Brand ambassador programs are all the rage for businesses looking to boost their marketing approach while simultaneously involving fans and creators, and fostering a community in the process – so should you consider incorporating one into your strategy? We’ll detail all you need to know about creating and launching an influencer ambassador program for your brand including how they work, what tools you’ll need, which perks you should offer, and the benefits you stand to gain from running one yourself.
Let’s start by defining the brand ambassador program concept
Brand ambassador programs are effectively marketing campaigns that rely on so-called ambassadors to communicate your company’s message whilst trying to meet some objectives in the process such as boosting sales, improving brand awareness and reach, and improving or creating a certain brand reputation. These programs can be temporary and run for a certain period, such as on an annual basis, or exist indefinitely so long as both parties are happy to continue.
Conversely, ambassadors are defined as the people that partner with you for long-term engagement in contrast to your traditional influencers who might work with you for once-off campaigns. These individuals are usually big fans of your brand and enthusiastically engage with or use your products already – the ambassadorship just seals the deal by making it more official and getting them on board to get rewarded in the process. Ambassadors can come in various forms depending on your brand’s goals and the type of program you intend to run. Brands can run brand ambassador campaigns with a handful of large creators on an exclusive basis, whereby desirable influencers are explicitly sought out to represent the brand. Alternatively, they can also open them up to small creators in the form of fans and followers through an application form or something similar, potentially garnering thousands of small-scale ambassadors in the process.
The difference between traditional influencers and ambassadors also lies in compensation, as ambassador programs typically offer a range of perks as opposed to usual monetary compensation in exchange for their work. We’ll go over these later in this article but for now, let’s look at why brand ambassador programs are so popular.
What are some benefits of having a brand ambassador program?
Brands can enjoy a range of positives by launching a program of this nature. Of course, various benefits will resonate more strongly with brands whose goals align more closely with them, but many can enjoy these perks regardless. Some of the big motivating factors for running brand ambassador programs include:
Improved presence on social media: In an age dominated by GenZ and Millennials, it’s increasingly important to keep your brand current and grab the attention you need on social media channels such as Instagram, TikTok, and more. Brand ambassadors themselves have their own followings and communities, and they’re bringing them along for the ride when they sign up to represent your brand, increasing the number of eyes on your brand and potentially leading to new consumers.
Boost to sales and website traffic: In line with the previous point, increased attention on social media is a great funnel to generating sales and visits to your website. If you offer affiliate links or similar approaches for your brand ambassadors, this encourages followers to make purchases to unlock discounts and can have a massive impact on your total sales figures.
Extra avenues for user-generated content: Recruiting fans and creators into ambassador programs means more opportunities for content that you can either re-share or re-use in future posts, newsletters, or even on your website. Ambassadors will often post images showcasing or wearing your products, and it’s a win-win if you go ahead and share their (assumedly) high-quality content on your own social media channels.
Reduction of marketing costs: Brand ambassador programs have the added benefit of being a relatively low-cost way to boost your brand’s marketing, and as such can be a great choice for small businesses. The power of word of mouth and social media shares is invaluable and can push you to save your marketing budget and focus it elsewhere while your ambassadors take care of the key marketing activities for you.
There are plenty of other notable benefits that brand ambassador programs can bring about such as the creation of a strong community around your brand, the humanizing of your brand in the eyes of consumers, and much more, but these are just a few primary considerations.
Rewarding ambassadors: what perks should you offer?
There are many approaches you can take when looking into how to compensate ambassadors that represent your brand. Ultimately, it should depend on the degree of expectations you have of them, and the amount of work they will need to put in to remain in your ambassador program.
Commissions on sales/clicks
Probably the most common approach, those who sign up for ambassador or affiliate programs can earn money via unique links that their followers need to use when completing their purchase. This might be the only benefit offered in some programs, or it can be offered in conjunction with other program benefits. The major fashion brand Shein uses this approach for its Shein Campus Ambassador program, doing away with a fixed compensation in favor of a percentage that varies based on the product or promotion at the time, capping at 20%. Alternative forms of this sort of perk could be in the form of a unique coupon code that followers need to use at checkout, which eliminates the need for a uniquely-generated link.
Store or product discounts
Another incentive for smaller creators is that of discounts on the brand's products, which works well because most if not all ambassadors are existing fans of the brand in question. This approach can help to push people to sign up as they may want to get their hands on more of the brand’s products at a cheaper cost, and in some cases, the brand may extend this discount to friends and family if the ambassador is higher up in their program. Some brands such as lululemon offer a unique form of discount in addition to typical product discounts in the form of reduced costs or even free fitness classes, which aligns perfectly with their brand and the audience they aim to work with.
Exclusive or prestige status
When signing up for an ambassador program that has limited slots or specific entry requirements, making it through can highly boost the morale of the ambassador in question and improve their standing amongst their network and in their industry. For many creators, having the chance to be one of the lucky few working with their dream brand is a massive boon for their personal brand, and as such, brands can consider this approach when constructing their brand ambassador campaigns to make entrants feel special. One brand that does this well is Sephora, whose Squad is hired on an annual basis and represents them for that entire year with no other potential applicants. Additionally, Sephora chooses to run the application form for their Squad only once per year, cementing it as a program to watch in the beauty industry.
There are theoretically endless possibilities for perks to offer your ambassadors. Free merchandise, invitations to exclusive events, or major features on brand social media pages are just a few more common approaches that you can undertake, but as mentioned above, the degree to which you choose to reward ambassadors should reflect the scale of the program and the expectations for deliverables of potential ambassadors.
What are some tools to help create a brand ambassador program?
These programs can be a little tricky to set up, especially if you’re a smaller brand or lack the experience needed to manage the various touchpoints involved in a brand ambassador program such as initial recruitment, application review, ambassador communication, and much more. Luckily for you, there are a few options out there that aim to make the brand ambassador program setup process a little bit easier.
CreatorIQ, the name behind lululemon’s open-application ambassador program among many others, is a powerful influencer marketing platform with a focus on creator-led marketing. They aim to facilitate the creation of brand ambassador programs by providing quality tools to help you with initial sign-ups for your program through to managing your relations with influencers via their software. To do this, they give you a customizable landing page tool with a flexible form system that prospective brand ambassadors can then fill out – these details are then stored in a CRM for later use, helping you quickly build up an easily-referencable roster of influencers that you can work with in any capacity, making it far easier to generate leads for your campaigns. A handful of other major brands offer similar services such as Creator.co, Mavrck, Upfluence, and more.
Of course, you may have other needs for your ambassador program depending on the application process you use. To help facilitate the collection of fan-created testimonials for potential applications in the Sephora Squad, Sephora makes use of Fohr, an ambassador marketing platform that specializes in the field of brand ambassadors. Their tools help make creative campaigns easier and can be a great option for those looking for tailored products, traditional influencer marketing features, and an agency if desired.
Brand ambassador program TLDR
To keep things nice and easy, here’s a quick rundown you can reference to understand what steps you should take when setting up your own brand ambassador program:
Define your primary goals for the ambassador program
Outline the criteria that prospective ambassadors must meet
Work out what incentives you can offer prospective ambassadors
Research and decide on a tool to help generate leads
Think of a catchy program title and hashtag
Don’t forget to track your progress and keep your ambassadors informed and in the loop
Conclusion
Brand ambassador programs are seeing a boom in the golden age of social media and are likely not going anywhere anytime soon, so getting on board now might be the right move for your brand’s marketing team. Understanding how these programs work, the role of ambassadors, and how to correctly reward them for their efforts is important to hash out upfront so you can determine the scale of the program you’d like to launch while looking into ways to stand out from the crowd with unique perks or a twist on the usual approach might just increase your fans’ likelihood of taking notice and joining your campaign. We hope that the tips in this article will help you on your way to running a successful brand ambassador program of your own!
