Have you wondered what a brand ambassador is? Over the past few years, methods of reaching key target audiences have changed significantly. Public relations is shifting from pitching to journalists and traditional media to working with individuals across all forms of media. Marketing teams are now capitalising more on their RoI by investing in brand relationships for mutual benefit and not just buying advertising space (for example).

An important part of the modern marketing armoury is the use of credible, third party endorsers to spread the word of a business and its products. After all, people trust recommendations from their network far more than traditional ads.

Terms such as ‘micro-influencers’, ‘sponsored posts’ and ‘brand activists’ are relatively new labels you will have heard of. Understandably there is confusion about what differentiates them and how organisations can leverage these developments to improve their reputation and reach. In this post I am going to focus on one of the most reliable, committed, and long-term marketing alliances – the brand ambassador.

What is a brand ambassador?

A brand ambassador is a person contracted by a company to represent its brand in a positive light to increase brand awareness, acting as a cheerleader for the business and its products. They’re an expert in your brand or the field your brand markets to. They are in effect paid spokespeople for the brand.

Are they paid or unpaid?

You can have both in reality. However – unpaid brand ambassadors are typically evangelists with an organic enthusiasm for a brand. We would call this group of people brand advocates (rather than ambassadors). They could be your most loyal customers, partners and employees who actively champion your brand without being paid, because they choose to and want to!

Ambassadors though, are chosen based on an existing love for a product or service. They might have already promoted your company without being asked, so they’re prime candidates to continue to promote your brand in the long-term.

Ambassadors will ideally have some kind of ‘influence’ – i.e. a credible voice with authority to whom others listen and follow. They will have a capacity to reach an audience and inspire compelling purchase decisions.

Influencer vs Brand Ambassador

In the world of social media today – we are flooded with the term ‘influencer’ and generally this points to celebrities, TV Personalities, industry experts or journalists for example.

While ‘influence’; is an important key aspect to your selection of a brand ambassador, their core values and alignment with your company’s ethos, vision, mission and objectives also weigh heavily.

A large following on social media does not make someone an influencer. Here at Harbour 32 our definition of an influencer is:

“A person who has the innate power to compel others to listen and take action to change a behaviour, purchase a product or enrol in a movement.”

How to choose a brand ambassador

Before you approach brand ambassadors, it is important for you to first take a step back and create a checklist of what an ideal ambassador ‘looks’ like. We would suggest coming up with at least five criteria that any ambassador needs to meet – but give yourself the flexibility to perhaps have a minimum of the three criteria that are non-negotiable.

This will help you in the long run, especially as you grow and you get possibly approached by more prospective ambassadors. It will help you make decisions about qualifying the individual quicker – but at least with the benefit of foresight and planning on your part.

Benefits of having brand ambassadors

Using the right brand ambassador has many advantages, including the ability to give your brand a boost on social media, providing the human aspect to your marketing campaigns and influencing consumer sales. Brand ambassadors do what they do to increase your market reach, not only because they are being paid, but because they also believe in your brand and messages.

They can also help to manage your online reputation. A brand ambassador can help mitigate negative publicity if something really bad is said about your brand, by commenting on reviews, social posts and online articles. A positive view from someone who is highly respected and not a company employee may be all you need to negate the bad commentary.

And compared to other forms of advertising, a brand ambassador is a cost-effective marketing technique that can help you to reach your target market and build trust in your brand in an engaging way.

The legal and regulatory boundaries

We would be remiss not to mention that there are definitely some regulatory aspects to take into account if you go down the brand ambassador route.

When a brand rewards anyone for promoting their company or products with a payment, free gift, or other perk, any resulting posts become subject to consumer protection law.

When a brand also has control over the content, the brand ambassador also then becomes subject to the UK Advertising Code as there is a ‘relationship with commercial intent’ in place and the ambassador is not acting as a consumer. Both brands and ambassadors have a responsibility to ensure they are following the rules.

Therefore, to protect both parties, we would recommend that a formal contract is put in place when working with brand ambassadors. If you have any questions regarding the potential legal and regulatory implications of using brand ambassadors to represent your brand, we would highly recommend  speaking to a legal specialist.

Some resources for you:

• Detailed guidance on children as brand ambassadors and peer-to-peer marketing. From the Advertising Standards Authority
• An online training module on how the CAP* Code applies to social media. (Also looks at which types of social media posts are likely to be covered by the Code, and why.)

* CAP is the industry body which writes and maintains the UK Advertising Codes. They also provide support in the form of advice, guidance and training seminars to help you get your ads right.

Before you embark on recruiting brand ambassadors…

If you are interested in having brand ambassadors included in your marketing activity, make sure you clear about your end goal. Avoid doing it just because others are doing it. Do it in support of a specific business objective and wider communications plan or activity. This will help you to select the right ambassadors for your brand, and mitigate any fallout (‘fools running in’ and all that!)

If you would like a step-by-step guide to developing a brand ambassador programme as part of your wider marketing activities, we can help. Get in touch today or book a non-obligatory chat with our director and digital marketing consultant Shelley Röstlund (all details here).