Promoting a brand is something that every business takes seriously. And, one way to promote a brand effectively is by having brand ambassadors.
While defining the term “brand ambassador” can take a whole article of its own, let’s have a working definition just for this article…
A brand ambassador is anyone who plays an active and visible role in activities that help a business promote its brand. Such a person can be a celebrity if the business has deep pockets. However, he/she could also be a micro-influencer on Instagram, Tiktok, etc. In fact, an employee, contractor or customer can also be a brand ambassador. You can visit http://www.trocglobal.com/ for more on the subject.
Now that we have got the definition out of the way, what are the attributes of a good brand ambassador? Here are a few…
They Must Have Great Leadership Skills
The reason any business decided to have brand ambassadors is because they want people to take after their brand. They want people to accept their message and then deliver their most wanted responses.
This comes naturally to people who have strong leadership skills. Following the leader is what people do naturally. So if someone stands out in any setting as a leader of thought, movement, group or peer, he/she naturally pulls people into whatever they are promoting.
That’s what you want, isn’t it?
In addition to the effect they have on outsiders, strong leaders also do influence people within. So if handled right, you’ll NOT only win new customers and loyal fans, you might also establish a stronger internal culture by having a strong leader as your brand’s ambassador.
They Must Show A High Level Of Professionalism
Once someone becomes the face of your business, whatever they do in public will reflect on you. Therefore, it’s important that you get someone who understands their role and is committed to playing it effectively. Furthermore, that person should maintain a level of professionalism knowing that his/her actions affect an entire business.
You don’t want a careless person who’ll say or do things that you’ll need a team of reputation managers to help you repair.
They Must Have A Strong Online Presence
What’s the way most people connect with others these days?
You guessed right. It’s social media. Therefore, it stands to good reason that you should opt for people who have a strong online presence. Now having large followers is great but having engaged followers is much better. Let me buttress this point…
Let’s assume Influencer A has an Instagram followership of 100k and Influencer B has a followership of one million. However, you visit their handles and notice that Influencer A gets an average of 500 comments on each of his/her posts and posts an average of five times daily. On the other hand, Influencer B who has ten times more followers posts twice a day but gets less than 300 comments on each post.
Now all things being equal, common sense will tell you that you’d get a better outcome with Influencer A than Influencer B. Click here to see why engagement is more important than having many followers.
They Must Be Able To Provide Valuable Feedback
Once someone works as your brand ambassador, they’ll get information that you or your workers might never get. This is because they interact with the public in ways that you may NOT be able to.
So what’s the point of all that interaction and the information you get if you can’t act on them? And how can you act on them if the feedback doesn’t get to you?
Can you see why it’s important to have someone who is good at providing feedback and representing information gathered correctly? That is, this person neither plays down nor exaggerates people’s responses.
They Must Be Passionate About Your Brand/Product
Anyone can talk about a product if they stand to get a commission or some form of reward or another. However, if someone who really believes in a product talks about it, the effect on the watchers, listeners or followers is quite different.
You can’t fake authenticity in marketing. If they are promoting your product because they believe it’s great and will do their followers a world of good, it will show in their presentations.
Therefore, as much as possible, ensure that you ONLY use people who have true passion for your brand or product as brand ambassadors. Doing anything else might be counter-productive.
Conclusion
Getting a person or group of persons to promote your brand or product is a smart idea. However, it’s important that you ensure that you are careful to only pick those who have the right attributes. Doing otherwise will make the whole exercise less effective or even counter-productive.
