Grow Your Ambassador Program: 5 Smart Tips For Attraction and Development

Your store is successful and you now have a large customer base but you want to find a way on how you can reward loyal and passionate ones while advancing your marketing efforts at the same time. This is the perfect time to explore ambassador programs. This tool maximizes the potential that your passionate fans by turning them into efficient marketing agents. 

But just like any other marketing strategy, growing your ambassador program and ensuring that it becomes successful in the long run isn’t easy.  From the very first step of attracting members down to keeping them active and rewarded, you’ll need some proven and calculated steps to develop not just the program itself but above all, your business.

Whether you own a restaurant or an online shop, you will always be bound to have passionate customers who will be willing to go greater lengths because of their love for your business. So how exactly can you start your very own ambassador program and if you’ve already established one, how can you attract more ambassadors to it so it develops into your greatest marketing weapon? Here are 5 smart tips that you can follow:

1. Take Advantage of Technology

In our modern world, a big part of the retail business happens online. In fact, studies have revealed that by 2023, Ecommerce will make up 22% of global sales in retail. That’s the reason why most businesses are making that move of establishing their own online presence and even moving their products to online sales channels. 

This is one great tool for a business that seeks to establish and grow an effective ambassador program. Since most people nowadays have access to the Internet and many already have email addresses, you can start by building up an email list and see which customers are responding more with every email that you send. From here, you can start zeroing in on those who are really interested with your product and offer them with the brand ambassador program that you already have.

Another way of taking good use of technology and its many marketing channels is by establishing social media groups and opening it to customers who would want to be updated about your product or business on a regular basis. With it, you will see the most active customers that you have and you’ll even find those who are bringing in new people to your customer base.

There’s an unlimited set of options for you in this aspect and if you use them the smart way, your ambassador program will have that smooth road from beginning towards total growth and continued development.

2. Define and Establish Terms Clearly

Before you can attract ambassadors into the program you have established, you first need to make sure that you have a clear definition of the terms like rewards, discounts, or compensation that your ambassadors will receive once they start bringing in new people into your business. One smart way to do this is to look into some of the most successful ambassador programs that exist at present.

It won’t also harm if you try studying your competitors who are doing well with their ambassador program and see how they did it then offer something that’s better. For instance, you can offer bigger commission rates or give your ambassadors access to great loyalty rewards and privileges. This will encourage them to do even better and some will even go the extra mile to promote your product in their own advertising or promotion channels.

You may have already seen vloggers reviewing products or sharing their experience transacting with a particular business in their YouTube channels, Tiktok accounts, or their own website right? These are just examples of the great possibilities that can open doors for you if you have clearly defined terms on what your ambassadors will get once they start sharing the word about your business!

3. Explore Every Marketing Channel

Once you have a good number of ambassadors, you can start taking in some User Generated Content (UGC) and have them published in your website or your online store’s blog. Definitely get it shared on your social media groups and pages and make sure that there’s a person who’s in-charge of keeping those posts updated so prospective customers will see only the right information that will help advance your business.

Some brands even join online forums by sharing very useful DIY tips that make use of one of their products while others direct new leads to their brand by sharing general topic articles that are relevant to their target customers. The Internet is full of all these marketing channels that you can explore and use for the advancement of your ambassador program.

Don’t be confined to only one channel but instead, use a combination of several if not all of them. Just make sure that all of these channels are monitored and maintained well because failure to do so can turn them into weapons against business growth.

4. Don’t Ignore The Minor Details

It is easy to get caught up with growing your ambassador program to the point that you’re already ignoring the other details which are equally important in the growth and development of your business as a whole. Remember that your ambassador program is only part of the business. It is not the entirety of your business!

Be sure to get your website up and running all the time and your product pages updated. If it’s a physical store then you’ll need to get all the aesthetics sorted out. Replace those busted neon signs, get that front glass panel cleaned up and have those marketing posters and flyers in the right places to attract new customers and keep existing ones interested.

No matter how hard your ambassadors work if the business itself starts to become less attractive, everything will just go to waste. As a business owner seeking growth and development, you’ll need to ensure that the main meat is in tip-top shape all the time no matter what day, hour, or season it is. Staying current is one secret of every successful brand so keep your website or online store updated with the latest in website design and technologies or get your store cleaned up and retrofitted on a regular basis.

Stay updated with all the latest trends and definitely apply them to your business. This will not only attract new customers and ambassadors but also create some new topics for existing ones to talk about as they promote your business in their own channels and spaces.

5. Build Up a Strong Relationship With Your Ambassadors

“A Loyal Friend is Better Than Pocket Money”. That is something that you need to put in mind as you build up your ambassador program and start attracting more loyal customers into promoting your brand. Build trust with these most important people and keep them rewarded in a proper and timely manner. 

If you have an online shop then you can make use of some software and apps that will make monitoring commissions and paying your ambassadors like a breeze. There are several great apps that can do this and offer even more possibilities for marketing and promoting your product or brand with the help of your loyal ambassadors.

The last thing you want to happen is having your ambassadors offended then seeing them leave to serve your competitor just because of trust issues or delayed payment of commissions. So be sure to use tools that will enhance your relationship and establish that trust between you and your ambassadors. Don’t hold that money deep in your pocket. Money can always be earned but trust, once it is broken, can never be restored back to what it once was before mistakes were made!

Team Up With Ambassadors Now!

Establishing, growing, and maintaining a great ambassador program is truly a team effort but the main man will always be you, the business owner. No matter how hard you try attracting new ones if the pointers above are ignored, things will only keep sliding back to square one and development will disappear into the haze created by your competitors.

The worst is turning all those hard work into waste and seeing everything transform into your competitors advantage. Work your best in building up that good and mutual relationship with your brand ambassadors and you’ll see it work some great miracles in time.

The rewards won’t show up instantly but with your loyal ambassadors by your side, the overall work will surely be easier than you expected. Strive to create the most rewarding journey for them and let the law of attraction and reciprocation work their magic for your business!

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