Becoming a Brand Ambassador

If you are looking to increase your personal revenue or the revenue of your company, it is well worth knowing what a brand ambassador is and how to become a brand ambassador yourself. These individuals can greatly increase a company’s revenue as well as brand awareness in mutually beneficial ways. With the increasing benefits of social media for business, engaging with or becoming a brand ambassador has become a very worthwhile marketing strategy. If you have a strong online presence, excel at word of mouth marketing, and love creating social media posts, you have the necessary brand ambassador skills. In this article, we’ll discuss how to become a brand ambassador, and how to find increased business success with or as one.

What Is a Brand Ambassador?

A brand ambassador, sometimes also referred to as an influencer, is a physical representation of the voice, face, and attitude of a brand toward that brand’s audience and potential customers. A given company hires them to represent their brand face-to-face as well as through social media, other online content, and physical marketing. Their job is to bring the brand’s message, products, and services to these various communities. Companies specifically seek a brand ambassador for success at large events and in-store marketing efforts, such as with a product or service demonstration, or a sample giveaway.

Qualities of a Brand Ambassador

Generally, a great brand ambassador has an established online presence (especially on social media platforms), a rapport with their target audience, natural leadership skills, and knowledge of social media marketing and social media platforms. A marketing degree is not always necessary but it does help to become a successful ambassador.

How a brand ambassador looks and operates depends on the brand and company they are the face of. Their qualities should match your brand identity and ideally, they will have a genuine interest in your products and services.

However, all brand ambassadors have the same goals of raising sales and brand awareness of a company. They do this by engaging with the specific ideal audience of the brand’s products and/or services. They also often have a special set of skills that allow them to more effectively build trust with prospective customers and market the products and services.

The most successful brand ambassadors also work with their company to determine effective marketing and advertising techniques for their products and services and the specific audience for each.

Roles of Brand Ambassadors

Some other typical roles of a brand ambassador beyond demonstrations, sample giveaways, and social media correspondence include:

• Contributing ideas to advertising efforts, including toward individual products and services through individual outlets
• Assisting in other content creation such as newsletters, blogs, testimonials, and product reviews
• Being an opinion leader in various communities
• Providing feedback and insight, especially toward new products and services
• Gaining and contributing customer feedback regarding the advertising, products, and services themselves

Other job duties include developing brand guidelines, maintaining sales records and communications, and training other staff members and brand ambassadors. They might also attend company and industry-wide events, identify sales leads, and manage product and service displays. They can negotiate sales deals with customers and help maintain relationships between the store and/or company personnel.

What Is a Brand Representative?

A brand representative is simply another term for a brand ambassador and they function the same. These individuals go by many other names. Some of them include product ambassadors, product demonstrators, and brand advocates, among others.

Benefits of a Brand Ambassador 

Being or having an ambassador can lead to high levels of financial and branding success. Brand ambassadors often choose their hours of operation and have competitive wages that differ by the company. Some companies also offer commissions to further incentivize lead generation and distribution of promo materials. Ambassadors have a yearly salary between $20,000 and $50,000 with an hourly rate of $10-$16. The average as of 2022 is $30,200 with an hourly rate of $14.52. These rates have been increasing yearly and are likely to continue in the future, given marketing trends. Social media companies themselves, such as Instagram, also pay brand ambassadors for online work. Much of what determines an ambassador’s net gains is their consistency, work ethic, hours logged, and sales results.

Being or having a brand ambassador also brings about new, unexpected opportunities daily in the fields of customer service, communications, and marketing. Being a brand ambassador gains a person valuable skills and experience to boost their credentials and resume to current and future employers. Having a brand ambassador gains a company valuable exposure, positive representation, increased human connection, and customer loyalty through the representation and perks at events and various communications.

Requirements for the Job

If you’re looking at how to become a brand ambassador, the requirements are fairly few and straightforward. You will need a high school diploma and a basic understanding of the principles of salespersonship. Being a brand ambassador does not require that you have a college degree. Still, having one in a related field such as marketing or business will help you stand out from other applicants. Previous sales experience is also highly valued and can help set you apart. The higher positions or commendations you have from a sales position the better. Some types of brand ambassadors to consider include celebrity, goodwill, and promotional. Each has its own set of qualities and settings as a brand ambassador.

The job itself necessitates the ambassador has a certain level of interpersonal skills. This is because the job duties consist of mass communication, trust-building, and customer conversion through the customer funnel. Knowledge and attunement to the customer loyalty stages can greatly increase your financial and branding success. There are many valuable skills to gain before becoming a brand ambassador. They include time management skills and extensive knowledge of the brand’s products and services. Each employer is different and may seek different qualities from a brand ambassador, whether you are looking to become a brand ambassador or hire one.

How to Become a Brand Ambassador

Beyond knowing the necessary qualifications of becoming a brand ambassador and the things employers are looking for in one, becoming one is fairly straightforward and easier going forward given this knowledge. There are numerous job listings out there for brand ambassadors as well as for other titles for this position’s duties. Some popular listing platforms include Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn. In addition to traditional in-person and online job listings, increased success in landing a brand ambassador position is found in contacting a marketing, promotional modeling, or event staffing company to grow your knowledge and connections within the field. There is typically less competition in the latter method as well as more direct contact.

When you look at potential specific companies you have an interest in, some companies also offer straightforward brand ambassador programs, such as Lyft or Adobe. Lyft gives extra compensation for passenger and driver referrals as a brand ambassador. Adobe has a “social shift” program that aids workers in successful in-person and social media brand representation to grow them into highly successful brand ambassadors. If you are looking to hire a brand ambassador yourself, there are a few things to do. You can post a job listing on a popular job listing platform, post in-person in your community, or recruit loyal, enthusiastic brand fans.

How to Succeed as a Brand Ambassador

A successful brand ambassador is highly enthusiastic, outgoing, and enjoys frequently meeting and interacting with new people. The best brand ambassadors have a strong social media presence and following on their social media accounts, as well as a strong connection to the brand audience itself. It is about more than just product promotion. In their communities in-person and online they are a source of highly trustworthy and credible information. They are highly influential in their communities, and can successfully establish themselves as an advocate and expert on their represented brand. Above all, the ideal brand ambassadors have a strong ability to effectively communicate and connect with people through various mediums and interactions.

Qualities of the Best Brand Ambassadors

Much of what makes for a successful influencer is a passion for marketing, communication, and the company you are representing. Choose a brand you are passionate about and enthusiastic to work for and represent. You are probably very similar to their potential customers and share the brand’s values. It is much easier when you are genuinely interested in the brand’s product. You have to have an interest in the brand you are representing, discussing publicly, and ultimately investing your time in. A genuine belief in the brand you represent, their values, products, and services will make being a brand ambassador more rewarding, enjoyable, and ultimately successful for both parties.

Brand Ambassador Marketing

Whether you are considering hiring a brand ambassador or becoming one yourself, the benefits speak for themselves. Great brand ambassadors, like other content creators, can increase revenue, branding, credibility, and competitive standing for both parties significantly. For increased deep connection, publicity, popularity, and positive representation of capabilities and services consider hiring or becoming a brand ambassador or representative. SEO Design Chicago is a full-service digital marketing agency that is here to answer all of your marketing questions.

FAQ:

• What does a brand ambassador do?
• How much does a brand ambassador make?
• What companies hire brand ambassadors?
• What is a brand representative?
• How do you become a brand representative?