In this day and age, anyone will promote anything. It’s no secret that between the slew of Flat Tummy teas and Sugar bear hairs, not everyone (slash Kardashian) on social media is as trustworthy as they may seem. Gone are the days of simple product placements and quick shout-out collaborations.

These traditional marketing tactics have become so prevalent that they are running out of juice. When it comes to your brand’s online presence in 2021, you have to do better and be better. You have to invest in the connection with your audience – a personal one, that is.

Enter brand ambassadors.

A brand ambassador is someone you choose to represent your company, someone who embodies your brand’s ideals. They provide a very necessary aspect of marketing – the human aspect. Typically, they are celebrities or influencers with a solid following, although keep in mind: while an influencer is often chosen purely based on their reach, an ambassador is specifically sought out because of their existing preference for a brand.

Long-term collaborations like this have more benefits than we can possibly incorporate in this blogpost, but we summarized the biggest ones.

High authenticity

Collaborations with influencers are often short-term, one-off campaigns. Most of the time, an influencer receives, reviews, and promotes a product/service once.

Brand ambassadors, on the other hand, are dedicated real-life customers of yours. Their sincere belief in your brand is based on their personal experiences, and thus their recommendations will ring more true. 

According to this 2019 infographic, a whopping 71% of people reported being “more likely to purchase if referred by social media”! Credible ambassadors humanize your brand and truly do the most: from giving your brand a huge boost on social media to effectively influencing consumer sales.

You get a direct line to their audience

Instead of starting from scratch, you get to rely on the already established bond your ambassadors have with their followers. This alone will massively increase your visibility, which instantly leads to more clicks and traffic to your socials and website.

Other than that, it’s the easiest way to get your name out there to thousands of people at a time, outside of your usual channels. An ambassador can introduce your brand to an incredible number of potential customers (but keep in mind that bigger isn’t always better).

They stand by you

Even though ambassadorship is a more recent development in the marketing world, it will provide you with the oldest – and most effective – technique in the book: positive word of mouth.

The ambassadors’ personal relationship with you helps build your public image. A handful of ambassadors can thus translate to more than thousands – sometimes even millions – of followers, all directly influenced by their positive exposure to you.

Build a good relationship with them, and you get a genuine connection to thousands of (possible) consumers.

They’re part of your team

A long-term relationship with your ambassadors will provide you with a steady stream of quality content. You can always count on them for likes, shares, and support. Influencers will even promote your brand without any prompting simply because they are genuinely invested in your success.

Influencers work for themselves; ambassadors are part of your team. So in a sense, all brand ambassadors are paid marketers.

Remember: you are getting access to their networks, which is not to be taken for granted. Ambassadors are guaranteed to generate more revenue for you. 

Honestly, do we even need to continue? When it comes to brand ambassadors, the real question is not why, but “why not?”

Include ambassadorship and long-term collaborations in your strategy, and explore the possibilities and benefits in your next campaign.