10 different types of brand ambassadors<\/h2>\n
To make sure you choose the right person to help market your brand, let’s look at some of the most common types of brand ambassadors:<\/p>\n
1. The peer advocate<\/h2>\n
Peer advocates are your existing customers. They share what they love about your products with people usually in the same demographic (age, location, gender, etc.) and\/or have similar interests or needs.<\/p>\n
Why are peer advocates important? When making purchasing decisions, consumers trust word-of-mouth recommendations<\/a> from their peers more than any other source. Plus, since peers often share the same challenges and experiences, they are better able to relate to prospective customers.<\/p>\n Here are some examples of peer advocates in action:<\/p>\n @curlyhairedgen tells peers about her real experiences with Shea Moisture products.<\/em><\/p>\n Student ambassadors<\/a> are actually a subcategory of peer advocates. Brands who target 18-25 year olds often see success when recruiting college students as ambassadors. Fellow students are able to easily communicate with large groups of the brand’s target audience right where they are \u2013 on campus \u2013 in a natural, authentic voice.<\/p>\n These outgoing brand representatives know how to relate to their fellow students, and use their existing connections to raise awareness about their brand on campus \u2013 both in person and via their social accounts.<\/p>\n Student ambassadors are also experts in guerilla marketing. They are free to promote a brand in creative ways, like wearing branded outfits, handing out samples or branded swag at random, hosting promotional events, and more.<\/p>\n If you’re aiming to reach a young audience, starting a student ambassador program can help boost your growth.<\/p>\n Marquette University student Melissa is a Bumble Honey: part of the Bumble student ambassador program.<\/em><\/p>\n Niche authorities are experts in their field who agree to serve as a type of ambassador. Their expertise makes prospective customers even more likely to trust their recommendations. Sometimes, their expertise comes as a result of their profession. Other times, they are niche bloggers or social media creators with a loyal following, and are seen as experts because of their high-quality content.<\/p>\n Examples of niche authority ambassadors include:<\/p>\n Fitness authority Hannah Leigh Tripp wears Lululemon leggings in a class.<\/em><\/p>\n Similar to the niche authority ambassador, the powerful audience authority is seen as a trusted source among a given audience. They have a strong voice and influence over their existing followers.<\/p>\n For example, celebrities fall under this audience authority category. So do individuals with a high number of social media followers.<\/p>\n If you want to recruit one of these powerful audience authorities as your ambassador, make sure their audience aligns with yours. Also, make sure they genuinely love your brand, so their recommendation and ambassador relationships comes off as genuine.<\/p>\n Experiential or event ambassadors<\/a> specialize in representing a brand at events, often holding unscripted one-on-one conversations and building relationships in person. They might also conduct their own guerrilla marketing campaigns in unexpected places.<\/p>\n Recruiting an experiential ambassador helps put a human face to your brand \u2013 someone who embodies the same values, and makes it easy for people to connect with your brand.<\/p>\n Many of these ambassadors still use social media platforms as part of their ambassadorship, but events and experiences just happen to be their specialty. One prominent experiential ambassador program is the Red Bull Wings Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n Luu (@laluuaroundtheworld<\/a>), a member of the Red Bull Wings Team, shares a sample and a conversation with an event attendee.<\/em><\/p>\n Any type of ambassador who has entered into an agreement with your brand falls into this category. As a member of your formal ambassador program,<\/a> these ambassadors are given insider info about your brand and its goals, and agree to abide by certain standards for representing your brand. They may also get free products to review, including access to new products before the general public.<\/p>\n They may have also agreed to create a certain amount of user-generated content (social media posts or blog posts), advocate at a certain number of events, and follow other promotional guidelines. For formal ambassadors, it’s common to require a signed contract, or at least a verbal agreement, that outlines terms and conditions.<\/p>\n Some brands choose to start informal brand ambassador programs, where anyone or nearly anyone can join. This different type of brand ambassador program is very similar to a referral program<\/a> or an affiliate program<\/a>. As long as someone is an enthusiastic, loyal customer and wants to share your brand, they have everything they need to be an informal customer-ambassador.<\/p>\n Informal ambassadors are given a unique code or link to share with their friends and followers. Then, every time someone uses this code to purchase a product, the ambassador receives a reward.<\/p>\n This reward might be a percentage of their friend’s purchase in store credit (commission), a flat store credit reward, or a discount coupon. Or, in a tiered ambassador program, the reward might be earned credits, which are accumulated to advance through different levels or tiers. In this tiered model, every time an ambassador enters a new tier, they earn larger rewards.<\/p>\n This type of ambassador program<\/a> can quickly grow business through word-of-mouth marketing, and can be started easily using the right program software tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n We’ve touched on affiliate-ambassadors briefly, but they’re worth including in their own category. Affiliate-ambassadors place a unique link to your website on their blog or social media channel, and they earn cash commissions every time someone clicks on the link and purchases. They’ll promote the link by sharing their authentic experiences with your brand, and then inviting their audience to click the link and learn more.<\/p>\n What sets affiliate-ambassadors apart from other affiliate marketers is that they’re selected based on their enthusiasm for the brand, and they have to prove that they use and love your products before they sign on.<\/p>\n Every brand ambassador<\/a> is enthusiastic about the brand they represent. After all, the reason to recruit a brand ambassador<\/a> is to align with someone who loves your brand and wants to see it succeed.<\/p>\n However, enthusiasts are brand advocates who explicitly embody what your brand stands for, commit to your brand philosophy, and willingly promote your brand for little to no compensation.<\/p>\n The best part? They often promote your brand without any prompting. These are the customers who leave glowing reviews of you, and who rave about your brand regularly to their friends. Enthusiasts haven’t yet entered into a formal ambassador agreement with your brand \u2013 but if you’re looking for more recruits, they are great candidates to become your next brand ambassadors!<\/p>\n Sometimes, brands will look to employees as their brand ambassadors. Why not? Employee-ambassadors already have insider info about your brand, have committed to brand goals, and have a deep understanding of the target audience.<\/p>\n @portiabturner, a Penguin Random House employee, was selected to be an employee ambassador.<\/em><\/p>\n However, there are a few concerns when starting an employee-ambassador program. The line between employee and ambassador responsibilities should be clearly defined. Plus, some people might consider it a conflict when an employee promotes a brand’s products too often.<\/p>\n Weigh the following pros and cons carefully before recruiting your employees as brand ambassadors:<\/p>\n Employee-ambassadors can be valuable assets to your company, in ways that distinguish them from other ambassadors.<\/p>\n Of course, recruiting employees to be your brand ambassadors comes with some challenges.<\/p>\n Risk of being too sales-y: <\/strong>When an ambassador is an employee, it’s easy for them to rely on the standard sales language of your brand. This can come off as too scripted too sales-y. Even if they\u2019re committed to promoting your brand, it can be difficult for employees to balance their personal brand (how they consistently portray themselves on social media) with your company\u2019s brand. It may be easier to find an external ambassador whose personal brand naturally aligns\u00a0with your core values and goals.<\/p>\n Comes off as less authentic: <\/strong>If certain audiences find out that a brand ambassador is employed full-time by the brand, the employee-ambassador\u2019s recommendations may not seem as authentic. An audience may believe an ambassador is only sharing the product because they\u2019re paid to do so.<\/p>\n Employee values can change: <\/strong>There\u2019s always a chance employees will resign for personal gain. According to HRM<\/a>, \u201cas an employee\u2019s status rises [among their audience], it can shift the brand equity from the [company] to an individual employee.\u201d In other words, some people think highly of your brand because they think highly of your employee as an individual ambassador. And this can backfire. Even if they seem loyal to your brand, if a respected employee-ambassador receives a better job offer elsewhere, there\u2019s a chance they may leave the company \u2013 along with all the promotion they brought.<\/p>\n Now that you know the types of brand ambassadors, it\u2019s time to choose the right one for your brand, reach out to recruit ambassadors, and\u00a0start your ambassador program<\/a> with the right brand ambassador software.<\/a> If\u00a0 you’re looking for inspiration on how to start, check out these brand ambassador program examples<\/a> and the types of ambassadors involved in them. Or, read our ultimate brand ambassador program guide.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brand ambassadors can be divided into several categories, based on their influence in the market, the type of ambassador agreement, and more. What are the types of brand ambassadors? Which type is best for your business\u2019 needs? Find out in this guide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":27961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5875],"tags":[5985,5922,5921],"class_list":["post-1139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brand-ambassadors","tag-key-takeaways","tag-inspiration","tag-problem-aware"],"acf":{"takeaway_1":"The most common types of brand ambassadors are niche authorities, audience authorities, and customers who are trusted among their peers. All already love and share your brand.","takeaway_2":"Consider using affiliate-ambassadors, who share a trackable link and who are rewarded based on the sales they help drive,","takeaway_3":"Employee ambassadors may work well because they know your brand inside and out, but there's the risk they may sound too salesy and less authentic."},"modified_by":"Jessica Huhn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1139"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37351,"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions\/37351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"shea](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/shea-moisture-brand-ambassador-skills.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n2. The student ambassador<\/h2>\n
![\"bumble](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/bumble-student-ambassador.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n3. The niche authority<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"lululemon-ambassador\"](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/lululemon-ambassador.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n4. The powerful audience authority<\/h2>\n
5. The experiential or event ambassador<\/h2>\n
![\"red](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/red-bull-wings-team-bike-race.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n6. The formal ambassador<\/h2>\n
![\"PINK](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pinkambassadors.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n7. The informal ambassador<\/h2>\n
![\"pura-vida-ambassador-steps\"](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/pura-vida-ambassador-steps.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"pura](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/pura-vida-rewards.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n8. The affiliate-ambassador<\/h2>\n
![\"stuffed](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/stuffed-dragon-influencer-affiliate-code-a.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n9. The enthusiast<\/h2>\n
![\"lokai](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lokai-customer-1.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n10. The employee-ambassador<\/h2>\n
![\"penguin](\"https:\/\/referralrock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/penguin-random-house-employee-ambassador.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nBenefits of recruiting your own employees as brand ambassadors<\/h3>\n
\n
Concerns with recruiting your own employees as brand ambassadors<\/h3>\n
In conclusion<\/h2>\n