Written by: Anna-Karin Lingham, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Your brand may be established and successful already. Perhaps it is new and searching for its best road ahead or it may be stagnated and looking for a fresh new start. Whichever of these scenarios aligns with you, I am sure that you can find some juicy amounts of hidden energy that is not yet revealed. Find it and release it into powerful results!
I´m referring to your brand ambassadors.
Who? You may think. And my answer would be — all the powerful people, both within and outside of your company. Anyone who will walk the brand and talk about it in an engaged and positive way. At work and during their spare time. With co-workers, clients, family, and friends. A brand ambassador truly likes, maybe even loves, and feels proud of your brand. Imagine the value of a happy brand ambassador compared to someone dissatisfied. Since buyers often listen to the network around them when they make their choices, you will earn a lot by cultivating your happy ambassadors and turning around the dissatisfied ones.
If this is a new area for you to work with, you can look forward to an inspiring and rewarding road ahead. I call it Ambassador Branding. My true belief is that you will find increased results, stronger brand culture, and enhanced joy of work as this becomes a prioritized branding field in your company. Let´s look at some basic steps that will help you get started and move forward.
Draw the map. Your brand ambassadors come in many different shapes. They may be employees, former employees, potential employees, spokespersons, suppliers, clients, influencers, and other interested parties. Depending on their role and relationship to the brand, they will act and be credible in different ways. Draw the map of who they are, how they interact with their surroundings, and what kind of support they may need from you. Is your map a pyramid with a large number of people with certain needs at the base and a few with a niched need at the top? Or is your map a number of circles with the most initiated people in the middle and a big crowd in the outer circle? No matter how it looks, make sure to draw it and create your overview.
Set the goals. You have your map. You have identified who your brand ambassadors are. You likely also have a vision, values, and overall goals for your brand. Now break this down to each group of ambassadors. If you work with influencers, what is your purpose and goal for them? Are there certain actions that you can emphasize and strengthen in your culture to make your employees spread the good talk? Do you have a good process for choosing suppliers to make sure that they are aligned with your brand on a personal level? Make your goals as concrete as possible, but remember that rules do not make up great ambassadorship. You must earn it.
Create the conditions. You can not force anyone to love your brand. It is only trustworthy when it is genuinely radiated and expressed by your brand ambassadors. So you need to give them good conditions. How? Let me give you some examples:
Keep your employees involved in your brand platform. Make sure that you have a common view on your mission, values, and where you are heading.
Keep people updated. Instead of holding information tight in a small team, anything that can be shared will make people feel included and valuable. They will answer questions easier and prouder with correct facts instead of speculations.
Be transparent. Show both inside and outside the company what intentions you have on your market and how you reason in different situations. Give people a chance to sympathize with your brand and your actions.
Remember that your ambassadors listen to both facts and emotional aspects, as they notice, like, choose, buy, love, and recommend your brand. So offer them both, and you will be generously rewarded. When your happy brand ambassadors grow, your company grows.
For more information, follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram and visit my website or Pick My Brain!
Anna-Karin Lingham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Anna-Karin Lingham is a branding expert with a great interest in both business and people. Since more than twenty years back, she has worked with marketing, branding, and business development both in Sweden and in an international arena. She has had leading roles in companies like the Axfood group, the global premium brand Hästens Beds, the health company Apotek Hjärtat and the sports fashion brand Björn Borg. She has launched the concept of Ambassador Branding, where corporate and personal branding meets great financial results, strong job satisfaction, and brilliant ambassadorship on the market.
Anna-Karin has been appointed Mentor of the year by the Stockholm Marketing Association. She has written a guidebook in personal branding and is an active business developer, speaker, and mentor. She is also an artist and outdoor adventurer, with a special fondness for high mountains. Her mission is to help companies and individuals to open their own windows and take place in greener and greater arenas.
