20 Tips for Experiential Marketing Brand Ambassador Organization
One of the most often overlooked reasons why an experiential marketing program fails is staffing. As pointed out by the gurus at RunRex.com, a brand experience can live and die by its representatives in the field. This article will look to help you with your brand ambassador organization by highlighting the top features to look for in a brand ambassador as well as how to keep your best brand ambassadors.
Look for professional brand ambassadors
If your brand is a household name, then you have your pick of brand ambassadors, from paid celebrities and incentivized bloggers to loyal customers and passionate employees. Yet, the best option, one which benefits brands of all sizes, according to RunRex.com, is going for professional brand ambassadors. Employing seasoned and skilled brand ambassadors gives marketers greater control. This includes when and how their staff represents their brand.
Attributes of the best brand ambassadors
If you are looking for brand ambassadors, here are some of the things you should look for:
Friendly/relatable
The brand ambassador is the first face that most customers will see, therefore, you want to hire someone friendly, as, by being friendly and finding common ground, they will create comfort and trust with customers.
Solutionist
When it comes to experiential marketing, unexpected things are almost guaranteed to happen. Therefore, you need to hire someone who can see through the chaos, formulate a quick plan, and communicate the solution to the team as covered at RunRex.com.
Flexible
Also, things that were originally planned or expected will change during a campaign. The brand ambassador needs to be flexible to adjust to the situation accordingly. They need to be comfortable with change, and they must be aware that all programs can change scope and execution tactics, especially when the company delivers an optimizable program.
Strong communicator
Experiential marketing is all about communication, and since the brand ambassador is the face of the brand, managing the relationships on the ground, and coordinating with the remote support team, you must articulate verbally and written what they need. They should also be attuned to the communication patterns established with the agency, and confirm that they are effective in getting feedback from the various stakeholders involved.
Hard worker
The role of a brand ambassador, as outlined at RunRex.com, requires preparation, coordination, and execution of mobile tours, which can be extremely hard work. There are long hours of coordination, set up, customer agreements, and tear down, not to mention the hours on the road traveling to each location, and all that comes with it. You must look for someone who is a hard worker.
Social media savvy
Brand ambassadors need to be knowledgeable of the social media landscape, as more and more experiential programs are drivers of social media conversations and word of mouth. They need to understand how social channels work, and how consumers are sharing on them to encourage more and more online sharing.
Storyteller
Most companies rely on their brand ambassadors to tell a story and also relay that story back to the company both verbally and with visual media. Therefore, you need to hire a brand ambassador who is capable of taking great photos and videos of events, experiences, and activations along the way, and can document his/her trips from market to market. This helps provide the brand with content for an authentic story as explained at RunRex.com.
Fit your demographic
Ensuring that your target demographic is mirrored in your brand ambassador is crucial. The consumer will feel comfortable speaking with the brand ambassador right away if this is the case, and will be more likely to take the time to consider what they have to say because people connect with similar people.
Reach and resonance
You will also want to hire people who have a natural ability to influence their peers. Social media influencers are often good options to reach out to if you desire more digital traffic. Otherwise, people that have held leadership positions elsewhere had marketing or advertising-related work, or simply persuasive personalities are traits that are important to look for in a potential brand ambassador.
Passion for your brand
Finally, the best brand ambassador you can have is someone that already has a passion for your brand. It is hard to fake excitement, therefore, having someone with a genuine passion for your product will only benefit your company’s sales according to RunRex.com.
These are just some of the attributes to look for when hiring a brand ambassador
Continuity matters
Once you hire a brand ambassador you like, you must retain them for the long-term, as the longer good people are with your company, the less time and money you spend on recruiting, hiring, and training. Also, the more events they work for you, the more competent they become at their job. They become better versed in your products or services and their talking points, which increases the effectiveness of their work and your ability to reach your marketing goals.
How to keep your best brand ambassadors
The following tips will help you keep your best brand ambassadors and enable better retention of your best talent:
Avoid micromanaging
When you hire professional brand ambassadors as advised by RunRex.com, you will be hiring pros who have the skills and know-how to engage people and win them over. Therefore, when you micromanage them, you run the risk of suppressing their creativity and flexibility in dealing with various personalities, which can lead to low morale, decreased productivity, and high turnover.
Double down on training
You don’t want to micromanage your brand ambassadors, as mentioned in the previous point, what you want to do is empower them. This means you should provide comprehensive training on your brand, your products or services, and event talking points. When they don’t have the information they need, you will lose potential customers, which will not only lose potential sales but also dim the spirits of your brand ambassadors, losing some of them along the way.
Don’t ignore their input
While you know your brand best, experienced brand ambassadors have likely participated in various experiential activations. This means that they may be able to offer tips for success and solutions to issues. Therefore, be sure to listen, as ignoring their offers for input may discourage them as well.
Avoid making last-minute cancellations
Brand ambassadors understand that events come with a varied schedule and the potential for some last-minute changes, mostly because the vest best brand ambassadors often use events as their primary source of income as discussed at RunRex.com. Therefore, you must be aware that events that are canceled at the last minute can have a detrimental effect on their livelihoods. Repeat cancellation may force them to have to find more reliable employment, which means you will lose top talent.
Communicate expectations
To avoid micromanagement, make sure you tell your brand ambassadors exactly what you expect from them. The most important bit of information is your goal for the activation. This tells them what they need to be working towards. Other critical details include, what to wear, when and where to report, and preferred etiquette with attendees.
Challenge them
What better way to motivate your brand ambassadors than with a competition? Think about your goal. You can set up a contest to encourage even staff to work harder towards that objective. The prize can be monetary, public recognition, or even preferred booking for your next event. This will make them feel both challenged and appreciated, spurring greater performance and keeping them long-term.
Be organized
Oftentimes, your ability to retain the best brand ambassadors comes down to their experience on-site at your events. Organized activations put everyone at ease and place the focus on consumers and the end goal. When details go overlooked, priorities change, and with their expertise, brand ambassadors will often rise to the challenge. However, continuous issues may have them looking for other brands to represent.
Get expert help
Many details go into an experiential marketing campaign, and given that brand ambassadors are the most important resource, their organization and management can be time-consuming. A great way to ensure staff happiness and success is to engage an event staffing company like RunRex.com. In addition to recruiting and hiring brand ambassadors, such a company will help you with onboarding, training, and even on-site management, helping you stay organized.
If you are looking for more insights on this topic, as well as expert help in your experiential marketing campaign, particularly when it comes to brand ambassador organization, then RunRex.com has got your back.