Finding, nurturing and acquiring new customers is a costly part of any business with many companies spending thousands on targeted campaigns, advertising and brand awareness. But what if you could cut these costs and still grow your customer base? What if you could have your customers advertise your brand for you without spending a penny?
Building brand ambassadors
Apple, Starbucks, Monzo, we all know brands who seem to have a loyal following and find ourselves thinking how lucky they are to have their customers doing half of their marketing work for them! Well, these brand-loyal customers are referred to as Brand Ambassadors, and they’re the people who love your brand so much that they will proactively talk about it and recommend it to others. The word of a brand ambassador is more powerful than any marketing you can possibly put together. In fact, a survey found that 9 out of 10 consumers, and over 50% of business to business customers, trusted recommendations from their friends, colleagues and social networks most when making their purchasing decisions.
So how can you build a network of brand ambassadors?
- Find your superfans
The first step to building a network of brand ambassadors is recognising which of your customers are your super fans, these are the people who go above and beyond to interact with your social media posts, to share your content and speak highly of you to others. Sadly, just because you have a large email database, doesn’t mean that you have an army of superfans, and many people sign up and follow brands they like just to get a good deal, freebie or discount.
To find your true superfans you need simply listen.
- Listen
Thanks to social media and the advancement of our digital world it has never been easier to listen to what your customers are saying about you. Monitor activity on your own social media posts but also remember to monitor for mentions of your brand name, product or blog by using social media management tools such as Hootsuite or Radian6. Set up streams to monitor keywords relating to your company, brand or product and take note of the conversations happening about you. If people are praising your product, brand or service then these are your brand ambassadors.
- Make them feel heard
First things first, be sure to respond and engage with people who are positively shouting about you on social media, as this strengthens your brand position and makes your brand ambassadors feel heard. The next thing you will want to do is to bring your brand ambassadors inside and make them feel special by offering them an inside look into new things you have coming, perhaps offering them a discount on products they recommend or by inviting them to visit your office where the magic happens. People like to feel special, and making your brand ambassadors feel special is very important.
- Empower them
Having identified your brand ambassadors, brought them into your organisation and made them feel special, it’s time to empower them so that they can continue to share your brand name and rave about your products to more and more people. There are a few different ways in which you can do this:
- Give them free versions of your products
By giving your brand ambassadors free versions of your products you not only keep them happy but you also give them the equipment they need to talk about and recommend even more of your products or services. - Provide them with branded materials
A branded company goodie bag not only makes your brand ambassadors feel special, but it also provides them with a whole host of ways to display your company name or logo, in effect turning them into walking advertisements. For example, they can proudly show off your logo in their car with custom car fresheners, or through their use of your company stickers (as used by Apple and Monzo) on their laptop or notebooks, or by walking around town carrying your branded tote bag. The possibility for branded merchandise is nearly endless and which products you choose to give out will vary depending on your target market. - Make them a part of your team
Another great way to make use of brand ambassadors is by bringing them on board and making them an extended part of your team. Monzo recently achieved this by making their biggest brand ambassadors admins on their Monzo savings Facebook group which helps Monzo customers to use the app to reach their goals.
But what if you don’t seem to have any superfans?
If you’re a small business that is just starting out or you’ve listened hard on social media and don’t seem to have found any superfans amongst the chatter then don’t despair. It can take some time to convert customers into superfans, take a look a the following three ideas to see if they can resolve your superfan problem.
- Offer something of value
Superfans don’t rave about mediocre products or average services, they rave about the exceptional, and so it’s important that before you run, you walk. Begin by focusing on building something that is out of this world and meets a real customer need and your superfans will naturally come. - Earn their loyalty
If you have customers but none of them seems to be your superfan just yet, then the next step is to earn their loyalty by continuing to exceed their expectations and going above and beyond to offer exceptional service. Superfans are not one-off consumers, they are repeat customers and you need to entice them back to you again and again. - Encourage them
It may be that you already have superfans who just need a little more encouragement to come out of their shell. If you have delivered exceptional service to a customer or they have told you that they are happy with your product then ask them to share their thoughts on social media or to write you a review that you can share yourselves.
