The commercial power of employee brand ambassadors
Executives looking for new strategies to increase business revenue and company differentiation often overlook a powerful stakeholder group: employees.
These people live and breathe the company daily, innately understand its culture and values, and have huge potential as brand champions. In a world cluttered by ads, the voices of happy and engaged employees are one of the most authentic types of promotion.
Unlike external influencers or a new dedicated team, these highly effective ambassadors don’t require additional work streams and budgets. Edelman found that when it comes to whether people believe in brand fit, 57% are persuaded by testimony from ‘people like themselves’—a number that exceeds experts or paid influencers.
In the Connected and Empowered Enterprise—the future for B2B revenue organizations that Numentum helps to build—employee ambassador programs are operationalized at scale. This article provides an overview of the steps leaders can take to begin the transformation in their business.
Why are employee ambassadors important?
Employee ambassadors help to promote a brand and its products or services, as well as the company as an employer. As consumers, we are saturated by information on a daily basis, and there’s a limit to how receptive buyers and employees will be to heavily branded messages.
Humans want to hear from humans. They want social proof and want to see a brand brought to life in ways that feel authentic. Leaders can facilitate this by empowering and equipping employees to share (both offline and online) aspects of the company that resonate with them.
Positive effects of employee brand ambassadors
The two topline positive effects of employee brand ambassadors are:
More brand exposure: AdWeek found that 76% of individuals say they’re more likely to trust content shared by ‘normal’ people than that shared by brands. Information about a company will resonate more when it comes from employees. Trust rises, along with brand affinity and propensity to buy.
A stronger talent pipeline: When employees enjoy their experience with a company enough to talk about it with their networks, teams will see both acquisition and retention benefits.
It’s a virtuous circle, as engagement on this level is a leading indicator of whether someone plans to stay in a role. These highly engaged employees are more likely to share open roles, thus widening the talent pool, and bringing in top new talent through referrals.
How to create an employee brand ambassador program
A successful program involves the right tools, incentives, and content. But it begins with foundational introspection and cultural alignment before layering on ways to make the sharing process easy and rewarding.
1. Start with values
For an employee ambassador program to take off, it needs to be rooted in a culture that employees recognize and identify with. People increasingly want to give their time to companies that align with their values—Qualtrics found that 46% of employees are considering a new job because their current employer doesn’t match their values. More than half (56%) wouldn’t consider a role with a company that had misaligned values.
Companies need to be clear on their values in order to find and hire people with the right fit potential. To paraphrase Simon Sinek, it’s important for employees to understand the why, not just what you do. This is the first step to creating vocal employee brand ambassadors.
2. Make the day-to-day matter
Values need to be backed up with evidence in the daily experience of employees. Executives should work with the CHRO to establish clear and consistent guidelines through questions like:
Do we have the right processes in place to support employee learning and development?
Can people see their career goals as achievable in our organization?
Do we have well-communicated and fair systems in place for important career events like promotions and complaints?
Do we regularly solicit and act on employee feedback?
Regardless of how much values are shared across the organization, employees will only become advocates if they’re experiencing a benchmark of job satisfaction on a daily basis.
3. Balance a framework with freedom
The key to an effective employee ambassador program is a balance between branding and creative freedom. Employees need to meet a threshold of branded consistency, but what they share can’t feel forced.
Business leader Scott Klinger explains: “Every company should create a framework for employees that offers guidelines but allows them to advocate in their own voice and tout their favorite features and experiences.”
This could take the form of written guidelines that are simple and easy to follow. We help organizations ensure that all employee online profiles are brought up to a high standard. Beyond employer brand power, this benefits employees by helping them develop their own personal brand.
4. Gamify the execution
Managing an employee ambassador program can be simplified with the help of incentives, gamification, and digital tools. Leaderboards and prizes will encourage friendly competition among employees. And look to best-in-class solutions that help automate content management and create a library that makes sharing easy. These platforms include FirstUp, Oktopost, and EveryoneSocial.
With an online brand ambassador program, performance can be measured through indicators such as mentions, shares, and views. However, harder-to-track offline activities are just as important to empower brand ambassadors and increase the brand’s reach.
5. Facilitate offline ambassadorship
Just as online tools and training help to guide employee ambassadors without controlling what they say, the same can be said about branded swag. Employees who wear or use branded products encourage the word-of-mouth advocacy that is the cornerstone of an ambassador’s commercial power.
Clothing is a popular choice and a good place to start. Ensuring that it’s good quality will increase the likelihood it will actually be worn, and a range of sizing options promotes inclusivity.
Beyond this, leaders should think about items that are actually helpful—and can be used outside the house to increase brand exposure. Backpacks work well, as do reusable thermos cups or picnic blankets. Make decisions based on what will add value to the lives of employees.
6. Gather feedback and iterate
Laying the groundwork for an employee ambassador program is just that. The promise of commercial power may not be unlocked on the first iteration. It’s important to continually track the performance of the program and provide a forum for anonymous feedback. Adapt based on findings and use engagement metrics to continually improve the success of the program.
Drive business growth with employee brand ambassadors
Employees have the potential to be an organization’s biggest advocates. Their voices can cut through the noise of branded posts and paid ads—and they help to unlock the truly Connected and Empowered Enterprise.
For an ambassador program to be effective, employees must identify with the culture of the organization. Start with the foundations of building a positive employee experience rooted in values and then simplify the pathways to share that experience both online and offline.
Revenue Forward
Numentum is a B2B enterprise sales training company that integrates social selling into existing sales processes to engage today’s hyper-informed buyers. Our programmatic approach maximizes the utility of brand, marketing assets, and sales technology to generate predictable pipeline and revenue. We partner with forward-thinking brands to bring focus, routine, and accountability to their sales teams. Our customers include SAP, Workday, Vodafone Business, Verizon Business, Broadcom, and RELX.
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