Did you know that the influencer and ambassador marketing industry has doubled in value since 2019? With a post-pandemic surge in popularity, more and more businesses are realizing the potential for passionate advocates with brand ambassador skills to promote their products and services.
Yet, when finding the right people to promote your products and services, what should you be looking for in a brand ambassador? How do you know they’re going to be successful before you’ve even started?
Let’s take a look at what brand ambassador skills are vital to the success of your brand, and how to know if they’re right for you and your business.
What Makes a Great Brand Ambassador?
There are many qualities that make a great brand ambassador. These include:
- Passionate about your brand, product, or service.
- Gifted networkers with natural leadership skills.
- Established online presence.
- Understanding of social media marketing.
- Shared vision, ethics and moral codes that align with your brand.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding a great brand ambassador. So let’s take a look at these qualities in more detail and how valuable they are to your business branding:
Key Brand Ambassador Skills Needed:
1. They are Passionate Existing Customers That Already Advocate
Brand ambassadors are often existing customers who have already become passionate about your brand. They may have been using your product or service for some time now, and they want to share this passion with others.
When someone is passionate about something, they will naturally want to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with other people without prompting. This means that they are likely to be an excellent advocate for your brand not only in their delivery and trustworthiness, but also in freeing up your own resources to focus on maintaining your deliverables.
If you’re looking for a person to represent your brand on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, then these are the type of people you need to consider. These individuals are also likely to be highly engaged with your brand, so they’ll be able to spread the word about your products and services with little product training required.
Top Tip: Consider Employee Brand Ambassadors
If you’re a medium-sized company or larger, consider employee brand ambassador roles. It’s a great chance to find out who’s most passionate about your products and services, as well as incentivize and motivate your teams.
When recruiting an employee brand ambassador, you will need fewer resources training your ambassadors since they’re already aware of the company brand and policies, and at most may require top-up training or marketing training.
In some cases, the best brand advocates are employees that aren’t currently part of the sales team, but share your vision and passion for the brand. Discovering hidden talent is one of the greatest advantages of brand ambassador marketing for employees or advocates. It’s a great way to source talent for your growing marketing and sales departments!
Ambassadors can be employees or customers working from home or in the field.
2. Ambassadors Possess Excellent Networking and Customer Service Skills
Effective communication skills are vital in finding an advocate who will dominate the ambassador role. Being able to exercise an attention to detail with a degree of honesty and integrity results in a loyal customer base. Word-of-mouth marketing strategies are still one of the biggest drivers of sales to this day.
You might not think of it this way, but social media platforms are the bedrock of today’s word-of-mouth marketing. The main difference is that, in more modern marketing strategies, communication is done online instead of in-person. They involve a customer sharing positive experiences about how much they enjoy the brand, and more importantly, why.
The most successful brand ambassadors combine a variety of interpersonal skills to build loyalty and trust, whether that’s in product promotion, sharing previous experiences, or answering customer questions on behalf of your brand.
3. Brand Ambassadors Have an Established Social Media Presence
The best influencers and advocates know how to grow an audience. But taking a closer look at their social media posts will give you a great indication as to how they’re moving forward with their own personal branding. Here are some things to look out for on different platforms:
- TikTok – Are they posting videos regularly? Do they have a recent video that’s gone viral?
- Meta (Instagram and Facebook) – Is the post quality to a high standard? Are they creating new content or repurposing from other platforms? How are they driving viewers to brand sites?
- Twitter – What is the nature of the content they’re posting? Do they mostly promote products or use the platform to retweet content from others? Do their posts align with your brand vision?
- YouTube – How do they incorporate brands into their content? Do they review products and services in dedicated content or do they use products throughout the video?
It’s important to note, however, that not all accounts need to grow, but simply need great engagement. In fact, some of the most influential brand ambassadors are those who have been around for years, but maybe only have a few thousand dedicated followers. These are more commonly known as micro-influencers.
The best brand ambassadors focus on the value your brand can bring to their target audience, no matter the size.
4. Ambassadors Have a Basic Understanding of Online Marketing
The ideal brand ambassadors will have a basic understanding of digital marketing. Unlike hiring for a dedicated marketing team, the majority of successful brand ambassador programs don’t require a marketing degree in the ambassador job description. Being a great communicator, content creator and knowing how to appeal to an audience are more important brand ambassador skills.
Many of these skills are learned from being proactive in marketing their own brand, products, or services – whether that’s through their social media accounts as micro influencers, or a behind-the-scenes approach in their day-to-day jobs. Knowledge of promoting and selling a product or service gives the ambassador an instant advantage over someone who is only a passive existing customer.
Social media is the home of brand ambassador success in the modern-day marketing world.
5. They Embody a Shared Vision and Ethics of Your Brand
Arguably the most important trait when it comes to social media brand ambassadors, it’s vital to know your audience and ask if this person is right for your brand. Do they conduct good social media ethics and practices that align with your vision?
It might be tempting to approach a potential brand ambassador who gained 20 million views promoting your product in a TikTok video. But suppose they make content playing tricks on the general public. Do their core values align with your brand image and reputation long-term?
Meanwhile, a small influencer on Instagram with 1k followers may seem less tempting to approach at first. But suppose their ethical and honest reviews provide high engagement and a devoted following, with potential customers mentioning they buy products as a result. These are the small clues that will help you find those hidden gems amongst the crowd.
Develop Brand Ambassador Skills with the Help of BrandChamp
Understanding which brand ambassador skills are pivotal to success is the first step on the journey to finding great advocates for your brand. The second step is being able to create, track and monitor ambassador activities to ensure success. BrandChamp is an all-in-platform that allows you to do just that. You can also save your marketing team countless hours with automated features for setting up discount codes, paying commissions, and issuing rewards. Brands like EHPLabs are able to increase monthly revenues 5-fold with the help of our platform. Want to learn more? Schedule a free call today and see how we can help your brand achieve success.
