Best Ambassador Programs: Points to Learn From Successful Brands

Brand and product success can be rooted from several aspects. There are those that attained the success status because of the great customer service that they provide others because of the high-quality products but the most popular and enduring brands are those who invest in building up a loyal following and turning passionate customers into an organized community which people feel excited to be part of.

But what are the secrets towards growing a successful brand community? How can you engage with those loyal customers who are passionate about your products and/or services? Others will just do what their successful competitors have done but doing so will only put you close or equal to your nemesis. Your goal should always be the top spot and the best way to achieve this is to start learning from the experts and pick up on some points where you can innovate.

So without further ado, let us get into the meat of the matter by extracting some crucial points from the community outreach strategies and ambassador programs of the most successful brands out there. Remember, you don’t need to follow every detail of their techniques and methodologies and pay attention to those crucial points where innovation can be injected so you can get an edge and conquer the competition as you go.

Lululemon – Authenticity and First Hand Brand Experiences

It’s probably the most popular brand ambassador program at present and the reason for this is mainly because of its focus on authenticity. It all starts with real people who do work or are hobbyists and enthusiasts in health and fitness aspects including:

- Fitness Enthusiasts

- Personal Trainers

- Yoga Instructors

- Personal Trainers

- Marathon Enthusiasts

People who are highly motivated in living an active life will normally be able to relate with such ambassadors and since they embody the brand’s core values, convincing others to join and patronize the brand won’t be hard at all. Other perks that Lululemon offers its ambassadors are:

- Allowing them to test latest products and fitness gears

- Giving access to special in-person experiences

- Opportunity to teach classes on fitness and wellness

- Giving access to tools for development

They even go the extra mile to offer extended discounts to their ambassador’s family and peers. This is one unique way of bringing in traffic of both new customers and increased sales.

Gymshark – Harnessing the Power of YouTubers

Back when it was still taking its baby steps in the fitness apparel space, Gymshark made a smart and calculated move of tapping fitness themed Youtube channels as part of the company’s effort to spread the word to its prospective customers. As the brand grew, they did some very effective steps including:

- Build a family and not just a community of customers who are passionate about fitness and as well as extending help to others

- Offer athletes a long-term ambassadorship instead of the usual sponsorship format

- Initiate ambassador co-creations that include entire collections partnered with famous influencers and personalities

Sephora – Unity in Diversity Equals Growth

This brand Launched #SephoraSquad back in 2019 as a team of ambassadors representing the company. These ambassadors bring in followers that have diverse backgrounds, interests and perspectives. Here are some effective steps that Sephora did to grow their ambassador program:

- Implement a recruitment process that is intensive to properly analyze the thousands of applications they receive

- Look into social communities that can perfectly represent the company and become a part of their ambassador program

- Focus on diversity and include age specific demographics on skin type, hair texture, and others

- Offer ambassadors an exclusive early access to upcoming products from affiliated brands

- Open opportunities for content co-creation

- Offer privileged seat without communities, focus groups, beauty events, networking events, etc.

Red Bull – Flying High With Strong Wings

Try uttering Red Bull and you will quickly find out how effective the brand’s marketing and promotional strategies are. The company sold at least 7 billion cans just in 2020 alone but what is their secret? Well, just like the big beverage brands in our time, Red Bull effectively sells their product by putting focus on telling the story of the extreme adventures and exciting activities that the drink can fuel. Here are the reasons why they did so instead of applying the same “spray and pray” advertising approach.

- More people are skipping ads and pay little attention to the traditional public advertisements

- Customers need ambassadors that they can relate to and share the same experiences of extreme and exciting activities that they perform

- User Generated Content (UGC) works better than fantasy-fueled public ads

- Investing on real-life brand ambassadors costs much lower than hiring actors and CGI teams

Their ambassador program seeks for people who are able to record or take pictures of their extreme and active lifestyle and call them “The Wings Team”. By doing so, Red Bull is able to hi-jack the emotions and generate that all-important connection with their target customers.

These high-quality videos and images made by real Red Bull drinkers fuel up the hype and drive the brand’s image of awesomeness and pure energy resulting in higher sales. This is one unique example of innovation especially in today’s modern age of on-demand video streaming all around the Internet.

Crucial Points for Innovation

Based from the 4 examples above, here are some ideas for you to think about as you plan to start your own ambassador program or grow the one you’ve already established:

1. Widen the space for your would-be ambassadors and include people who can preach, teach and do the walk not just because they are rewarded or compensated but also because they are passionate about your brand and are also using your product in doing the things that they love.

2. Offer personalized discounts and rewards for your most loyal customers who have become part of your ambassador program. You can give them birthday discounts, referral rewards, ambassador commissions and even give awards to your top-performing ambassadors. You can also offer them privileged access to upcoming products and business updates.

3. Explore other forms of promotion through brand ambassadors. Partner with people who have raw talents in different areas that are connected to or related to your product or brand

4. Solicit User Generated Content (UGC) and get them broadcasted in mainstream platforms and popular channels.

5. Focus on ambassadors that can give authentic endorsement. You will find this from your most loyal customers.

6. Let your ambassadors say it with their own authentic words or content and avoid getting yourself involved in any aspect except for the presence of your product or brand in the content that they produce.

7. Always make sure that your ambassadors are rewarded or compensated with great offers, discounts, privileged access to product releases, etc. They bring in people and drive your sales higher so always give them what they deserve or even more! When you do this consistently, you'll surely achieve growth not just in the number of authentic ambassadors who would want to join your program but also in the number of new customers coming in because of their whole-hearted referrals, recommendations, and personal testimonies about your brand.

Success in today’s highly-competitive business space isn’t achieved by spending thousands or even millions in advertising. As a thriving business, you need to also evolve with time and start exploring other forms of marketing and promotion and ambassador programs are perfect examples of this.

As more and more of your customers move from the old public entertainment media (radio and television) to the more personalized entertainment offerings of Internet-based media, you also need to ensure that your business moves with it. Start an ambassador program today or innovate the one that you already created and see how magical the results are. It is never easy but with the examples we’ve given above, you should now have some solid ideas to get the ball rolling!

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