The ultimate goal of any marketing effort is to successfully convey a message to the audience so that it has a considerable impact on their purchasing decision. The same applies to brand ambassadors. Since this is not a question about using software or any digital or printed ad material for that matter, it is very important to pick a brand ambassador who’s fit to convey messages that reflect the company’s branding strategy.
Some of the questions that arise are: “How does a company identify a perfect brand ambassador for its business?,” “What are the characteristics that a company should look for?,” and so on. Here are 6 key characteristics to look for in a new brand ambassador.
A Well-Established Online Presence
It comes as no great surprise that this quality is so highly rated in the digital age. An online presence can refer to social media account(s), email lists and a website with a blog and an engaged audience.
Hiring a brand ambassador gives a company the ability to tap into its audience and increase its website traffic, sales, engagement, and any additional goals. This means that a company should look for people who already have a well-established online presence and a large audience that can hear their message.
Before making a final decision, the company should assess the level of engagement they have with their audience. Those that have positioned themselves as experts on social media and people whose opinion is valued by their audience should be the prime targets. An abundance of likes, comments, retweets, or hashtags, is a good sign of an audience that is active and engaged.
Specific Knowledge of Marketing
A brand ambassador should also have specific knowledge of marketing. Since the primary responsibility of their job is going to be driving high-quality referrals, they first have to know what referral marketing is, and then which referral marketing methods will best serve the brand.
How can a business ensure that a person possesses the knowledge that qualifies them to be a brand ambassador? The candidate should be engaged in an open and meaningful conversation. The employer must assess the candidate’s understanding of the principles of modern marketing and what role digital marketing plays in it.
Furthermore, the candidate’s history of using social media platforms to drive referrals for other companies should also be examined. Which methods did they use? Did they measure their success? How did they do this? With a series of simple questions, the employer can quickly discover if the candidate on the other side is competent enough to be a brand ambassador in the first place.
Authenticity
The internet is flooded with paid ads. They exist on search engine results pages, social media, websites, and mobile apps. The current trends show that the online community has grown weary of online paid ads. In fact, more than half of the consumers quit social media or intentionally cut back on it just to avoid ads and other promotional content.
To be successful, a brand ambassador needs to be authentic. What does this mean? While the candidate should definitely have a complete understanding of the company’s service or product, and its branding strategy, they should also have a unique approach to all of it and be able to act on that authenticity.
An authentic brand ambassador will be able to add more personality to the brand and make it easier for the audience to relate to it. After all, they understand their audience and know its needs. If an individual truly believes in the product, it will reflect in their posts and/or videos. The audience will have no reason to distrust them and the result will be high-quality referrals.
Excellent Deduction and Communication Skills
Successful brand ambassadors must efficiently communicate with both the brand they are representing and their audience. This is why a company should pursue individuals with pristine communication skills. They have to be able to convey the desired message loud and clear.
But why deduction, then? They have to be able to connect the dots between the audience and the product/service being offered. In fact, in most cases, they are left to connect the dots between individuals and the company’s offerings. So, excellent deduction skills fit perfectly with good communication skills – a recipe for a brand ambassador’s success.
Creativity
Brand ambassadors must be creative in a versatile way. What does this mean? While working with the basic brand message, they will have to creatively adapt it to the target audience. Each person in their audience may require a specific approach, and this is why brand ambassadors have to be able to creatively deal with challenges.
A business must leverage this creativity to improve its products, services and branding campaigns as well. For instance, if some of the strategies used by the company’s brand ambassador are found to be effective, adopting them will help reinforce the company’s message and make it more appealing to customers.
Professionalism
Brand ambassador marketing is the next level of word-of-mouth marketing. It is more structured and has well-defined and measurable goals. To be a successful brand ambassador, a person must be professional about it. After all, these are people who represent the company’s brand and hiring a rookie to take the wheel and manage the brand’s image and sales may not be the best idea.
Professionalism goes hand-in-hand with the second point mentioned – specific knowledge of marketing. So, if a company wants to ensure they are dealing with a professional, they must check their previous work engagements.
All of these characteristics are intertwined. A successful brand ambassador will have all 6 qualities mentioned here. And what’s more important, he or she will be able to utilize these traits to drive quality-referrals, increase trust, loyalty, and visibility to a brand and bring customer engagement to another level.
