Is your team proud to be associated with your company? What would happen if you viewed your team members as brand ambassadors? Ambassadors whose stories attract ideal clients and future team members. How would that impact your relationship with them? How would it impact their work and professional development?
Talents developed in the Aman, Ritz or Cheval Blanc game get strengthened over the course of time, making it impossible for players [employees] to downgrade.
– Ana Andjelic
How do team members talk about your company?
Your team members talk about their work to friends and family. There is a good chance they talk about work online too. What is the story they tell about your company? As a leader, how can you create experiences or moments at work they want to talk about? The team member experience is just as important as the client experience, if not more.
Social Media
The rate at which social media changes is difficult for any one person or small team to manage. Sharing ideas and practices among the team opens the door for fresh ideas and different perspectives. What does your team experience and see in the field? Social media platforms tend to roll out updates in waves so what one team member experiences online may be different from another. Encourage your team to be the eyes and ears of the business.
- What conversations or movements are gaining popularity?
- What content or design trends do they see in images, audio, and video?
- Who are some of their favorite brands or influencers to follow?
People build relationships with people, not brands. Successful businesses know this. This is why you see brand ambassadors, influencers, commission-based sales, affiliate-based marketing, and customer retention specialists built into their growth strategy.
Instead of fearing how your team would use social media, leverage it as an extension of their wonderful professional persona. If they’re capable of networking locally, they can network online. We buy from people we like AND trust. Those people should include your team.
Define your Brand Ambassador Practices
What does brand ambassadorship look like for your company? Is it making the company account more collaborative? Is it encouraging team members to create individual professional accounts?
- What is the goal: awareness, sales, storytelling, building relationships?
- What makes sense for your market?
- How is success measured?
- What creative strengths of each team member can be unleashed?
- What opportunities are available through collaboration and multiple POV?
- What are the risks involved? Write these down and talk through them.
Review your company’s social media policies. Be mindful to not let fear stifle creativity and opportunity. Create a best practices document for how to share company moments while allowing room for individual creativity across platforms.
- List shareable events and moments.
- Define unshareable events and moments. (ex: clients, intellectual property)
- Create templates for posts.
- List social media handles for tagging and hashtags.
- Have a gallery of shareable photos after events.
It may help to have an online workspace where your team can roundtable ideas, share insights and tips.
PRIVACY REMINDER: Individual privacy is important. It must be protected and respected. Team members can be brand ambassadors without having an online presence. If you are capturing, recording, and/or sharing photos or videos of your team, make sure you have their written permission on file. Some states prevent the use of an individual’s name, image, or likeness for commercial purposes without prior consent.
Career Milestones for Brand Ambassadors
The key is to create a culture and service your team members want to talk about. People can tell the difference between genuine enthusiasm and selling for the sake of it.
First Day of Hire
First impressions count. How do you welcome them to the team? Your enthusiasm as a leader is contagious. If you’re excited, they’ll be excited and so will the rest of the team. How you show up the first day through the first 90 days sets the tone for the relationship.
Company-branded attire and office supplies are a great way to create a shareable experience. You don’t have to break the bank to create a memorable experience. Simple thoughtful gestures such as balloons, a personal card, and snacks work well. For remote team members, send a welcome package.
Ali, AEF Interiors, recently shared a team member’s unboxing of their welcome package on Instagram stories. The team member was thrilled! I enjoyed seeing her enthusiasm and Ali’s care for her team.
Anniversary
Team member retention is one of the best financial returns for your company. Their work anniversary should be celebrated. How do you thank them for their commitment and contributions to the team?
Whether it’s taking small steps (little by little progress is where it’s at!) or doing a dance off competition, we believe in celebrating together! 🎉 Today, we get to celebrate @juliehomen’s working anniversary, and we’re so grateful to have her passion and laughter on the Cultivate team! We love you, Julie! 🥳🧡
@cultivatewhatmatters
The recognition can vary depending on the years of service. Larger milestones (3, 5, 10 years) bring bigger rewards. I know a company that sent flowers to a spouse to thank them for their support during the team member’s 20 years of service. This creates an amazing experience for the team member, and their family shares it too!
Performance
Your team members want to excel in their work! They want to be seen and appreciated for their contributions to the team and your company? How do you recognize their efforts and results?
Donna, Donna Mondi Interior Design, recently shared the BTS hand rendering completed by Scott, Design Director, for the Kips Bay Palm Beach 2024 Show Home.
Personal Days
As team members juggle work and personal life there is a lot of overlap. Do you see them just as team members or as multifaceted individuals? How do you recognize a team member’s life milestones such as birthdays, weddings, and new babies? How do you help them cope with challenges? How are you helping them adapt to remote work? Small notes of celebration or encouragement go a long way!
Team Outings
Team outings for events, retreats, summits, trade shows, and training are great opportunities to capture memorable moments. When team members are outside the office the dynamic is different and people tend to relax more. A relaxed brain is more open to new ideas and creativity.
Last Day of Hire
Losing a team member is bittersweet. It’s sad to lose a valuable team member, but you’re happy for their growth.
It’s been an experience of a lifetime and I am closing my chapter with Tiffany’s. I cannot thank Tiffany & Co enough for the privilege and honor to have been a part of an American iconic brand. I’ve met some of my best friends here and learned so much. I am forever grateful for how much they have enriched my life. It is a bittersweet moment to say good bye but alas it is time to move on. Thank you to each and everyone of you. See you later friends. 🥰❤️🥰❤️
@mee.kim.chavez
Unfortunately, many companies are ambivalent about a team member leaving. This leaves a bad taste in the team members’ mouth, especially after the hard work and contributions they’ve made.
Instead, how can you thank them for their service? What did they contribute to the company and the team? Write them a letter of recommendation or leave a referral on their LinkedIn profile.
Company Events for Brand Ambassadors
A list of opportunities for storytelling and sharing individual perspectives.
- Brand refresh
- Client appreciation week
- Client reviews or testimonials
- Holidays
- Podcast
- Product launch
- Q&A sessions
- Service launch
- Designer showhome
- Talent recruitment
- Hiring managers can use IG Live, YouTube, or another medium as recruiting open houses. It creates an opportunity to share company values, different roles, company culture, benefits, and answer questions. You can host a panel with current team members who can share their experiences.
- Tips
- how to get most out of client experience
- how to prepare for service
- what to expect during ____
- Website refresh
Do you make it easy for your vendors to talk about the positive experience they’ve had with you and your team?
@theceoffice
Industry Events for Brand Ambassadors
What opportunities does your team have to build relationships through continuing education, trade industry, local community, and beyond? Instead of restricting visibility to the founder, include your team too.
- Attending a continuing ed. course/workshop
- Joining a cohort or mastermind
- Joining a local non-profit
- Joining a trade association
- Participating in a forum
- Participating on a panel discussion
Relationship building is a skill that requires practice. If you don’t know where to start or what to say, I recommend being useful. How can you add value to the other person? Who can you introduce them to? What insight or resource can you share that would benefit them? Focus on the other person. Ask them questions and listen to learn vs respond. Focusing on them takes the pressure of you and allows you to relax.
Benefits
Here are 3 benefits of having your team as brand ambassadors.
- Making the team the focus improves client onboarding because they already feel connected to the team.
- Making the team the focus supports recruiting new team members by highlighting company culture.
- Making the team the focus sets the stage for future succession plans.
Create a culture where working for your business is seen as a status. A status earned through development, quality work, and relationships. A status that competes with Fortune 100 and premiere hospitality and luxury brands.
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How else can team members be brand ambassadors?