Why create an ambassador program? A vibrant ambassador program can boost your customer experience and marketing efforts. Ambassadors are customers passionate about your brand and share it with those in their network.
If you are an established business with referrals, you have ambassadors. The purpose of creating an ambassador program is to enhance the relationship to benefit both your customers and the business.
Finding Ambassadors
Ambassador programs vary depending on the business. When creating a program for your business, here are questions to consider.
What is the purpose of the ambassador program? Defining the purpose is important is making sure you and the ambassadors have the same goal and vision.
Who is your ideal ambassador? Defining your ideal ambassador helps your customers self-identify if they are the right person for the program. It also saves you time when reviewing interested applicants.
- What are the eligibility requirements?
- Do they need to be an existing customer, member, or user?
- Do they need a social following? Are you looking for audience #’s or engagement rates?
- Do they need an established blog or newsletter presence?
- How will you find ambassadors? Where will you promote it?
What are the benefits of participating in the program? The benefits need to be mutually beneficial. If you want your customers to spend extra time talking about your business, you want to make it worth their time. The answers will vary depending on the industry, offering, and whether you’re B2B or B2C.
- Complimentary product or services
- Monetary compensation
- Collaboration opportunities
- Social media features
How do customers join the ambassador program? Providing details helps those interested take action. The complexity of the application process can vary depending on how strong you want to filter applications.
- Where do they apply?
- What information do you need from them?
- When is the deadline?
What questions might people have about the ambassador program? Be proactive in considering what questions potential ambassadors may have about the program.
- Length of commitment
- Additional requirements
Supporting Ambassadors
Once you have customers who become official ambassadors, supporting them is key to having a vibrant program.
How will you define the success of an ambassador? If you don’t define success, then it will be hard to measure and attain. When people don’t know what success looks like and if it is attainable then their efforts diminish.
- Are you looking for increased awareness, sales conversions, or both?
- How will you track ambassador efforts?
What tools and resources will the ambassadors need to be successful? One of the best ways to see positive results is to empower people with the tools and resources they need.
- What product or service knowledge do they need?
- Are there specific promotions or deadlines they need to be aware of?
- Create a bank of graphics and copy for them to use. Include your brand guide.
- Share best practices for content creation on social media, email, blogs, and video.
How will you communicate with them and how often? Your work isn’t done once you create the program. You must nurture it and provide ambassadors with encouragement and support.
Creating and maintaining an ambassador program takes work. When done well it can be fun and rewarding for all involved.
Your Turn
Have you participated in an ambassador program before? If yes, what did you like or not like about it? If no, what criteria are important for you to participate?
Melissa Kay Jones 