Business News of Thursday, 23 February 2017

Source: Bernard Kelvin Clive

Why you need a brand ambassador - Bernard Kelvin Clive

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Personal Branding Coach/Brand Strategist at BKC Consulting, Lifestyle Entrepreneur, Amazon bestselling author and Ghana's foremost authority on Personal branding and Digital Publishing expert Bernard Kelvin Clive has shared tips on why a company needs a brand ambassador

Why you Need a Brand Ambassador

A brand ambassador is a person who is engaged by a company/brand to promote the brand – giving it more visibility, value, and reach to increase the Return-On-Investment (ROI).

Branding and marketing have evolved over the years with technology and speed of change and innovation, which has influenced the way brands do interact with consumers and other businesses to properly position their brands. The reason why brand ambassadors are very much needed to help promote, educate and share in the brand's success.

Here are some reasons why you need brand ambassadors:

1. Lead Generation:

Brand ambassadors serve as leads for your brand, they help bring in more customers. An effective brand ambassador stands the chance of bringing in more business than adverts.

2. Human Connection:

The truth is that people buy into people. People tend to believe more, what their friends tell them about a product/service than the media/ads. Brand ambassadors help to bring the human touch to your brand; they help build a more personal relationship with consumers thereby making the brand more lovable.

3. Loyal Customers:

An effective brand ambassador becomes more loyal to your brand because they believe and like your products, they become your first consumers (paid or free). In effect, they also use their influence to lead others to become loyal to the brand. 4. Reputation:

Your brand reputation is critical to the survival and success of your brand. Your brand ambassadors go out there to protect your brand and ensure that your brand is seen in a more positive light. They can quickly and easily correct misconceptions about your brand.

5. Wider Reach:

You can’t be everywhere at the same time. This is what your brand ambassadors do; they represent you at places that you can’t be. They become your mouthpiece; they help spread your brand wider to their circles of influence.

6. Go Viral:

Viral reach here implies getting loads of word-of-mouth for your products by your brand ambassadors either online or offline. Imagine a social media influencer as your brand ambassador tweets or shares about your brand, its effect is huge. Having an influential brand ambassador mentioning or wearing your product on a popular TV show stands the chance of reaching far more people than advertisements.

7. Feedbacks:

As I say, ‘feedbacks are a brand’s way of looking back’; your brand ambassadors will largely have their ears on the ground to provide you with feedbacks to help enhance your brand. Though all feedbacks may not be positive, they will help you shape your brand, innovate where necessary to produce better tailor-made services to clients.

Bernard Kelvin Clive is an Author, Speaker, and Trainer, Ghana’s foremost authority on Personal branding and Digital Publishing who hosts the #1 ranked Business & Career Podcast in Ghana/Botswana.

He is a Lifestyle Entrepreneur, Personal Branding Coach and Brand Strategist at BKC Consulting with over 10 years of experience in digital publishing, has offered consulting services to hundreds of writers, poets, authors locally and internationally to self-publish their books. He is an Amazon bestselling author of over 30 published books. He is a familiar face on GTV and other TV stations where he shares his ideas on branding and strategy. His ideas and perspective on branding is touted as unconventional and revolutionary and has won him many admirers including Seth Godin.