Not sure who your true brand ambassadors are? Or when I say to start with the brand ambassadors you have, did you immediately think about how many “fans” your company has on Facebook? But what if I said I want you to start with your brand ambassadors that aren’t just your Facebook fans? Would you know who your true ambassadors are? How many employees does your company have? Now how many family members does all of your management team combined have? And how many distributors and partners do you have? Now maybe you’re getting the idea of at least how many brand ambassadors you should have.
But that’s the thing; many of these people might not know they are your brand ambassadors and that’s why you need to start building your brand with the ambassadors you have. You should create a plan to communicate with your current employees, that they are more than employees, they are brand ambassadors of the company.
How do you do that? One simple first step is to make it part of the job description—a positive, outgoing attitude about the company they work for is a critical part in the long-term success of the company and therefore will contribute to their position and growth within the company. Employees should understand that everything they say about the company and every customer interaction they have is either building the brand or deteriorating the brand value. Make sure to communicate what the brand’s essence is, what the company ideology is—the reason the company exists beyond making a profit, and what the core values of the company are.
Questions to consider before implementing an internal and external brand ambassador program:
- Do your employees and partners know what the company’s brand personality is?
- Do you know what the company’s brand personality is?
- What is the brand position of the company?
- How do you effectively communicate your companies brand value, personality, tone, product or service offering, etc.?
All of these things should be shared with your potential brand ambassadors. The message and amount of information delivered should be tailored based on the audience you are speaking to.
If your company doesn’t know what its brand essence, ideology, values, personality and positioning is, you can partner with a brand-building agency to figure that out. But in the mean time, open the communication channels with the perhaps dormant brand ambassadors you have in your own employees. Family, distributors, vendors and partners are easier to rally as ambassadors because they will understand the financial implications their ambassadorship will have. Begin these discussions and you’ll be amazed at the power of your brand ambassadors and the impact they have on a company’s reputation.
