Brand ambassadors: 3 reasons why they drive performance

Ever asked yourself why a lot of big companies are using athletes or celebrities as brand ambassadors? In this article, I will explain why brand ambassadors have the power to push your team and business success to the next level. 

Our newest brand ambassador at Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is Novak Djokovic, who has been holding the number one position in tennis for the record time of 318 weeks. You’re not born a number one, it requires a lot of dedication and hard work to get there—and that’s also the same for the businesses. Our ambition at RBI is to become the number one bank in terms of NPS.

It’s important to know that brand ambassadors should not replace a marketing channel in a company, but rather support and strengthen the marketing activities that are already in place—no matter if it’s TV, billboards, social media, content marketing, newsletters, or paid advertising. With a unified marketing approach you can make sure that your customers get consistent messages about your brand across different media. 

Here are some of the key benefits of brand ambassadors:

1. Higher trust and brand growth 

We all know that people shape brands. The success of every company depends on its employees, customers, or even its stakeholders. It’s easier to trust people than to trust companies. That is where brand ambassadors come into play. If you choose the right ambassador for your brand, they will enhance the personality of your business and have the right impact on your audience. In other words: brand ambassadors humanize your brand.

They are able to spread positive messages about your brand and therefore create a positive image for the public. People usually listen to other people’s opinions when trying to assess the quality of a product or service before they are really convinced. A positive reputation will increase your brand recognition and helps to further develop your brand. Nowadays it is especially important to be as present as possible, since you never know when your customers are mentally available. Brand ambassadors also support businesses in increasing their presence to ensure more (potential) customers remember them when looking for a product or service.

2. Building a bridge between countries and departments

Another benefit of brand ambassadors: every country in a big corporation will work with the same brand ambassador. This fosters teamwork. The result: a stronger team spirit! If your employees can identify with your brand ambassador, they will also be happy and motivated to spread the word, and be proud to be part of your company. 

Having a brand ambassador beyond borders will unify different markets and departments, as they will collaborate on campaigns and other marketing activities related to the brand ambassador.

3. Increased effectiveness through higher ROI

Especially in big corporations, brand ambassadors can help you to build a unified marketing approach. No matter in which country or in which language, a popular brand ambassador will be successful for your company beyond borders. Your customers will receive consistent messages about your brand in every medium and this will strengthen your brand recognition.   

According to studies, brand ambassadors can lift your advertising impact by 10 to 20% compared to normal marketing activities. You ask yourself why? Emotions! In order to be successful as a brand, you need to connect with your customers through human emotions. People buy more, consume more, talk more, give more as soon as they are emotionally connected to a brand. And obviously, it’s easier to connect to a human than to a company without a face. 

Using brand ambassadors has the benefit of lowering marketing costs. You have to cover production and campaign costs only once, then you’re able to use the assets created in many  different countries at the same time. 

As you can see, brand ambassadors can have a big impact on your business. They increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your marketing efforts, which consequently will lead to a higher ROI.