What is a brand ambassador?

What does a brand ambassador do?

A brand ambassador or brand advocate is a person who represents your brand, but who doesn’t technically work for your marketing team. In the modern day of social media, this most often means an influencer. Essentially, a brand ambassador represents the customer, interacting with your brand through your products and services, and giving an honest and truthful account of how they find them. As a brand ambassador, there’s a good chance this feedback will always be positive (provided you have done your research and aligned with an ambassador who fits your brand) and that is a positive influence on those that follow them.

What’s the difference between a brand ambassador and an influencer?

On the surface, these two appear the same. Both have an online presence that your brand can stand to benefit from, and both work with brands in a mutually beneficial way i.e. your brand is exposed to their audience, and the influencer appears more credible for having attracted professional brands to collaborate with. However, the main difference comes from their genuine passion and commitment to your brand in particular.

Influencers can work with all kinds of brands, and could feasibly showcase a new brand every day for years and never have to align themselves with any of them for the long term. A brand advocate, on the other hand, will do exactly that. This is where the key difference between influencers and ambassadors is crucial. An ambassador will have the passion and knowledge that makes them a true asset to your brand for the long haul. An ambassador should do more for your brand than simply share an Instagram post; they should embody the key traits of your brand character.

This is clearly displayed in the more traditional celebrity brand ambassadors who lend brands their endorsement. Think George Foreman as the ambassador of the Foreman Grill (a tough guy for a tough-working grill), or Charlize Theron for Dior (elegant beauty). 

What skills does a brand advocate bring?

So, what should you look for in a brand ambassador? Here are just a few key traits a great ambassador should display:

1.      Charisma

Not to say that your team isn’t brimming with characters, but there is a reason brand ambassadors have managed to attract a following. As well as knowing their chosen platform (be that blogs, YouTube, Twitter, or any other social media), these ambassadors have managed to cut through the noise and mark themselves as someone worth following — and that’s exactly what your brand should hope to do, too.

2.      True enthusiasm

In the age of social media, we’re somewhat immune to the power of the insincere influencer. However, we are more primed than ever to value the word of an online personality who has earned our trust — in fact, we trust them almost 100% more than we do friends or family when it comes to buying decisions. The lesson here? Your chosen brand influencer must be worthy to carry the title of ambassador i.e. they really do have to love what it is you do. Ambassadors should be so passionate about your brand that they’ll mention it in posts without asking, or mention it naturally as their go-to choice.

3.      They live your values

This one will come down to you and making sure you’ve done your research. If you’re a green beauty brand, you probably don’t want it to be discovered down the line that your ambassador drives a gas-guzzling car, jets off every weekend, and generally goes against your values. Any accusations of hypocrisy will come right back to you for empowering such a person in the first place. So, do your checks and get to know your influencer well before you promote them to ambassador. This is, after all, one of the most important roles your brand has on offer, so don’t hand it to a stranger. Do the same due diligence you would before appointing a regular member of staff, including testing their abilities to perform in the role and how well they work with your team to achieve your company vision.

4.      They’re in the know

Brand ambassadors often have something that a one-post influencer doesn’t. It’s the same reason sports brands always want the best sports people as their ambassadors — because they know what it takes to perform at their absolute best, and the sort of kit they need to get them there. While you don’t have to align with the Olympians of your chosen industry, your ambassador does need to be someone who deeply understands it. A vegan brand probably shouldn’t appoint a non-vegan as an ambassador, for example, or a hair product intended for curly hair probably shouldn’t be led by an ambassador with poker straight locks. In an ideal world, the way your ambassador talks about your brand should draw as much on what they have learned from you as it does from their personal experiences.

5.      Can handle feedback of all kinds

Your ambassador is now the face of your brand, one that can be reached with just a click of a DM button. And that means they are probably going to face some negative feedback, be it from followers who dislike the collaboration between you, or just customers who have had a negative experience with your brand. You need to know your chosen ambassador has a cool head on their shoulders and will always respond (or know when not to respond) in a way that reflects you as much as themselves. Most importantly, they know how to communicate this in an authentic way.

6.      Can give feedback, too

Your ambassador was chosen for their skills and they’ll be invaluable insight into your audience. This is a relationship that goes both ways. A great ambassador can help you improve and grow through the audience engagement only they can bring. Don’t simply appoint them and leave them to their own devices; make sure your ambassador is truly inducted into your brand, that they know who to go to when they have questions, and have all the support they need.

How much does it cost to use a brand ambassador?

The cost of a brand ambassador depends on several factors, one of the most important being their value to your brand — and that is up to you to determine. The general rule is that mega-influencers will always cost more than micro- or medium-sized influencers. Mega-influencers can demand a fee to simply post sponsored content that you provide for them, but as mentioned, this approach isn’t always best.

Nano-influencers are proving to have huge power in marketing, and as they are often new to the game and not listing influencing as their full-time job, they may promote your brand in return for free samples or for the opportunity to become an affiliate of your brand, as affiliate marketing allows them to earn an evergreen, passive income long after a post is shared. to the affiliate model offers a commission for every purchase their followers make using a dedicated code or link that they can promote. For small influencers, this can prove to be an excellent way to earn from their internet presence without having to invest too much time in creating content.

The affiliate model also holds appeal for larger influencers, especially if your offering aligns particularly well with their specialty (for example, Hello Fresh and food influencers) and it’s easy for both marketers and brands to set up and manage their campaigns with platforms like Awin.

How to find a brand ambassador?

If you want to find an influencer to become a brand ambassador, there are a few ways you can go about it. While influencer agencies exist, the organic route is a solid alternative. As the owner of your business, you probably naturally follow people who will be the perfect fit as an ambassador. After all, they attracted you to their following with their shared values and passions. You can also look at brands you admire and see if any of the influencers they worked with could be a good match for you. Additionally, you could look at the most relevant hashtags for your product and services and see who pops up — this is a great way to find nano-influencers.

You may also want to consider building a brand ambassador program into your business model. While it’s perfectly easy to pay an influencer every now and then, strongly publicizing that your brand looks to appoint ambassadors can create a real buzz. After all, your ideal ambassador may already exist in your customer base, and a brand ambassador program could really help you identify them and cut out the work as they come forwards in the hopes of getting picked.

lululemon is one such example, growing an army of ambassadors from the serious gym enthusiasts it aims to appeal to. The brand's store ambassadors, typically nano- or micro-influencers with a modest reach, focus on authentic relationships with their local community — while their global ambassadors are able to speak to a much wider audience. Ambassadors proudly announce their affiliation in their social media profiles, setting the standard of what it means to be part of the brand — inspiring, hard-working, knowledgeable. In turn, their followers aspire to one day do likewise, saving Lululemon any future effort in researching new ambassadors — now, people come to them, hoping to earn the title.

Using an affiliate marketing platform like Awin helps take the guesswork out of building a brand ambassador program in house. The interface also makes it simple to recruit ambassadors, track their sales and pay commissions. Furthermore, Awin’s strategic partnerships with influencer management platforms like CreatorIQ, Sideqik, and Socialix further open up the pool of influencer partnership opportunities and tools to help manage these crucial relationships.

Additionally, Awin’s dedicated influencer team can support your search. With a diverse pool of over 240,000 publisher partners working across a wide range of sectors, we can connect you to potential brand ambassadors who will target the customers you want to reach. And you can trust the quality of their content as all Awin publisher partners are screened in depth before joining the network and adhere to strict compliance rules.

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