How Do You Find Ambassadors and Influencers for a Brand?

If you are looking for a brand ambassador or an influencer to help promote your brand, one of the biggest things you have to do is make sure they are aligned to your brand, and more importantly aligned to what your customers' needs are. It might seem really obvious to say this, but if you are advertising a pregnancy product or service, it is no good really using a 16 year old lad who is wet out of college. He might be a great YouTuber, he might have massive followers, but he is probably not right for you. Conversely, it is probably not right to use my father-in-law, who is 80 years old.

Now that might seem really obvious, but if you actually start to think about it, you need to look at what your brand values are, what your brand guidelines are, what your tone of voice is. Look at all those things: the way you come across, the way you feel, the whole personality of your brand. Then when you look at those ambassadors and those influencers, ask whether they are aligned. Are they the same? Because if they are not, they are not right for you.

The danger is that if they are not absolutely right, there will be a misalignment with what your customers' needs are, and ultimately your customers are the most important people. So you absolutely have to get ambassadors, influencers, the brand and customers all aligned. It has got to be the same personality, the same feel, the same tone, the same values. Often I have been in many meetings where I say to a company, what are your values, and they have not even got them. It is the biggest mistake of all. Get your values right, because it fundamentally helps drive and shape how you pick your ambassadors.