Different from an influencer who typically participates in one-time or short-term partnerships, a brand ambassador becomes a part of your long-term marketing strategy. Brand ambassadors create and share content about your brand regularly over an extended period, often without prior approval and in more casual one-off mentions.
This is why using brand ambassadors, a powerful partner, is important to have for your outdoor hospitality or travel focused business. Tapping into their authority with their followers provides a digital word of mouth that can help get the news of your location out to a specific audience.
Check out our tips for creating and fostering these relationships.
Do your research
The biggest mistake you can make is not doing your due diligence before reaching out to a creator. Review their channels, get to know what types of content they post, how they interact with followers, likes and dislikes. All of these factors will help you decide if they are the right fit for your brand and give you context when sending out your initial message.
Keep the tone light and friendly
While your overall goal is to create a business relationship, keep in mind that you’re working with an individual whose online personality matches your brand! Keep your tone light.
Establish clear goals, parameters, expectations
As much as we say you should keep the tone friendly, don’t forget it is still business. Don’t be shy about outlining clear expectations and parameters for the partnership. Being upfront about what you expect helps ensure you’re happy with their work and helps avoid any miscommunication that could potentially push timelines. This is crucial for outdoor hospitality/travel ambassadors as travel plans, whether they be by plane or car, are often cumbersome to reschedule.
Keep lines of communication open and ongoing
It’s important to let the creator know they are not alone once the dotted line has been signed. Especially important for long-term brand ambassadors, you need to have an open line of communication. This could look a little different for each ambassador as you’ll want to choose a method that is easiest for them.
Get to know them
One of the key aspects of a brand ambassador and brand partnership is to create a relationship with the creator. Don’t only talk business with them. If you notice them posting on their channels about a life event, success, exciting news, etc., send them a note! It’s important to establish rapport with the creators you work with. Not only does this make the whole process of working together easier, but it establishes trust and familiarity.
Trust and shared vision are crucial to making successful brand ambassador relationships. Keep the above in mind as you craft your next campaign!
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