Marketing is a bit of a paradox: it’s more effective when it’s invisible.
Consumers are resistant when it’s obvious they are being marketed to. Because of this, it’s vital your content marketing is free from inauthenticity and pushy sales techniques.
One way to achieve this goal is simple: show, don’t tell.
Today’s consumer wants authenticity. They want brands they can trust.
Authenticity and trust are the stepping stones to nurturing your most valuable marketing assets: your brand ambassadors.
After all, what’s more credible than hearing from real people who genuinely love a brand?
But brand ambassadors are made, not born, and it’s important to remember that the transformation from website visitor to brand advocate isn’t an instantaneous occurrence. It takes time, effort, and strategy.
That strategy comes down to 8 steps:
- Advocate across the board
- Provide first-rate customer service
- Encourage customer feedback
- Integrate sharing with product purchasing
- Support user-generated content
- Incentivize
- Reward your customers
- Encourage creative partnerships
But before we get into those, let’s clarify what a brand ambassador is.
What is a brand ambassador?
A brand ambassador, also known as a brand advocate, is someone who actively uses your products and services and promotes them simply because they want to.
Brand advocates genuinely love what your business has to offer and believe others will, too.
What a brand ambassador is not: an influencer.
Brand ambassadors vs. influencers
There are key differences between ambassadors and influencers.
Influencers tend to have millions of followers, and may not have necessarily used a brand’s product before promoting it on their channels.
Ambassadors, however, are already familiar with your products and services. They don’t require compensation to talk about your brand—instead, they are genuinely passionate about your brand and what you stand for.
Companies often reach out to influencers to promote their product. That request could be the first time they ever make contact.
Brand ambassadors, however, may already be spreading the word about your company long before you officially recruit them.
The main difference is brand ambassadors are likely already familiar with your brand, whereas an influencer may be a newcomer.
What does a brand ambassador do?
Typically, brand ambassadors:
- Grow brand awareness through word of mouth
- Share testimonials on social media
- Refer friends and family
- Drive traffic to your website
Now that you know what a brand ambassador is and what they do, let’s explore how you can turn website visitors into brand ambassadors.
- Advocate across the board.
If you want consumers to advocate for your brand, you have to prove it’s worth advocating for.
Is your brand advocating for itself? The way your team talks about your brand is incredibly influential.
All of your communication and messaging should be indicative of your team’s authentic passion for your brand. Genuine enthusiasm is contagious and speaks volumes.
You could even create a “tone of voice” guide for your team, like Monzo did:
- Provide first-rate customer service
Having superb customer service is a sure-fire way to get customers advocating for your brand.
Customer service leaves a lasting impression. When you have a great experience troubleshooting with a brand, you’re more likely to come back and spread the word.
When you have a less than stellar experience, however, you will likely not return and let others know about the substandard treatment.
We can’t stress the importance of having amazing customer service enough.
First-rate customer service starts with being accessible. Make sure it’s easy to get in touch with your brand at every stage of the customer journey.
Here are a few suggestions on how to boost your customer service:
- Include a live chat feature on your website
- Post frequently asked questions (FAQs) to your website
- Create a click to call button on your website so customers can get in touch with a real human
- Integrate customer service into your social media channels
- Encourage customer feedback
Consumers like to feel involved and that their opinion matters. Brands that are receptive to feedback help build trust with their customers.
You can show website visitors their experience is important to you by highlighting your customer reviews.
Showcasing customer reviews will also help your sales. Spiegel Research found that a product with 5 reviews “causes purchase likelihood to increase to a factor of nearly 4x.”
Brands that highlight customer reviews show they genuinely care about their users, which goes a long way in cultivating brand loyalty.
- Integrate sharing with product purchasing
Today’s consumer is highly inclined to post about their purchases, even before the product arrives.
Sharing purchases helps raise engagement and brand awareness. It’s also a perfect introduction to becoming a brand ambassador.
Encourage both your first-time customers and returning fans to post about their purchases on social media.
You can add social sharing buttons to your order confirmation pages, like Amazon does:
Source: Commerce Gurus.
- Support user-generated content
Sharing user-generated content (UGC) is also an effective way to get brand advocates.
When consumers share content, they become actively involved in your brand’s story. And if it’s a brand they love, that process becomes all the more exciting.
A simple way to do this is encourage users to submit their own photos using your product. That’s exactly what Spotify did with Discover Weekly.
The music streaming service told participants to be true to themselves and submit pictures “in a style and context suitable to your usual Instagram look/feel.”
Spotify’s 13 brand ambassadors managed to bring in a new audience of 2 million and 29, 540 likes and comments.
- Incentivize
You can also attract brand advocates by offering incentives.
Giveaways, discounts, freebies, and more are great ways to encourage brand engagement.
The WordPress plugin in RafflePress is a good place to start.
The tool makes it easy to design and launch your own giveaways today.
- Reward your customers
Rewarding customers is another great way to inspire brand advocacy.
Here are some ways you can show your gratitude:
- Provide new website visitors with discount codes
- Email first-time customers discount codes after they have completed their first purchase
- Provide free samples with purchases
- Offer early access to select products and services
- Keep loyal customers in the loop about special events
- Provide early access to select sales
- Encourage creative partnership
Are there ways you can get customers involved in product design?
This takes user generated content and testimonials to the next level.
For National Coffee Day, for example, Starbucks replied to fans’ Tweets with real, personalized cups.
The brand announced the Twitter campaign with a Tweet: “You tweet, we doodle. We love your love of coffee! #CoffeeLoveCups #NationalCoffeeDay.”
The brand recounted one participant, @sassycass_23 responding, “Omg I love it” after “seeing a gif of her personalized cup featuring a sun and bearing the words ‘Good morning Cassie,’” in response “to her earlier tweet about being motivated to get out of bed with the promise of going to Starbucks.”
Photo Credit: Starbucks
These straightforward steps can open your content marketing strategy into the lucrative and skillfully interactive sphere of brand ambassadors, where satisfied customers become your most effective and engaging way to expand your reach.
By encouraging brand advocates, not only can you help improve sales and brand visibility, but you’ll also find that the strategy can be exceptionally satisfying for your whole team.
