Creating an Ambassador Program in your Online Business
So you’ve had your online business for a while and it’s humming along. How do you know when it's time to create an ambassador program? What even is an ambassador program, and how does that differ from having affiliates? These are some of the questions I'm going to address in today’s post.
WHAT IS AN AMBASSADOR PROGRAM?
So first things first: what is an ambassador program? Traditionally, this sort of arrangement would be called a customer referral program. Remember waaaaaaay back when Uber offered free rides to people who referred others and the first-time rider, too? That’s customer referral, baby. Customer referrals can take many forms, and back when I was running my brick-and-mortar chain, I gave out coupons to customers to give to their friends, and when those friends came in, they would receive a discount, a small gift, or a VIP perk. Referral programs turned out to be a key component of our marketing strategy. Today, with the advent of social media in all its forms, ambassador programs are just as critical, yet I find they are severely underused.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED ONE?
Now, let me say this up front: not every online business needs an ambassador program. It’s a lot of effort to run one, and if it doesn’t make sense for your company, then it’s a waste of time. The very first thing you need to do is think about who your customers are, and if they’re repping your company, who their customers would be. Where are all of these referrals going? Out into the wind? Down the drain? Let’s take an example: If your customers are brand new entrepreneurs with itty bitty client lists, then they won’t have a ton of recs for you when it comes time to refer people. However, if your customers are established entrepreneurs with long client lists, lots of contacts, and a big audience, then that audience can become your audience.
HOW DO I MAKE IT WORK?
Now, a question I get all the time is: Who should be in charge of my business’s ambassador program?Because it generates revenue, most people assume it should be placed under marketing or sales, but that’s a big mistake. The place that ambassador programs belong is backend ops or fulfillment. The people in those departments are the ones with actual relationships with customers! They know who needs what, when, and why. No one wants a random person from sales to call them up and bombard them with referral requests. (Sorry, sales.)
So, you’ve figured out that it makes sense for you to have an ambassador program in your business, you’ve got your ops team on it, and you’re all set to launch. Now all you’ve got to do is throw together some cute IG posts and track them from the backend, right? Wrong. (Although do track your posts.) A successful, well-run ambassador program takes a lot of work. Here are some of my tips for starting things off right.
TOP TIPS TO GET STARTED RIGHT
Number one: Have a launch party! Everyone wants to go to a fancy party where they can dress up, eat soft cheeses, and feel like a VIP. And your ambassadors are VIPs because they are going to help you grow your business a ton if you treat them well. At this party, the founder or CEO should explain both his or her reason for creating the company, the company’s values and mission, and how important it is to him or her that these ambassadors are here to help. Then, after everyone has wined and dined, you can do all the paperwork/coding/tracking to make sure your brand new ambassadors have everything they need.
Number two: nurture, nurture, nurture! You have to continually follow up, check in, and show your ambassadors that you value what they’re doing for you. I speak at least once or twice a month in our members' communities so that they always have my voice (and our brand’s voice) in the back of their minds. With every launch or conversion event at JoyBrand, we offer cash rewards, gifts, group VIP days with me, whatever it takes to make our ambassadors feel special, because it’s a two-way street, and we need to show them we want to put as much into them as they’re putting into our community.
If you would like to explore the possibility of an ambassador program for your online business, reach out and apply for a consultation. I’d love to answer any questions you have and see if there’s an opportunity for you to implement a program like this in your business or community.
