Building strong brands is the live wire of any organizations. Many corporations spend huge budget behind marketing campaigns in nurturing their brands and in driving consumer connection. However, sometimes the task of brand building is seen as the responsibility of the marketing department alone.
While the relevance of the marketing department in determining the overall marketing strategy and execution is not in question, employees as the greatest assets of a company are equally responsible in their role as brand ambassadors. Often times many associates are not in tune with the activities of the company and as such are not able to properly represent the company when the occasion arises.
Brand ambassadors, sometimes referred to as brand advocates/champions, are viewed as reliable sources of information and they are able engage with customers or members of the public either in person or via other means e.g social media channels.
Employees are the major interface that a company/brand have with the consumers, the community and prospective employees. Imagine the number of possible contacts that a single employee can have outside of the company from their personal contacts and think of what that would be for the overall employees of the organization; this will put things in perspective the power of employees as brand ambassadors.
These contacts can either be positive for the company or negative depending on how well their employees are able to represent them in the public domain. With the best efforts by the marketing team in brand building, non-engaged or misinformed employees have the capability to rubbish the work done if they do not act as brand advocates when the need arises.
The benefits of having employees as brand ambassadors cannot be overemphasized as we will see below:
1.EMPLOYEES BRAND ADVOCACY GIVES A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: The power of employee advocacy cannot be replicated by a competitor. An army of passionate employees who have a sense of pride in the company and its brand, are able to transfer that passion to others in educating them on the company products and services. This can create a strong word of mouth adverting.
2. REINFORCES THE BRAND MESSAGE: Employees put a face to the company & its brands. it is important that employees live and demonstrate the company values, as it affirms the message of the company/brand to its consumers & customers. This is not only important for brand building but also for the integrity of the organization. This starts from the front desk – Imagine a company that prides itself as delivering world class customer service, falling flat on this position right from the reception! There is no quicker way to dent the integrity of the company.
3. SELL THE BRAND/COMPANY: When employees act as brand ambassadors, they can recommend the company to potential hires as a great place to work. Brand ambassadors passionately sell the brands & company to the external public. Doing otherwise is detrimental to the company and its image.Being a brand ambassador is not automatic, it comes down to this simple logic.
Great company + proud/engaged employees = Great brand advocates.
Where does your company stand in this equation?