Engaging a Brand Ambassador for your next Fashion Campaign

Choosing a Brand Ambassador for a campaign, product or a company can be a daunting task to undertake. The success of your engagement with a brand ambassador will be measured by your overall campaign goal. Over the years, we have seen companies engage several personalities from various industries such as sports, entertainment, lifestyle and business for one campaign or the other.

It is evident that brand ambassadors play very vital roles in influencing consumer perception, promotional strategies. Studies have over 70% of brand perception by consumers is determined by the experience with an individual representative of the brand.

They are either engaged to become the face of a particular product, a campaign or a company by leveraging on their personality and following both online and offline to influence, communicate, promote or drive consumers to action. These partnerships most times are meant to increase awareness and generate consumer appeal, trust and possibly eventual purchase depending on the ultimate goal of the campaign.

In some instances, things could get out of hand with a brand ambassador which could have dire consequences on the company’s reputation and in turn affect the company’s revenue.

In avoidance of any crisis and damages, companies and brand managers need to consider the following in deciding who, why and how they should sign up that brand ambassador.

Do a thorough research

Before ever settling on who to engage for a brand ambassador role, make sure to do a thorough background check of who the person is. Know who they are, what they do, what they represent and their values. Review their history and past affiliations with other brands. Be sure the person has a good track record that will make consumers trust him or her and which will certainly be translated onto your product. Consider someone who is trust worthy and can represent your brand at all times. Your research should also answer questions such as; Does he or she appeal to your target market? Does the person have tendency to drive consumer decision to purchase? Once these are answered in the affirmative, then you are good to go.

Consider someone who is media and consumer friendly

Brand ambassadors must be media-friendly and relate to all persons across board. They must be able to answer questions about your product and speak confidently and directly about your brand to the media and also help you in achieving your entire communication and brand goal. Additionally, they should be able to properly deliver your message to the right target market. Being in a social media and technological era, it will be an added advantage to have someone who has a good following and engagement on social media.

Clearly state his or her scope of work

Once you have settled on who you want to sign up for as your brand ambassador, clearly spell out their scope of work in a written document that binds his or her deliverables, timelines, and KPI’s etc. With this done, the brand ambassador understands the magnitude and scope of the work before work commences.

Provide detailed Messaging Guide

Providing them with a messaging guide will be in place to ensure that they know what to say, when to say it and which medium they ought to say it. A messaging guide also sees to it that the right information being conveyed to your intended target market. The messaging should be relateable and done to reflect the personality’s way of doing and saying things, that way its original as possible.

Sign a Memorandum of Understanding or Contract

Having a binding document is very crucial when working with a brand ambassador for your business or product. Many a times, people do not take this aspect seriously and eventually find themselves in legal battles. The contract should clearly spell out the legal ramifications should either party default on their obligations as carried out in the binding document. Issues of exclusivity and default should all be clearly agreed upon before appending a signature onto the document. When not sure, do consult a legal practitioner to assist you on that.

Have a Crisis Communication Plan

No one expects a crisis in any business venture, but the unexpected always happens. It will be best to have a plan in place to deal with such issues rather than to be caught off guard and unprepared. A crisis communication plan will be a road map to guide you in dealing with any issue that will arise as a result of your partnership with the brand ambassador. It will direct how to manage and communicate your way out of the ‘mess’ created. A crisis management specialist can help you get a plan in place.

Photocredit: Google Image

Faith Senam Ocloo
Fashion Public Relations
Fashion I Beauty I Lifestyle I Arts