Brand Ambassadors: Benefits, Types, & How to Start A Program

In today's highly competitive business landscape, it's crucial for companies to effectively promote their brand and connect with their target audience. Brand recognition is especially important in smaller niche markets.

One powerful way to achieve this is through the use of brand ambassadors alongside a good PR stratregy. It’s easy to build an effective PR strategy with an experienced PR agency. But what exactly is a brand ambassador, and why are they so essential for your business?

In this article, we will explore the concept of brand ambassadors, the critical role they play in promoting your brand, and the numerous benefits they bring to your marketing efforts

TL;DR

1. Who is a Brand Ambassador: Someone who promotes your brand authentically, different from influencers or affiliates.

2. Types of Ambassadors: Customers, employees, micro-influencers, celebrities, and student ambassadors.

3. Benefits: Boosts trust, word-of-mouth, lowers acquisition costs, and builds long-term loyalty.

4. Real Examples: Brands like Glossier, Liquid Death, and Lululemon run successful ambassador programs.

5. How to Start: Define goals, choose the right ambassadors, select carefully, set clear expectations, engage regularly, and track results.

6. Measure Success: Track referral traffic, engagement, UGC, and conversions with clear benchmarks.

7. Common Mistakes: Avoid choosing wrong ambassadors, poor communication, misaligned values, and lack of clear metrics.

Who Are Brand Ambassadors?

A brand ambassador is an individual, often a well-known personality or influencer, who represents and promotes a company's brand, products, or services.

They are chosen based on their ability to connect with the target audience and embody the brand's values and image.

Brand ambassadors use their personal networks, social media platforms, and public appearances to create positive associations, generate buzz, and increase awareness about the brand, ultimately leading to greater customer engagement and loyalty.

Here's an example of a YouTube video of Gordon Ramsay cooking with Hexclad cookware who's also a brand ambassador of Hexclad:

Also, brand ambassadors are different from affiliates, who focus mostly on driving sales through links and commissions. Another cool thing to know is that brand ambassadors can be formal, like those officially recruited and trained by a company, or informal, such as loyal customers who talk about your brand naturally without any formal agreement.

Either way, their passion helps build trust and creates a genuine buzz around your products.

Types of Brand Ambassadors

1. Customers: These are your loyal fans who love your products so much that they naturally recommend them to friends and family. They might post reviews, share photos, or simply talk about your brand in everyday conversations. Because their enthusiasm comes from genuine satisfaction, their recommendations feel authentic and trustworthy.
2. Employees: Your own team can be some of the best ambassadors. When employees share about your brand on LinkedIn or social media, it adds credibility and shows pride from within. Employee advocacy can humanize your brand and help reach audiences you might not tap into otherwise.
3. Micro-Influencers: These are people with smaller but highly engaged followings—often within a specific niche. Micro-influencers tend to have close relationships with their audience, making their endorsements feel more personal and effective. They’re great if you want targeted reach without the big price tag of celebrities. Here's an example of a TikTok micro-influencer promoting Olipop by drinking it in a funny TikTok video:

4. Celebrities: Thanks to their massive audiences, big-name ambassadors can quickly raise awareness. However, working with celebrities can be costly and may not always feel genuine to your core customers. They’re best for brands aiming for wide exposure and with larger budgets. A good example of this is Kendall Jenner, a celebrity, being a brand ambassador of Triangl Swimwear:

5. Student Ambassadors: Perfect for lifestyle, fashion, or tech brands targeting younger demographics. Student ambassadors promote your products on campus and social channels, creating buzz in tight-knit communities. This type of ambassador can build grassroots excitement and brand loyalty early on. Here's a Liquid Death post for recruiting student ambassadors that we found online:

Benefits of Brand Ambassadors

1. Increased Trust and Credibility: People trust recommendations from real users more than ads. Brand ambassadors bring authenticity that helps build genuine trust in your brand.
2. Authentic Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Ambassadors share their honest experiences with their network, creating natural buzz that feels personal and persuasive.
3. Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Because ambassadors promote your brand organically, you can attract new customers without spending heavily on paid ads.
4. Long-Term Brand Loyalty: Brand ambassadors often have a strong emotional connection to your products, which helps create loyal customers who stick around and keep promoting you.
5. Cost-Effective Compared to Influencer Campaigns: Unlike expensive influencer deals, ambassador programs often involve ongoing relationships that provide consistent promotion at a lower cost.

How to Start a Brand Ambassador Program

1. Define Goals & Objectives:

Before you begin, get clear on what you want to achieve. Are you aiming to boost brand awareness, increase sales, generate more UGC, or improve customer loyalty? Setting specific goals helps you tailor your ambassador program and measure success later on.

For example, HexClad activated all their ambassadors to drive conversions for a BFCM campaign:

2. Choose the Right Type of Ambassador

Not all ambassadors are created equal—what works for one brand might not work for another. That’s why it’s important to pick the type of ambassador that truly fits your brand’s voice, values, and audience.

• If you’re a DTC skincare brand, your loyal customers who already rave about your products on Instagram are a great place to start. Their word-of-mouth carries serious weight.
• If you’re building a professional services brand, employees who post on LinkedIn and share behind-the-scenes content can be powerful internal advocates.
• If you’re targeting niche communities, like gamers, runners, or plant lovers, micro-influencers are your best bet. They have deep trust within their small but focused audience.
• If your brand is young and bold, like an energy drink or streetwear label, college students might be the perfect grassroots voice for your product on campus.
• If you’re after massive reach, you might consider celebrities—but remember, they’re expensive and not always as trusted as real fans or micro-creators.

The key? Match the ambassador type to your goals, audience, and product. Authenticity always wins.

For example, Liquid Death partners up with celebs like Martha Stewart for awareness campaigns, but also partners up with micro-influencers for conversion campaigns.

3. Build a Selection Process

Start with a clear and simple way to identify potential ambassadors—this could be through a landing page to get applications on your site, proactive social media outreach, or just paying attention to loyal customers who already rave about your brand.

Once you’ve got candidates, focus on vetting for quality and alignment. Look at how they talk about brands online—are they positive, professional, and authentic? Check their engagement rates rather than just follower count, and consider asking a few questions in your application form to understand why they want to represent your brand.

Take a page from Sephora’s playbook: they open their ambassador applications just once a year. This helps them focus on quality, streamline onboarding, and build a tighter-knit community. The exclusivity also creates urgency—when they opened applications in 2022, they received nearly 9,000 entries, the most since 2019.

4. Set Expectations & Provide Guidelines

Be clear about what you expect from your ambassadors—how often to post, what kind of content to create, and any brand rules they should follow. Providing brand guidelines keeps messaging consistent and protects your brand reputation.

Clear expectations also help ambassadors feel confident and supported. Share examples of successful content, give them a brand kit with logos, colors, and messaging do’s and don’ts, and offer creative prompts if needed. When ambassadors know what success looks like, they’re more likely to deliver results—and enjoy the process, too.

5. Engage and Reward Regularly

Keep your ambassadors motivated by maintaining open communication, offering support, and recognizing their efforts. Rewards could be exclusive discounts, free products, special events, or even monetary incentives. The key is to make them feel valued and part of your brand family.

You can also strengthen the relationship by involving ambassadors in behind-the-scenes moments—sneak peeks of product launches, early access to campaigns, or input on upcoming drops. These small gestures foster a deeper sense of ownership and connection, turning ambassadors into long-term advocates, not just one-off promoters.

For example, Sephora makes their creators fly down to a single location for the launch party. It's a 4-5 day event where they meet everyone, give goodies, and most importantly, create content.

6. Track Performance

Use metrics like referral traffic, social engagement, and sales conversions to see how your ambassadors are impacting your business. Performance Tracking helps you understand what’s working, optimize your program, and celebrate wins with your team.

Measuring Success and ROI

Tracking how well your brand ambassador program performs is key to making sure it’s worth your time and investment. Here are some important metrics to keep an eye on:

• Referral Traffic: See how many visitors come to your site through ambassador links or codes. This shows how effective they are at driving people to your brand.
• Engagement: Monitor likes, comments, shares, and overall interaction on ambassador-generated content. High engagement means the content resonates with the audience.
• User-Generated Content (UGC) Quantity: The amount of photos, videos, or posts your ambassadors create reflects how active and enthusiastic they are. More UGC means more authentic promotion.
• Conversion Rates: Track how many referred visitors become customers. This metric helps measure the real impact on sales and revenue.

Regularly reviewing these metrics helps you tweak your approach and celebrate your program’s wins.

Real-World Examples of Brand Ambassador Programs

1. Glossier

Glossier’s brand ambassadors are mostly their loyal customers—everyday people who genuinely love their skincare and beauty products. The brand encourages these fans to share honest reviews and real-life photos on social media.

Glossier makes it easy for ambassadors to engage by featuring their content on the brand’s own channels, creating a community feel. This approach has helped Glossier build massive trust and authenticity, driving organic growth and a highly engaged fan base.

Here’s an influencer-specific landing page by Glossier:

2. Liquid Death

Liquid Death takes a unique approach by recruiting student ambassadors who promote their edgy mountain water on college campuses and social media. These ambassadors organize events, create content, and spread the brand’s fun, rebellious personality among younger audiences.

By tapping into tight-knit student communities, Liquid Death creates grassroots buzz that feels authentic and relatable. The result? A rapidly growing, loyal following among Gen Z consumers.

Here’s an Instagram creator promoting Liquid Death:

3. Lululemon

Lululemon partners with local community leaders and fitness instructors who embody the brand’s active lifestyle values. These ambassadors host workout classes, share their fitness journeys, and advocate for healthy living, all while representing Lululemon products.

The brand provides support through exclusive events, early product access, and special rewards. This strategy not only strengthens Lululemon’s connection with local communities but also boosts long-term brand loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals.

Common Mistakes to Avoid With Ambassadors

1 — Choosing the Wrong Ambassadors

Picking ambassadors who don’t truly connect with your brand can hurt your image and fail to engage your target audience.

Always look for genuine passion and alignment with your values. A large following doesn’t matter if there’s no real connection. Vet their past content to ensure it matches your tone and audience. For example, Pepsi’s 2017 ad featuring Kendall Jenner faced backlash for trivializing social justice. Jenner wasn’t seen as a credible voice on activism. The misalignment led to public outrage, forcing Pepsi to pull the ad within 24 hours.

2 — Lack of Communication or Reward

If ambassadors feel ignored or unappreciated, their enthusiasm will fade quickly. Regular check-ins and meaningful rewards keep them motivated and committed.

Build relationships beyond transactional posts—treat them like team members. Even a simple thank-you or feature on your brand page goes a long way.

3 — Not Aligning with Brand Values

Ambassadors who don’t share or represent your brand’s core values can create mixed messages and confuse your audience.

Consistency is key for building trust. Make your values clear during onboarding and in your brand guidelines. People can sense inauthenticity fast—don’t risk losing credibility.

Imagine Cristiano Ronaldo endorsing Coca-Cola—his fit, healthy image clashes with Coke’s sugary drinks reputation. This mismatch could confuse fans and spark backlash, showing why brand-ambassador values must align for authenticity.

4 —No Clear Metrics

Without tracking specific goals and results, it’s hard to know what’s working and what isn’t. Set clear benchmarks from the start to measure your program’s success.

Monitor metrics like engagement, content output, referral traffic, and conversions. Use data to refine your program and double down on what’s effective.

Conclusion

Brand ambassadors are some of the most powerful allies your business can have. They bring authenticity, build trust, and create real connections between your brand and your audience. Whether you start small with a few passionate customers or go big with a formal program, the key is to get going and learn as you grow.

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