4 Reasons Why Brand Ambassadors Could Change the Course of Your Business
The marketing game had changed forever when influencers came into the picture. Ever since social media blew up, many companies have turned to users with millions or billions of followers, subscribers, or fans to market their company. However, their authenticity is questioned as of late (read more) due to many reasons. Poor collaboration, sloppy handling, and the shove-to-the-face approach are just some of the reasons people utilize ad blockers nowadays.
According to the survey, 43% of the respondents have answered money as the main drive of influencers nowadays instead of ethics and product belief. This can be the most significant reason why businesses jump from influencers to brand ambassadors for their marketing strategy. Influencer marketing is a sinking ship, and for them, the next ship to board in has become the authentic, straight-to-the-point ambassadors that offer more substance and genuine faith.
What Is A Brand Ambassador?
Brand ambassadors are defined as nano or micro-influencers, customers, or anyone with a natural organic reach that shares the company with the general public, friends, and family. This marketing strategy is used to launch a new company, product, or services that do not require starting from scratch. The rewards for these ambassadors can be cash, free products, or exclusive experiences and perks.
Their main goal is to increase awareness, serve as a communication bridge between customers and the company, and overall encourage growth in both sales and traffic.
How Brand Ambassadors Help Your Marketing Strategy?
1. A Long-term, Trustworthy Relationship
Hiring these ambassadors to represent your company means you'll benefit from their commitment and existing belief in your products and services. Most of these representatives have already promoted your company without payment or prompting and will continue to do so now with enthusiasm due to their official partnership with you.
Unlike an influencer who has only signed up to promote your product or services once or twice, a representative will do so for lengthier periods. This means constant exposure of your products in their social media handles and word-of-mouth.
But above all, they are excellent sources of feedback. Given that they are reputable like those from T-ROC Global, they will be honest people who will not hold back on praises and criticisms. This will be valuable before launching, as brand ambassadors know how customers think and are familiar with marketing perceptions and patterns.
2. Experts in The Field
Brand ambassadors become more than just your brand's face—they also become experts that customers can rely on. Studies show that customers trust only 2 groups of people in this day and age: their trusted family and friends and experts. Since ambassadors are the first ones to experience your services, they ultimately become knowledgeable in it and offer advice and answer your customers' questions.
3. Transparency and Authenticity
People nowadays don't trust your word—especially if you're talking about your own brand. They've become too exposed to ads and the trailing scam stories behind those ads to ever give your words a chance. Thus, they turn to other people, mostly these ambassadors, that show transparency and honesty about your product without sounding too salesy.
These customers don't trust the brand's claims directly but instead find the reviews, comments, blog posts, and testimonies from outside the company to be significant influencers of their shopping behavior. Statistics say 75% of consumers believe 3rd-party users (see: https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2017/05/social-media-influencing-purchase-decisions/) that critic or praise the said brand. In fact, they don't even follow the brand's social media handles despite buying from them.
4. Cost-effective
This marketing way has proven to be cheaper than traditional ads, as the latter can entail a number of things. With brand ambassadors, payment can be in the form of gift cards, unique benefits, and free products. Plus the fact they are intrinsically motivated to see your company succeed rather than being driven by money.
Hiring brand ambassadors can only include software where you continuously communicate with them. This can also help you track their activity, online campaign, and even see the metrics. Traditional ads are also seen to have a lower ROI than that of a brand ambassador's post, which is due to the existing trust and relationship they have with their audience.