How to Turn Your Customers into Brand Ambassadors
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Anyone can be a customer, but it takes a certain type of business to create a brand ambassador. It’s all about caring for the relationships you create, so your customers become loyal fans and followers. Connecting with your customers can seriously drive more business your way since they can promote your company in a far better light than an agency ever could. After all, there isn’t a more superior marketing tactic than spreading how great something is by word of mouth – in this case, your company.
Release the full potential of the hidden recourse you never knew you had, and learn how to turn your customers into brand ambassadors.
Request feedback
This is the simplest way of improving your everyday interaction with customers. When asking for feedback, you trigger a feeling of importance among customers in the same way as when someone asks you for advice. Then, it’s just a matter of listening to what your customers have to say.
You can use a rating scale on your web page. Conduct customer surveys after each purchase or encourage feedback during face-to-face interactions. Once you adopt a majority request, each one of those customers will feel responsible and refer your business to their friends and family.
Deliver excellent customer support
Sometimes your customers will need to talk to you in order to understand your product or service. In these cases, it’s important to be friendly, informative and patient from the first moment you come into contact with them. This ensures they receive what they want, while your brand is perceived as helpful and caring.
Create loyalty programs
Repeated business drives brand loyalty, and the other way around. Rewarding returning customers with loyalty programs is a great way to retain old customers and turn new ones into regulars. For example, you can offer co-branding Master Card solution, which will both make your customers happy and increase exposure of your brand.
In America alone, 82% of adults are loyal to their brands. That’s a lot of potential brand ambassadors that can promote your business just because you made them feel special.
Organize giveaways of promotional products
Another way to increase repeated business and boost engagement with your brand is by organizing regular giveaways. You can use branded promotional products your customers will actually use, like flash drives, clothing, even food. By making them regular, your customers will get used to the idea and start promoting it to their friends as a monthly event they shouldn’t miss out on.
Send a “just because” gift
People love free stuff, especially if it’s from someone they wouldn’t expect to receive it from. Sending a discount voucher or even an actual present via mail for your customer’s birthday tells the customer how much you value them. They will be surprised at the lengths you will go to ensure they remain loyal fans of your brand.
Reveal the human side of your brand
It’s extremely difficult for customers to care for something abstract like a brand unless they know there are people involved. Showing the human aspect of your business can establish a far better connection, especially if you don’t interact with customers on a regular basis.
To achieve this, you can use social media to showcase the day-to-day life at your offices or introduce employees to your customer base. You can also use a highly personal voice when creating content that exposes your brand and entertains your customer at the same time.
In doing so, you will reveal to customers that actual humans stand behind your brand. They will be far more likely to become brand ambassadors for Jim from accounting if they know Jim loves working for the brand.
Ask clients to create content for you
Incorporating user-generated content into your business model gives customers the opportunity to promote your products or services directly to others. Some of the best UGC campaigns use this way of peer-to-peer promotion to increase trust among their customers. People are far more likely to listen to someone who has actually come into contact with your brand and is satisfied with the results.
Additionally, UGC can be applied across multiple channels, from testimonials to social media to entire blog posts created by users. All you will need to do is design a creative model that will motivate your customers to interact with your brand in this way.
Stay honest
In order to create real trust, you will need to be honest, especially when you make a mistake. It can happen to any brand, after all. Being honest and straightforward is another way of making your customers perceive your brand as more human.
Inform your customers clearly about your return policy and ensure you stick to it. If, for example, you make a mistake when shipping your product, make an extra effort to mend the damages even if it means you lose money.
Keeping the customer satisfied and on your side is far more important in the long-run, as it can turn them into a grateful brand ambassador.
Say thank you
A simple thank you goes a long way, especially when you want to turn customers into loyal brand ambassadors.
Apart from the expected welcome message after a subscription. Try including thank you messages after specific milestones as a part of your email interaction with customers. Also, you should ensure to thank customers for their input, be it on social media or when they rate you on your website.
Staying grateful will inspire them to share your feelings of gratitude, and in turn, make them more willing to accept promoting your company without getting anything in return.
Start today
Remember that sticking a logo on a business and running ads doesn’t create a brand. You need to centre your brand on your customers and create a relationship based on care and support. It’s the only way for you to add value to someone’s everyday life and improve the life of your company.
Use this guide as a starting point and always ask yourself what you can do for your customers. Only then will you be able to create loyal fans and true ambassadors of your brand.
