How to be a brand ambassador

Have you ever heard of brand ambassadors or corporate ambassadors? This is an interesting side gig that works both online and offline and is a great opportunity for the right people. But is being a brand ambassador right for you? Let’s take a closer look.

What is a brand ambassador?

Whenever a big Hollywood star appears in an ad, they become brand ambassadors. Every time athletes are interviewed about wearing labeled clothing or drinking labeled beverages, they are acting as brand representatives.

Brand ambassadors are essentially “sponsored” by a company to promote that company’s products across specific platforms or events.

This type of visual advertising focuses on the personal brand of the ambassador or influencer. Audiences will see advertisements for products or services, but also influencers who are marketing these products as something they love.

For example, if you read a blog post by a popular blogger and they are describing their wonderful beach vacation at a gorgeous resort… you might consider going to that place too. Their pictures are gorgeous, they look amazing running on the beach and you want that experience too

There are two main categories of brand ambassadors today; Online and offline. They are many things but have their differences as well.

Brand ambassador in person

Have you ever been to a baseball game or a “Taste of the City” event and noticed that the smiling, happy people People hand over samples The latest sports drink or branded swag? They all have matching t-shirts and matching cheers. They are brand ambassadors or brand representatives.

These brand ambassadors may be responsible for handing out samples, event set up and teardown, greeting people and introducing new people to their brand. This can be a one-off event or an ongoing relationship. They can pay anywhere from $15/hour to $100/hour. Giving out samples and coupons, wearing branded clothing, and handing out swag are part of a brand ambassador’s job.

College students can expect to see these often as it can be easy extra income. College towns offer many on-campus and off-campus opportunities.

Online brand ambassador

Being an online brand ambassador is the same concept, except the audience is your audience and they see you using a product. Your “job” as a brand ambassador is to show how great the product is and inspire your audience to buy it for themselves. The main difference between what we typically consider a “sponsor post” and a “brand ambassador” is that the ambassador opportunity is often an ongoing gig. You may need to write a series of posts or social media updates over a long period of time. The company may send you its new product line every season. In many cases, you will be asked to attend company-sponsored events or as a company representative.

As an online relationship brand ambassador, you can post to Instagram with a fun photo of you wearing a bright shade of the company’s particular lipstick. You may be running a giveaway on your blog. You can take an adventure in a sponsored camper and document the whole thing on your YouTube channel. Show up wherever you’ve built your audience and promote the company or product in a way that’s interesting.

Your goal is to come up with something interesting that you can do with your featured product and then feature it on the platform you agree on. There may be some strict guidelines from your company (such as a certain number of Instagram posts, with a certain number of words, containing certain hashtags, to be posted within a certain time frame), but you may also have a lot of leeway. Amazon Influencers actually create a storefront on Amazon’s site.

Your content doesn’t just have to be your lifestyle. Successful brand ambassadors are everywhere thanks to social media platforms. Your online presence can be focused on video games, your favorite books, hair styling, hiking, technology, fishing, astrology… the list goes on forever. Regardless of your content, if you’re getting views, you have a chance to become an influencer, a niche influencer, or a micro-influencer.

What do you need to be a brand ambassador?

Ambassador in person

• Enthusiastic and friendly personality
• Availability is highly dependent on industry type
• reliable

Online Ambassador

Whether you already have an audience or you’re starting from scratch, every great brand ambassador has a few things in common:

• Passion and enthusiasm for their niche
• Strong online presence and social media profile for increased exposure
• Consistent posting schedule and interaction with commenters
• Quality content and promotion (pictures are beautiful, graphics are sharp, writing is good) that ideally solves a problem or creates a strong sense of need.
• Longevity (or commitment to it)

If you haven’t already set up your platform (for example, on Instagram or YouTube, where many brand ambassadors are buzzing now) then you should go ahead and start. If you can build 1,000 followers or more, you can do anything!

I can’t stress enough the importance of having quality, consistent content. You want to project a consistent “feel” across all of your posts, especially if you’re on a visual platform like Instagram. Choose a niche that you are really interested in, and keep your content relevant to that topic. Solve problems by creating helpful tips, introducing new ideas, curating other great posts you find, and — this is important — engaging with your followers. Answer their questions, get their feedback and give them what they want.

How do you become a brand ambassador?

Ambassador in person

If you live near a big city, you’re in luck. Almost every event, concert or game has a brand ambassador present in some form or another. For these gigs, see:

• Facebook: Search for your city’s brand ambassador
• Craigslist: Look in the Gigs > Events section
• Fusion Event Staffing
• Attack! Marketing
• Alcohol dispenser
• Actually > Brand Ambassador Job Posting

You can also consider looking for companies that attend trade shows or participate in festivals or other large events. These companies often hire individuals to advocate for their products or services.

Online Ambassador

The fastest way to start being a brand ambassador online is to introduce yourself to companies you already know and like. Basically, it’s word of mouth marketing to a very large potential audience. My guiding principle for everything I promote is that I actually need to like and/or use it, and that’s a great place to start when you’re thinking about companies worth your pitch. It’s much easier to pitch yourself to (and win!) a brand if you’re already a fan.

When you’re ready to jump, you can do anything. The first is to put yourself out there. Contact some of your favorite companies directly. Try to find their media or marketing managers by searching on LinkedIn or even Google. Not sure where to start? Then start making a list of the company being promoted whenever you see a brand ambassador in action. If they hire that person, they might as well hire you!

Another thing you can do is make yourself available to brands who work with brand ambassadors through third parties. Contact influencer marketing companies about your availability and see if you can be listed for influencer list services. (Not sure how to find them? Try searching for terms like “influencer marketing agency” or “influencer list service.”) You can also find private networks to join that will put you in touch with brands.

And of course, make sure you have a media kit on your website and contact information on all your platforms so you can easily get hold of them.

What do companies look for in an online brand ambassador?

There are a few things you need to do to set yourself apart. First, you must always conduct yourself professionally. Respond quickly, answer all questions and do what you promise. Take it seriously – it’s a job, after all!

Another thing you need to do is engage with your followers. If you’re going to be attractive to any kind of company you need followers, so if you’re able to build a fan base, keep doing what you’re doing. The more engagement you have with your followers, the more you have to offer the brand — engaged followers will naturally care about what you have to say and are more likely to become buyers.

What’s the catch?

There are a few things you need to do to set yourself apart. First, you must always conduct yourself professionally. Respond quickly, answer all questions and do what you promise. Take it seriously – it’s a job, after all!

Another thing you need to do is engage with your followers. If you’re going to be attractive to any kind of company you need followers, so if you’re able to build a fan base, keep doing what you’re doing. The more engagement you have with your followers, the more you have to offer the brand — engaged followers will naturally care about what you have to say and are more likely to become buyers.

Ambassador in person

There is no catch here. However, while the pay can be great, it can often take some time to get paid as you are usually paid by a third party. Also, these are usually one-time events which means you cannot rely on them for regular and consistent pay. You will also be an independent contractor. That means you will be responsible for all costs and taxes.

Online Ambassador

There really isn’t a “catch” to being an online brand ambassador, but there are a few things you should know, especially when it comes to your compensation. While in-person ambassadorships can pay great, sometimes brands (especially smaller brands) will want to pay you for free products instead of money in these online arrangements. It might still be worth it, but probably not if you spend five hours on content for $25 on the product.

Another thing you need to be very diligent about is following the guidelines. When you reach an agreement with a company to become their ambassador, you will likely sign a contract and have certain rules you must follow. If you break the rules or don’t follow all the guidelines, your payment may be forfeited. Don’t stress about it – make sure you’re on top of the requirements before signing the contract and review them before publishing your ambassador post.