Brand ambassadors are a powerful tool for any company. They’re effective at cutting through the noise in crowded spaces, lending you some credibility and generally getting the word out there among the groups that can really make a difference.
However, when you’re engaged in a collaboration with a brand ambassador of some kind, whether they work with you on a formal or informal basis, you can’t work with simply anyone. As well as being closely related to your sector, and with a suitable audience, they need to share similar values and attitudes with you.
Poor alignment between a brand and an ambassador will only lead to a loss of credibility on both parts and potentially damage your reputation. Based on our experience as a creative crowdfunding video maker agency, we’ve seen how great ambassadors can really make campaigns come alive. We explore a few things that will help you choose the right person for the job.
Understand the Role of Brand Ambassador
A brand ambassador is a person who helps increase brand awareness for a specific product, service or organisation. Often receiving financial compensation for their efforts (but not always), they engage in promotional activities on behalf of the brand to spread awareness to their existing audiences.
This group of people are sometimes quite distinct from social media influencers as the relationship between the individual and brand is often more natural and organic. Also, ambassadors are often more closely connected with the brand itself with relationships that can be long-term, over the course of many months or even years, rather than just working on standalone campaigns.
For example, a campaigner for certain social issues or causes may take on an ambassadorship role for a brand that shares the same values. They may have even been a past customer and could be willing to work for free.
Having said this, there is certainly overlap with paid social influencers who will receive rewards of various kinds for featuring a product or service on their channels.
Many different types of brands use ambassadors for several reasons; such as humanising an organisation, exemplifying brand values and core identity; or building trust around a brand with niche target demographics, who would otherwise be hard to persuade.
How to Find Brand Ambassadors
The best way to find an ambassador is to know what you’re looking for. While you may be able to work with a talent or influencer agency to connect you with the right person, there’s no reason you can’t find an ambassador yourself, through your own network.
For example, you could review your existing followers on your LinkedIn account and look for potential candidates for ambassadors, before reaching out to them directly. You might even be able to do some searches around your industry to see who is actively publishing content, and then get in touch with these people for “collaborative opportunities”.
A few things to keep in mind when evaluating potential ambassadors are:
Clear Values and Principles
The individual has strong and clear values on topics and issues related to your brand. They should honestly believe in their convictions and will be able to stand by them, even after your collaboration is over.
Have a think about what your brand stands for and look for ambassadors who could be a good representation of your brand and are passionate about the same things.
Do they already use your product or service? Will people be able to make the connection easily between your brand and the individual?
Trust and Influence
Your brand ambassador should be someone whom people trust. Far more than sheer follower numbers, trust and engagement with a specific audience is the most powerful tool that an ambassador should have. This can be thanks to their reputation for being honest, clear and unbiased, or perhaps due to their professional credibility.
Professionalism
While passion and enthusiasm are great, your brand ambassador needs to be highly professional too. You don’t want your relationship to come down to contracts and financials alone, but you must have a good foundation in place before you move forward together.
This includes set expectations about conduct and deliveries. If you expect them to show up to certain events or publish content on certain days, they should be able to stick to their promises.
Looking for Other Crowdfunding Marketing Tips?
As a passionate crowdfunding video maker agency, our team has a wealth of knowledge about many aspects of the crowdfunding promotion and marketing process. If there’s something you can’t find on our blog or if you have some specific questions about your upcoming campaign, get in touch!
