No Ad Budget? Launch a Brand Ambassador Program

A great marketing strategy is developing a brand ambassador program, especially if you don’t have a big marketing budget when you launch your business.

A brand ambassador is a social marketing strategy that uses your company’s message, content and influencers to improve your sales and brand recognition. The goal of a strategy like this is to build relationships with people who genuinely like your content, company and product or services.

When your company uses brand ambassadors who have a following online, they help distribute positive messages about your company, which will build more brand awareness over time.

The right brand ambassadors are people who will positively represent your brand in an authentic and consistent way. They may do this by sharing or creating content, leaving online reviews, engaging with your brand on social media and in their networks and contributing value that extends your word-of-mouth marketing strategy.

In addition to driving sales and building brand awareness, a brand ambassador program can provide many benefits that other marketing channels may not provide, including:

  1. Humanizing your brand – Customers prefer to buy from people, rather than brands or companies. Having real people posting positive reviews of your products and services will create real connections with consumers and built up trust.
  2. Increasing your social media presence – Your brand ambassadors have social media networks and followings that you wouldn’t be able to tap into with just a brand account. Your businesses’ reach and engagement is amplified with every ambassador you add to your program.
  3. Generating more user-generated content – Incentivizing creators to post and share their own content is both cost-effective and seen as more authentic. User-generated content is a must, and it’s getting more and more popular every day.
  4. Creating a community – Connecting fans of a brand together will likely create stronger ties to your company and inspire others to get involved.
  5. Receiving more feedback – Organizations can utilize brand ambassadors to test new products and get valuable feedback since they have open lines of communication with genuine users.
  6. Generating more sales – Word of mouth is a powerful force. People are more likely to buy something when they see their friends, family, colleagues or other people they follow online sharing or talking about your brand. People trust people, which can equal more sales for your company.
  7. Saving your organization money – Paid advertising campaigns are getting more expensive and competitive. Everyone is fighting for attention, which can make advertising pricier. Creating a brand ambassador program can save you money on paid advertisements — plus, they feel much more authentic.

An amazing example of a brand ambassador program is Revolve, which is an online clothing store. They launched their company using only brand ambassadors to push their products. They now have 3,500 influencers who use their social media platforms to share Revolve products with their followers. This is how their program works:

  1. They invite ambassadors to browse their favorite products to start earning cash or store credit
  2. They give them custom links to post to their social media pages to track their sales
  3. They get paid 15% in cash or an extra 5% if they use store credit

This smart business model has made Revolve a household name in e-commerce and its two founders are now billionaires.

Do you want to start your own brand ambassador program? Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1: Determine your goal:
Build brand awareness – The ambassadors are responsible for creating positive buzz about your business to as many people as possible.

2: Create better social media content – You need to publish effective content on social media that aims to mobilize your target audience. Knowing which hashtags to use and the best times to post content is a plus.

3: Increase reach – Brand ambassadors will find untapped social channels containing your target market and promote your brand to them.

4: Pick your brand ambassadors:
Who is your ideal avatar for your brand ambassadors?
How many do you want? It’s better to start small and grow from there

5: Offer training, products and support

6: Track their performance
Track how often they post, how many impressions and engagements they received, and how your brand reach and traffic are impacted.

Creating a brand ambassador program will put you ahead of the curve and help you reach a bigger audience! Brand ambassadors are a great way to create a genuine connection with your target market and cultivate organic reach.

Deedra Determan, Founder

Deedra Determan started her career working in television for one of the top media companies in the country and later became a marketing consultant in the television industry.

Determan went on to launch a niche website for moms in her local market with over 100,000 moms visiting the website each month using the power of Facebook. After one year from launching, Determan sold the website to Oklahoma Media Company, Griffin Communications. Determan went on to launch a digital marketing agency, D2 Branding – Tulsa SEO, Marketing, and Website Design that was recently recognized as one of the “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” by Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur360.

Determan is the host of the Do It My Way Podcast Show, empowering women business owners and CEO’s to do business on their terms with no regrets, hesitation or fear. Determan coaches these women on how to create a personal brand so they can live a life of financial freedom, working when they want to work and making the money they want to make!