With the advancement of technology, there are a dozen new ways to run advertisements and promote your brand. While consumers’ trust is rapidly dropping in paid ads, influencer marketing and relevant brand ambassador campaigns have continued to be a reliable and cost-effective method for a brand to not just have more conversions but also connect with consumers and establish their presence
A lot of people tend to confuse brand ambassadors and influencers. Although there are many similarities between the two, some key differences set them apart. In this blog, we will explain how you can distinguish between the two and give you a few tips on selecting the right fit for future collaborations.
What is the difference between influencer marketing and brand ambassadors?
Influencer marketing and brand ambassadors both revolve around product/service recommendations. To execute this, brands collaborate with content creators to reach their target audience without getting on their nerves.
Influencer campaigns and brand ambassadors are easily confusing, as the two have many similarities. Here’s what makes them different,
Brand ambassadors are definite in the following ways:
1) Brand ambassadorships are usually long-term in nature.
2) Ambassadors partner with fewer brands.
3) Brand ambassadors take little to no compensation
On the contrary, influencers may only follow the following:
1) Influencer marketing is usually short-term.
2) With influencer marketing, you can expect high-quality content.
3) For influencer marketing, you generally need to compensate the influencers unless it’s made on a barter basis.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of online marketing. Just like how celebrity endorsement works, modern-day content-driven marketing campaigns done with influencers are called influencer marketing.
Pros of Influencer Marketing
1) Increased Reach: Creating content is a full-time job for influencers. They consistently keep generating content for their page, increasing the content’s reach.
2) Variety of influencers: You can choose influencers on various parameters, for example, their followers count, niche, reach, demographics, etc.
3) Expertise: Marketing is what they do best in a way that they present your product but do not make it look very salesy.
Cons of Influencer Marketing
1) Duration: An influencer campaign is usually done for a short period. It might generate some buzz immediately but not receive the desired engagement in the long run.
2) Increased Marketing Spend: Except for Barter Campaigns, you need to compensate the influencers for their services. Which increases the cost for the brand.
3) Long-term growth: One-off collaboration with an influencer won’t generate the best results for your brand in the long run.
Tips for choosing Influencers for Influencer marketing
1) Quality > Quantity: Choose Influencers with a” high quality” engaged audience that aligns with your target audience’s interests rather than going for an influencer with a large follower count.
2) Let go of some control: Influencers are a powerhouse of creativity. Give up some creative control and let the influencer showcase your brand in their way.
3) Build a long-term relationship: This needs to be on priority after you are done with your marketing campaign. Building a positive long-term relationship with the influencer shows that the brand trusts them and is open to future collaboration opportunities.
Want to know the 7 factors to pick the right influencer? Read this.
Who is a Brand Ambassador?
A Brand Ambassador is a person who genuinely uses and likes your product. You feature them in your marketing campaigns for the long term. A Brand ambassador can be your employee, loyal customer, or even an influencer.
Pros of Brand Ambassadors
1) Humanize your brand: People like to interact with a known brand with its character rather than a faceless organization.
2) Reduced marketing spend: The money spent to reimburse the brand ambassadors is usually less.
3) Boost your online reputation: The ambassadors help radiate a favourable brand reputation online.
Cons of Brand Ambassador
Brand ambassador collaborations would consume some extra time and effort to show results. It’s not something that’s going to yield results overnight.
Brand ambassadors, unlike influencers, will be collaborating with you on a long-term basis. So, when the ambassador keeps promoting the products in their circle, it can get repetitive and boring, and the reach would also be significantly less.
Tips for choosing the next Brand Ambassador for your brand
1) Find someone genuinely passionate about your brand: It’s much easier for an individual to describe something they like the most. If the brand ambassador genuinely likes your products. It gets easier for them to convince their audience.
2) Establish your goals: With Brand ambassadors, it will be a long-term collaboration. It’s essential to have both the brand and the ambassador on the same page. So, set clear goals for your collaboration and communicate the same with the ambassador.
Influencer Marketing or Brand Ambassador Program which is a better fit for my Brand?
Choose Influencer Marketing: Looking to build brand awareness, showcase your new launch, etc? Influencer marketing is the thing you need! Influencers have a large following, they are a great medium to showcase your product/service relatively quickly!
Additionally, if you are looking to run campaigns at certain times of the year, influencer marketing is the way to go!
Choose Brand Ambassador Program: If you deal in niche markets or have premium products/services. Brand Ambassadors put in the extra mile and become an expert users of your product/service.
In the long term, the brand ambassador can guide their followers based on your requirement.
We have laid down the difference between influencer marketing and brand ambassadors and mentioned tips for choosing them. You can now hunt for influencers and ambassadors for your next marketing campaign. Contact Sehaye!
At Sehaye, we can help you get the best influencers and brand ambassadors for your brand. Want to check it yourself? Book a demo call now!
