Being a brand evangelist for a product doesn’t mean that your only responsibility is to go out in the world and start shouting out loud how great your brand is.
I’m saying this because many of you can’t tell the difference between a brand ambassador and a brand evangelist.
So let’s start with the definition for both of this terms:
Brand Ambassador = someone who promotes a brand and its products to their network with the goal of increasing brand awareness and driving sales.
Brand Evangelist = there are two types of brand evangelists. The one that’s inside a company and they bring the good news to the market and the second one who’s a big fan and is telling everybody around them about the brand. (for more about this you can read here)
But why do we need to understand the difference between a brand evangelist and a brand ambassador? Because they have different responsibilities, with different levels of influence and can bring different results.
Until now you had read a lot about the brand evangelist on my blog and you already know that I’m not only a practitioner of this but also deeply interested in the subject.
So today I’m going to focus more on the brand ambassador.
Typically, a brand ambassador can be a celebrity or someone who has a big name recognition in a field. We can talk about celebrities such as movie stars, musicians, bloggers or even social media influencers (youtubers, viners, instagramers).
The B2C Brand Ambassador
The most known industries to use brand ambassadors is the fashion and beauty industry.
And it’s not only about beauty or youth. You can still be a brand ambassador in the fashion or beauty industry if you know how to take care of yourself. I know, it’s kind of cheesy what I just said, but let me give you an example.
Here is Susan Sarandon, an actress and an Oscar winner, who in January 2016 became a brand ambassador for L’Oréal Paris. She is the spokesperson from the Dream Team program that L’Oréal developed inside their brand. It’s kind of the same thing as a brand ambassador.
She is the face of the new product “Age Perfect” Hydra-Nutrition because she happens to be at the perfect age to represent this product.
Here is what she declared for Vogue in an interview about this brand ambassador program:
I was really honoured to be invited to be a part of that club along with the other woman that are also L’Oréal ambassadors. I went in to have a meeting just to make sure that ethically we were all on the same page, in terms of the way that they made their products and how they spend their money. And I was impressed. They have a lot of programmes for women and awards for women of worth – I really like that. I thought they were very thoughtful and in keeping with who I am and also accepting of me and where I stand on things.
What should a brand learn from this statement?
That you can’t put just anyone in the brand ambassador program. That person needs to understand the power of your brand and you (as a brand) need to understand how they can represent you in their community and of course, to their audience.
But there are moments when brands and celebrities can be just friends, or , sometimes a relationship can’t start off the wrong foot.
When I first saw Apple Music’s newest ad on Instagram with Taylor Swift, I remembered her letter to the streaming service.
Here is the situation, when Apple launched Apple Music, they offered every iOS user a free 3 months trial, and after that they were able to pay a monthly fee to get access to their service.
But Taylor wasn’t happy about this, so she wrote a blog post on Tumblr and shared it with her community:
But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.
And as you may already know, the blog post got a lot of reaction in social media, a lot of press coverage. Some may say that it was a PR stunt and some may say that Taylor wants to be paid by Apple.
Well, today it doesn’t matter. Why? Because if we’re looking at how things are now, today we can see a lovely partnership between Apple Music and Taylor Swift in their latest video
So, it doesn’t matter if the celebrity didn’t have a good start in the relationship with the brand. This is an example where we can say everything is possible, if they just figure it out how to be more transparent and influence more people.
The B2B Brand Ambassador
Another example of the brand ambassador is in the B2B category, where all the techy guys can already think about at least 3 people, right? We can start with Steve Jobs who is the best brand ambassador for its own brand.
Even today, after he has been long gone, you can still read articles about how he did it, how he made the world know about his brand and what other specialists can learn from him.
Other great examples are people like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos. They all have a brand ambassador responsibility, even if it’s not officially recognizable. But as founders, they are in front of the brand all the time, whenever they launch, announce or do something new for their brand.
A brand ambassador can help build brand awareness reaching a larger audience. And today it’s getting easier, but it’s still hard at the same time, to make it through the market using social media and the entire digital communication.
What are the elements to consider when you want to launch a brand ambassador program?
The first and most important thing is to have a brand. Not only a logo, or a website or a Facebook Page. You need a brand that not only sells a product but also creates a lifestyle. Uber sells time, Starbucks sells an image, an atmosphere, a lifestyle. What do you sell?
Then, take a look at your community and understand if they encourage a brand ambassador program or not. Because you are doing this for them, so if they don’t want to have a brand ambassador, you shouldn’t push it. Don’t do things just because they are trendy or because your competitors are doing them.
Do you have a plan and a strategy? What do you want from your brand ambassador? How will you use them in your marketing strategy? How much do you want them to communicate with your community and how much will you communicate with their community?
Can you be a brand ambassador and an evangelist at the same time?
Yes you can, and it’s kind of funny to see how others are doing it. I’m looking at Guy Kawasaki and follow him on Facebook.
He is not only the Canva Evangelist but also the brand ambassador for Mercedes and if you look at his pictures, you’ll see that he mentions it in the description every chance he gets.
So, if you want to have a brand ambassador and a brand evangelist in your company, you need to make it very clear what responsibility each one has and how they can help the brand grow bigger and have an impact in the community.
Let me know in a comment what brand ambassadors you’ve seen lately and how they impact the audience to also help the brand.
© Porechenskaya | Dreamstime.com
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