A brand ambassador is an advocate of a particular company’s products and services. S/He is a person who is hired by an organization or company to represent a brand in a positive light, and by doing so, help to increase brand awareness and sales. A company chooses a brand ambassador to be the “face” of the brand. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in appearance, demeanor, values, and ethics. To that end, many companies solicit brand ambassadors to promote positive customer sentiment in stores, on websites, and at events. Historically a brand ambassador was typically a celebrity or someone with a good amount of name recognition who was paid for their efforts.
The key element of brand ambassadors is their ability to use promotional strategies that will strengthen the customer-product-service relationship and influence a large audience to buy and consume more. They play an important role in marketing campaigns that seek to attract new customers. In marketing, a brand ambassador may actually be a paid position and job title. S/Heis someone who promotes a brand and its products to their network with the objective of increasing brand awareness and helping drive sales. In general, brand ambassadors leverage their social prowess to boost brand awareness and embody the values and missions of a brand.
The purpose of hiring a brand ambassador is to grow brand relevance, ensure the proper product or service positioning, and drive increased sales within a specific territory or segment of targeted accounts. Predominantly, a brand ambassador is known as a positive spokesperson, an opinion leader, or a community influencer, appointed as an internal or external agent to boost product or service sales and create brand awareness. Celebrities and other well-known personalities are still employed as brand ambassadors, however, this is typically done by businesses that sell directly to consumers.
Today, “brand ambassador” as a term has expanded beyond celebrity branding to self-branding or personal brand management. Brand Ambassadors not only make people eager to try new products, but they also build an image of your brand in the micro-or-macro scale. Professional figures, such as good-will and non-profit ambassadors, promotional models, testimonials, and brand advocates have formed as an extension of the same concept, taking into account the requirements of every company. Brand ambassadors share a personal connection with the brand—an identity—and build a story with the brand.
