What is a Brand Ambassador? The Only Guide You'll Need

What is a brand ambassador?

… Only one of the BEST WAYS to increase brand awareness and establish great relationships with leading voices in your niche!

And don’t worry–you don’t have to be able to afford to work with Kim Kardashian or Michael Jordan to have brand ambassadors. It’s a strategy that even small and medium-sized businesses can use to their advantage–you just have to be strategic about finding and hiring brand ambassadors!

So, what is an ambassador for a brand? Keep reading to find out! 😉

What is a brand ambassador job?

A brand ambassador is a person with influence (usually) who promotes a product or brand they like and use regularly.

So, the title of brand ambassador means there must be some sort of established relationship BEFORE the ambassador signs a contract with the brand.

This definition is a bit vague (sorry!) because some brands handle this process differently than others–there’s a lot of room for interpretation. Just keep reading, and the concept will become more evident.

What is the difference between brand ambassadors and influencers?

If someone is a brand ambassador, that means they have an established relationship with a brand–they’ve used the products before endorsing them on an ongoing basis. They’re already fans of the brand, and they know a lot about it BEFORE becoming its ambassador.

On the other hand, an influencer usually only works with a brand for a short time–they may never have heard of or used the brand’s products before working with them, and they won’t use them after. It’s a transactional relationship.

However, influencers can become brand ambassadors–there’s nothing wrong with that! If an influencer hears about the product for the first time while working with a brand, likes it, and starts using it regularly, they’d make a great brand ambassador!

Another difference is that brand ambassadors usually stick with one brand and work with them on a longer basis. They get all sorts of deals, invitations to brand events, early and free access to new products, perks, and obviously money, too. Regular influencers generally don’t have that same level of access.

What types of brand ambassadors are out there?

There are a few main places you can find brand ambassadors, and what you choose will depend on your budget and your brand’s goals!

Celebrities

Celebrities are the first people who come to mind when you think of brand ambassadors. There are so many big ones: Think of Cristiano Ronaldo becoming the face of Nike, for example. He isn’t just an influencer for them–he’s agreed to work with them regularly and not endorse their competition. He is a brand ambassador for them.

Of course, to get him to agree to that, he must be a fan of Nike’s products and use them before signing the deal.

Another example: Leonardo DiCaprio is a brand ambassador for TAG Heuer, the famous Swiss brand. He would’ve had to use and like their products to get that deal–because people would KNOW if he was wearing another brand of watch!

Celebrity-level brand ambassadorship is pretty cool and has a lot of visibility. However, only 1% of brands will be able to work with the Leonardo DiCaprios of the world.

So, what’s left for the rest of us?

Influencers

I’ve decided to include all types of influencers in this category: nano, micro, and macro influencers can ALL become brand ambassadors for the brands they love.

Of course, not all influencers you work with are your brand ambassadors–we discussed those subtle differences earlier! But as we also said earlier–influencers CAN become brand ambassadors if they like your products and use them regularly.

First, though, they need to hear about your brand, then use your products regularly–preferably making your brand their default choice. And then, you’re in a perfect position to ask them to become a brand ambassador for your brand.

Of course, this depends on how big your brand and the influencer are. However, influencers usually sign long-term contracts for more prominent or well-known brands and agree not to endorse competitors. This doesn’t happen with smaller brands and influencers, though.

Your customers

Yes, even your customers can become brand ambassadors! Although, if they don’t have much of an audience, it’s pretty much impossible to measure whether or not they’ll bring in any returns. Using a discount or personalized code can do the trick to measure conversions, but you probably won’t know how it’s contributing to your brand awareness otherwise.

You can even use brand ambassadors if you are a real estate expert.

Should you work with influencers or brand ambassadors?

It depends. If you’re a small to medium-sized business, your best choice is probably to start with influencers and turn them into brand ambassadors. You’ll probably have to work with influencers for a while before you begin signing them on as brand ambassadors–they need to have heard of you, used, and loved your products for a while before you ask them to sign a contract!

This method also works if you’re a larger brand–although if you are more prominent, influencers might approach you first, or you might spot them using your product without any deal.

But, if that’s the case, you probably don’t need this article–so we’ll assume you’re running a small to medium-sized business. 😁

Ideally, you’ll transition from hiring a bunch of influencers to working with brand ambassadors regularly. If you have the budget, of course, you can do both at the same time.

Why?

Because brand ambassadors will give you the best results, they already know everything about your brand, and they LOVE it. That’s when you’ll get the best posts, UGC, and the most relevant engagement–because their audiences will sense and respond to their genuine recommendations.

On the other hand, if you’ve created a pipeline of influencers you work with when you need content, not all of them will become brand ambassadors.

Let me give you an example: At Social Cat, we’ve collaborated with tons of our own influencers, but only a few of them have become brand ambassadors that we work with regularly. Our brand ambassadors HAD to be people who loved our platform, got a lot of value from it, and, as a result, gave us amazing collaborations! So, we decided to work with them regularly.

Also–the nice thing about brand ambassadors is that they require less operational overhead than other influencers. You don’t need to write detailed briefs for them–they know who you are and could make great content for you in their sleep. Conversely, you also know what to expect, and you don’t have to spend as much time sending them messages, following up, and generally keeping tabs on them. They’re there for the long run, and you can depend on them.

How to find brand ambassadors

If you’re not a huge brand, you’ll probably need to follow the process we outlined above: work with influencers and slowly turn some of them into ambassadors.

We have thousands of influencers on our platform, ready for you to discover for your brand! You can try working with a few and developing ongoing brand deals with your favorites.

Social Cat makes this super easy. You can manage everything on our platform–create campaigns, search and get applications from influencers, communicate with them, pay them, and even receive content. We cover EVERYTHING end-to-end. There’s no need for extra software!

You don’t have to use Social Cat, of course. There are other ways, like searching for them manually (exhausting) and using influencer databases (exhausting and expensive). So, if you’re looking for an option that ISN’T operationally intense or expensive, Social Cat is your best bet.

Good talk, right? 😂

What are the benefits of having brand ambassadors?

The #1 benefit of having brand ambassadors is… CONSTANT brand awareness.

This is obvious, right? If you have brand ambassadors talking about your product all the time, then more people will hear about your products and brand from different ambassadors. This will eventually lead to:

• Relevant engagement–people will start engaging with posts about your brand because they’re actively interested in buying from you. This is a direct result of greater brand awareness.
• Sales–this is the ultimate goal of increasing your brand awareness! The sales won’t come immediately, but you should see growth over the long haul, especially as you have more and more brand ambassadors spreading the word!

Our thoughts

Brand ambassadors are a great way to spread awareness, spark engagement, and increase sales. BUT (and please hear us here), it’s a long-term game. You will get results, but they won’t happen in a week. Ensure you have the budget and nerves to invest in your brand ambassadors before you see the results.

But yes, finding and cultivating relationships with brand ambassadors is worth doing! In a future article, we’ll explore how to create a successful brand ambassador program for your brand.

In the meantime, we recommend you start working with some influencers and keep an eye out for the ones who are truly excited about your products and brand. They just might be your first brand ambassadors!