What Are Brand Advocates And Can They Promote Your Brand?
Brand advocates are like brand ambassadors, but they're paid to help your brand. Instead of being rewarded for sharing your products and services, they get rewarded with special access to them, which can lead to fun and exciting perks.
As brands become more popular, we see an increase in the number of individuals who have become brand advocates. What is a brand advocate? A brand advocate has developed a strong bond with a specific brand. This bond is based on loyalty, trust, and a perceived understanding of the brand.
When this happens, these individuals come to be known as brand advocates. This type of consumer is more likely to purchase a specific brand than other products. You can find these individuals by asking questions such as: “How did you come to know and trust this particular brand?” or “Why do you feel so strongly about this brand?”
If you're a brand owner, evangelist, or marketer, you know how important it is to build a fan base for your brand. But if you've ever tried to do that, you know how challenging it can be to build a community of brand advocates.
You've probably heard of brands that have built massive fan bases and have become household names in no time.
- But how did they do it?
- What were the secrets behind their success?
- And, most importantly, can you achieve the same results?
In this article, I will share with you what I've learned about building brand advocates over the past ten years. I'll reveal the secrets behind how to build a successful brand advocate program and how you can get started right away.
Table of Contents
What Are Brand Advocates?
Brand advocates are people who choose and love a specific brand, product, or service because they find value in it. For instance, someone who loves a car brand is a brand advocate. Brand advocates are loyal to a company and tend to support products they believe in.
Brands want to cultivate an emotional connection with consumers, so they create content to promote their products. Content marketing helps brands create awareness about their brand, which ultimately leads to more sales. But content marketing alone isn't enough to build a brand advocate relationship.
For a brand to be successful, it needs to find ways to engage its audience and strengthen relationships with them. That means creating meaningful and engaging content to convince your audience to become a brand advocates.
Why Brands Need to Get to Know Their Audience
Brands must understand what motivates them to purchase and how they communicate with their customers. That's because, according to Bright Local, 84% of people trust online reviews (and most of them aren't true).
But that doesn't mean brands can't use customer feedback. Instead, they need to be more creative with it to get the results they're looking for. Here are some ways that brands can take advantage of customer feedback:
- Create a community and cultivate a conversation with your customers.
- Reach your audience with an open mind and listen to what they have to say.
- Ask your fans and followers for feedback about your brand, product, and services.
- Ask for testimonials and endorsements from your customers.
- Engage your customers with contests and giveaways.
- Ask them for social proof to drive traffic.
- Build a community of brand advocates.
- Connect with your fans and followers on social media.
- Provide incentives to get them to be advocates.
- Use your influencers to promote your brand.
- Find and work with influencers to amplify your brand.
- Ask for opinions and reviews on your website or blog.
- Ask for reviews on your app or online store.
- Promote your content on your website and social media pages.
Why Are They So Important To Your Business?
If you're wondering why brand advocates are crucial to your business, you've come to the right place. We'll tell you how to attract more brand advocates, including the five steps of effective brand advocacy marketing.
Brand advocates are the secret sauce to any company's success. They are the primary reason why businesses are thriving. That's why understanding the importance of brand advocates and knowing how to reach them effectively is so important.
To effectively market your brand, you need brand advocates. These are customers, fans, customers, friends, and friends of friends. They are loyal to your brand and your company. They are actively engaged with your brand, meaning they are involved in your brand's activities and share your brand's mission.
These are your most influential and valuable consumers. If they love your product or service, they'll advocate it to others. When they do that, your sales go up, and your revenue increases.
In other words, brand advocates are an essential component of your company's success. You need brand advocates if you want to sell more products and services, so if you're thinking of launching a new product or service or improving the existing one, you must find the right brand advocates.
Why Brand Advocates Are So Important
Here are a few reasons brand advocates are essential to your business.
- Your brand is a reflection of your company. Your brand advocates are the people who know your brand best, and they are your biggest fans. They are the people who share your mission, your values, and your brand's vision.
- Brand advocates can help spread your message. If they are happy with your company, they'll talk to their friends and families about your brand. They'll share your message on social media and online reviews if they love your company. In other words, they'll be your most prominent marketers, and they'll promote your brand.
- Brand advocates are the perfect salespeople. Brand advocates are like ambassadors of your company. They're your ambassadors and the people who spread your message and the brand's mission. They are the best at speaking about your brand, so they are the perfect salespeople for your brand.
- Brand advocates are a great way to acquire new customers. It's relatively easy to acquire new customers. It's easier to gain new customers than retain existing ones. Brand advocates are your ideal customers and are a great way to grow your customer base.
- Brand advocates are the secret to sustainable growth. It's straightforward to acquire new customers. It's harder, though, to keep customers and grow your business. A brand's popularity wanes over time, and losing your best customers is easy. This means that you must acquire new customers regularly to maintain growth. However, your brand's sustainability depends on your brand's ability to keep your best customers. You can achieve this by having brand advocates.
Why Should You Invest In Them?
If you were to ask your customers what they thought of their product, they would say that they had an excellent customer service experience, a perfect product, or a fantastic price.
When running a successful online business, you probably focus on driving more traffic to your website and getting more customers. But that doesn't mean you should neglect customer service. Customers may leave reviews or comment on social media but still need someone to answer their questions.
If you've ever shopped online, you probably know that customer service is hit-or-miss. Some companies provide exceptional customer service, but others are so bad that you'd instead just buy a product off Amazon.
That's where brand advocates come in. They're loyal customers, and they're passionate about your products. They'll tell everyone they know about your company and its products, building your visibility and brand awareness.
Brand advocates are extremely valuable. They give you instant credibility, which means they can influence other customers and get your name out there.
If you're a blogger, they're great for blog reviews, too. But even if you're not, you can still benefit from them. Once people discover that you have brand advocates, you'll likely get more inquiries and business.
They also can become your marketing team. Your brand advocates can do everything from spreading the word to posting reviews on sites like Facebook and Google.
How Do You Find And Hire The Right People?
As a new entrepreneur, you're probably just learning how to market your products. So it's understandable that you might not know how to identify a good brand advocate.
There are two ways to find brand advocates. One is to look for people who are already loyal to your brand.
These are the type of people who are more likely to help your business succeed. You can find them on your own or pay a professional to do them.
The other way is to look for people willing to share your company with others. That's the job of a brand advocate, so you don't need to pay anyone to do it.
If you want to find brand advocates, your best bet is to start with friends and family. Ask them to share your product with their friends and followers. If they love it, they'll be happy to do so for you.
Don't worry if your first few brand advocates are not your target audience. They'll grow independently as you develop new relationships with your customers.
Remember that brand advocacy is a two-way street. Brand advocates are like any other customer: They don't work for free. When someone asks you to share your company, they expect something in return.
It's vital to offer brand advocates the products they want. You want to make sure they're happy. It shows that you're providing quality products and services, which positively impacts your brand.
Can You Hire A Brand Advocate?
You can hire a brand advocate for a specific purpose, or you can use a freelancer. If you want to hire a freelance brand advocate, check out the freelance sites to find the best deal.
Freelance brand advocates generally charge a flat fee per post. For example, one company charges $500 to $1,000 for a blogger to share a product.
If you want to keep things simple, consider hiring a brand advocate for a specific purpose. You could pay a company to hire a blogger to talk about your products, or you could pay someone to help spread the word about your event.
It's important to know that brand advocacy is a form of advertising. You're paying to promote your products or services through another person's channels.
It's wise to work with a professional. A brand advocate should be willing to write about your company and products, but expecting them to do everything independently is not a good idea. A good brand advocate is happy to help your business succeed, but they don't want to spend all their time promoting it.
What are the significant players in brand advocacy?
Brands are more than the sum of their products; they are built upon the efforts of marketers, strategists, and other professionals who support and advance the brand. And brands, in turn, support and influence the careers of many professionals who work closely with them.
There are three main groups of people who drive brand engagement.
Brands
The most visible players in the brand promotion are the brand companies themselves. These entities exist to promote the brands they own, and their marketing teams are responsible for creating, managing, and executing a brand's communications strategy.
Brands don't always want to be on the front lines of consumer communication. Some brands prefer to hire public relations agencies to act as brand advocates and build relationships with the media. And some brands like to leverage influencers to communicate with consumers through their channels.
But most brands want to be seen and, in some cases, heard. For this reason, they rely heavily on agencies and PR firms to help them craft messaging, set up media interviews, and plan press conferences.
Advisors
The second leading player in brand advertising is the brand's ad agency. These organisations provide various services, including branding, design, strategy, analytics, creative, media, and PR. In addition to their internal teams, they often employ freelancers and consultants to ensure their services are available when needed.
Brands hire advisors to offer strategic and tactical advice. For example, an ad agency might suggest how a brand should position itself to a particular target audience. Or a consultant might tell a brand to invest in a new marketing channel because it aligns with the brand's vision.
A brand's ad agency is more than just a service provider; it is a trusted advisor to the brand and its people.
Influencers
The brand's influencers are the third and most influential group of brand promoters. Influencers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, but they all share one common trait: they're the people and entities that have the power to influence the buying decisions of consumers.
The brand employs these influencers, in-house employees, or independent, including bloggers, vloggers, YouTubers, and celebrities. Either way, these individuals are known for their expertise and knowledge on a particular subject. When it comes to buying decisions, these influencers may have an impact that is greater than the impact of any one brand product or service.
Because of their reach, many influencers are consumers' first point of contact when they begin searching for a new brand. Brands, therefore, play an essential role in positively and negatively shaping influencers' identities.
To influence influencers, brands need to:
- Work with influencers to identify their potential to influence a specific category of consumer
- Encourage and support the behaviours that are necessary to earn the trust of influencers
- Keep the influencer's identity protected
- Provide the necessary incentives to encourage positive behaviours
- Use the right tools to manage the influencer's account
Brand Advocates Vs. Other Marketing Methods
We will compare the main ways of attracting new customers to your brand.
What is the difference between Brand Advocates & Viral Marketing
A viral marketing campaign or marketing method refers to any effort that encourages people to share information or spread ideas through word of mouth. This is done by making a product, idea, or service so engaging that people want to tell their friends, family, and colleagues about it. In other words, viral marketing is any effort to get people to talk about you and your brand.
The difference between a Brand Advocate and a Viral Marketing Campaign is that Brand Advocates are people you have personally invited to be your Brand Advocate. When someone signs up to become your brand advocate, they agree to act as a “brand ambassador” for your company. They aim to spread the word about your company to get people to purchase your products or services.
Brand advocates are often recruited for their existing contacts and relationships with friends, family members, and colleagues. For example, a business may offer to pay a friend $100 per month to serve as a brand advocate, thus gaining access to their social network.
Unlike a viral marketing campaign, in which people are invited to participate by posting links or sharing ideas, a brand advocate program requires the person signing up to be paid. Thus, hiring a brand advocate is more expensive than a viral marketing campaign. However, a brand ambassador program is much more effective because it enables you to recruit people to help sell your products and services.
Why should I hire a Brand Ambassador?
- Brand ambassadors are people you already know and trust. That means you can reach out to them quickly to ask them to share your message with their network.
- Brand ambassadors have the potential to reach hundreds or even thousands of people, depending on the size of a social network.
- Unlike a traditional advertising campaign, brand ambassador programs are free to run. You don't need to buy airtime or print ads.
- A brand ambassador is more likely to be successful in spreading your message than a casual visitor to your site.
- You can reach your target audience more personally, which increases the chance of someone taking action.
- Your message will appear in the inboxes of your brand ambassadors, giving it more credibility.
- Brand ambassadors are more likely to spread your message than people who just happen to come across your website. They're already part of your social network.
- In a survey of nearly 1,000 Americans, 67% said they would be more likely to purchase from a company if they knew that a friend had recommended it.
Why is Brand Advocacy Important?
Most of the people we encounter are not looking to buy anything today. Most of the time, we just go through the motions, checking emails and surfing the Internet.
However, every time we decide to do something, we make a choice. If we click on a link to read an article, we choose to take that action. If we decide to check our email or visit a website, we choose to do so.
These choices are powerful. Every time we make one, it is like a billboard to our friends, family, and colleagues. If we are trying to market a new product or service, we have the opportunity to show the world that we are serious about this project.
The question is, how many people are willing to choose us over our competition? In fact, according to a recent study, only 7% of consumers say that word-of-mouth is the number one reason they shop. But that means 93% of the time, our customers choose us because we've given them a good reason.
We can choose to do what it takes to ensure that people know about us and our products. Brand Advocacy is a powerful tool in that respect.
How To Get Brand Advocates To Talk About Your Product/Company
We've all heard the expression, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This is especially true in business. If you want to get brand advocates to talk about your product, then it has to look and sound authentic.
What are the benefits of having brand ambassadors?
Here are a few of the benefits of having brand ambassadors:
They make your brand look real
When ambassadors start talking about your brand, they are talking about it with authority. It's like having an endorsement from someone in your industry, and it can help your brand get noticed.
Brand ambassadors have a built-in audience
Your ambassadors are already familiar with your product, so when they talk about it, they give a recommendation they've received from people in their circles.
Brand ambassadors can be effective marketers
When people hear brand ambassadors talking about your brand, they are more likely to listen to what they say. After all, it's easier to trust someone you know and see every day.
How To Get Brand Advocates To Talk
As we mentioned, brand ambassadors can help build relationships and get people to talk about your product and business. Here are some ideas on how you can get them to promote your product:
Have them tell a story
If you're a customer, they are telling your story and helping you understand what it's like to buy your product.
If you're a company, they are telling your story to other companies and showing that you have a strong reputation.
When people talk about your product, they talk about your brand and company. When they talk about your brand, they tell people your products are worth buying.
Encourage them to use your product
When you ask someone to use your product, they tell everyone they've used it. They are telling them that it works and is easy to use.
In addition, if they are happy with the product, they are more likely to be a brand ambassador for your business.
Have them mention your business in a positive light
If your brand ambassadors talk about your business positively, it's more likely that people will start talking about your product.
Keep an eye on them
Make sure that the brand ambassadors are representing your company positively. You need to let them know if they aren't doing this.
Use them to attract new customers
One of the best ways to get brand ambassadors to talk about your business is to use them to attract new customers.
Ask them to share your product
When they share your product on social media or other forums, it shows that they recommend it. People are more likely to buy your product after they read about it from a brand ambassador.
Ask them to be the face of your product
Some businesses use people to represent their products or service. Brand ambassadors are perfect candidates if you're the type of business that uses this tactic. They are people known in the community and have an existing network of contacts.
Getting brand ambassadors to talk about your product is one of the most effective ways to create an authentic appearance for your brand. The more people know about your product, the more likely you will attract new customers.
Conclusion
Brand Advocates are people who will be happy to tell others about your brand or service. In return, you pay them for their time.
They are usually people who already use your brand, so they are often familiar with it and willing to help others find it.
While many people don't realise it, many businesses pay for brand advocates to help promote their brands and services. This is known as “paid endorsements”.
The best thing about paid endorsers is that they are already familiar with your brand and can help spread the word. This makes them great for promoting your brand to new people.
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