Harnessing the power of your most committed customers through an ambassador programme can provide many business benefits. Here are five.
Credibility
Seeing you are warmly and positively supported by your customers adds to the perception of your quality and integrity. If a potential customer searches for a product or solution and one option has a thriving ambassador programme and the other doesn’t, they will more likely go with the one with the authentic customer seal of approval. It gives your business credence and weight that you might have to work a lot harder to get through other more traditional marketing or advertising activities.
Increased reach
Your ambassadors aren’t overtly selling for you, but they will no doubt mention you to their own network. If a trusted friend or colleague mentions something they are involved in or are excited about we will definitely take it seriously and probably check it out for ourselves. In effect, they are generating a whole new sales channel which in its nature consists of hyper-qualified leads.
“Humanising” your brand
People buy from people and your ambassadors give a wider “face” to your brand. For example, you might have a small-ish team who are perhaps based in a specific geographical area, but add in your ambassadors and suddenly you can project a wider and perhaps more diverse image of who you really are.
Reducing the load
Great programmes involve their ambassadors with hosting events, contributing content and generally sharing their expertise. Not only do ambassadors want to do this for their own interest and positioning, but the result for your business is that your team is not as burdened with having to source or host everything themselves.
Innovation
Your ambassadors are usually your most loyal customers. They know your product extremely well and as a result may come to you with product innovation ideas and feedback. Being slightly removed from the internal dynamics of your business means they often provide a fresh insight or take on things that you might not get from your internal teams.
At customer-ization.com we support businesses in designing ambassador programmes from concept through to implementation and oversight. Get in touch or click here to find out more.