find out you get access to something exclusive featuring this person with a purchase… you’re immediately more inclined to make a purchase.
I pioneered these concepts on Instagram in 2012, and since then, my consumer packaged goods brands have generated over $125MM in direct-2-consumer revenue by using these techniques.
These techniques for positioning Brand Ambassadors, Athletes, and Influencers apply to every industry if you make small pivots…
Here are some examples of other business models:
- Let’s say your business is a Car Dealership. You’re working with players from the local NFL team… you need to have full-sized cutouts of the players in their uniforms on your showroom floor. You need to feature these athletes in your radio/tv/billboard ads, so you’re utilizing their name and likeness to build credibility with potential customers.
- These methods also work if your business is a Dental Practice… utilize the concept of local brand champions, aka local mayors, and showcase them throughout your print marketing, in-office signage, and email campaigns.
Your company has to utilize every opportunity created by your ambassadors to get a fan to go from speaking about your brand and/or presenting your brand into a call-to-action that gets them to your website or sales agent. Once the consumer is on your site or speaking to your sales agent, the Ambassador’s presence in the sales process must be present, or you’re not utilizing them properly.