Several distinctions between brand ambassadors and influencers impact how they’re used in marketing campaigns. One is the duration and nature of the business relationship.
While brand ambassadors build long-standing relationships with the brand, influencers tend to work on shorter and sometimes even informal contracts. Still, this is just touching the tip of the iceberg.
I’ll present a detailed overview of the core differences between the two roles, how both of them are used in brand marketing, the ideal type of person you should seek for each role, and the best strategies for their application.
Overview
Here’s a brief rundown of the basic differences between brand ambassadors and influencers and the way you should approach them.
| Metrics | Brand Ambassadors | Influencers |
| Brand Loyalty | Deep personal familiarity with the brand, gearing them for long-term ambassador marketing deals. | Personal familiarity with the brand is welcome but optional; affiliate deals are usually short-term. |
| Audience Trust | Built on in-depth familiarity with the brand and attested brand loyalty. | Built on the reputation already established with their audience and the broader public. |
| Content Creation | Excellent for creating informative and relatable promotional content that can speak to the viewer on a personal level. | A greater degree of creative control on the influencer’s part—will likely fit their signature style. |
| Market Reach and Relevance | Quality over quantity: smaller reach but deeper audience engagement. | More expensive to compensate for high-grade production costs and resources. |
| Cost-Effectiveness | Usually cheaper in the long run, with an option for non-monetary compensation. | Highlight success stories, publish behind-the-scenes content, and create opportunities for interaction. |
| Ideal Characteristics | High-quality output, authenticity, versatility. | Trustworthiness, in-depth product knowledge, engagement. |
| Strategy | Make limited-time offers, use guest-curated content, and influence the influencers. | Make limited-time offers, use guest-curated content, influence the influencers. |
Who is a brand ambassador?
A brand ambassador is somebody whose very presence lives and breathes your brand’s values. They’re also fans of your brand who are familiar with your products and services and know what drives them to choose it over your competitors. A classic example is a sports star acting as a brand ambassador for their preferred sportswear brand.
Brand ambassadors always have an established, respected presence in their niche—and your target audience. While they’re often celebrities or have a substantial social media presence, it’s not a necessary precondition.
What matters is that they are trustworthy professionals or community members with an authentic, believable connection to your brand. They can leverage their authority and trust to continuously promote your brand by word of mouth, through social media, at trade events, or in ad campaigns.
Due to their familiarity with the brand, they can do this spontaneously and organically without much guidance.
Who is an influencer?
An influencer has a significant following on one or multiple social media platforms, which is facilitated through their content’s ability to raise interest, as well as their strength or personality. In other words, social media influencers have a strong personal brand, which may also be leveraged for influencer marketing.
Unlike brand ambassadors, influencers usually don’t have a strong personal connection to your brand. Thanks to their charisma, they can still act as convincingly authentic brand advocates. A common example is YouTube creators, who insert sponsorship segments into their video content.
Influencers don’t necessarily need to have a massive following. Nano—or micro-influencers have a reach of several thousands or tens of thousands and are considered relevant in a specific niche or community. These smaller-scale influencers can be highly useful when aiming to increase brand awareness for a niche product or service.
Brand ambassador vs influencer: A detailed comparison
Now let’s go over the main differences between brand ambassadors and influencers.
1. Brand loyalty
One of the main hallmarks of a brand ambassador is their strong sense of loyalty to the brand they’re promoting. They often connect with the brand on a personal level, which enables them to effectively promote the brand over a longer period, making ambassador programs a long-term deal.
Affiliate influencers, on the other hand, usually don’t feel especially tied to the brand they’re promoting. Quite often, they haven’t had any personal experience with the brand before closing the affiliate deal. Influencer deals tend to be short-term and usually don’t last longer than several months maximum—sometimes, they’re even one-time deals.
2. Audience trust
Brand ambassadors’ primary guarantee of audience trust is their brand loyalty and intimate level of familiarity with the brand. They can explain the characteristics and benefits of the brand and its products without needing a detailed brief and promote the brand in organic, word-of-mouth communication.
Influencers ensure trust based on their popularity, personal charisma, and an already-established relationship they have with their audience. Compared to a brand ambassador, they may be seen as less trustworthy by people outside of the influencer’s network.
3. Content creation
Influencers typically have more freedom when deciding the kind of promotional content they want to create—it will probably be adapted to fit their signature style.
The influencer’s greater degree of creative control may also result in more interactive marketing content, such as asking questions or hosting polls related to your brand.
A brand ambassador, on the other hand, can create informative content that helps build brand awareness on a high level or relatable content that speaks to the target audience on a personal level.
4. Market reach and relevance
A brand ambassador speaks to a smaller, more targeted audience. Although their reach usually isn’t as broad, a credible brand ambassador is more capable of converting this audience to a strong base of loyal customers.
To their followers, brand ambassadors’ influence and brand knowledge serves as a strong guarantee of the brand’s quality.
Influencers, meanwhile, tend to have greater reach, but it doesn’t automatically translate into more conversions, as the level of engagement from their audiences is usually more superficial.
5. Cost-effectiveness
Long-term contracts are usually easier on your budget, which makes brand ambassador programs cost-friendly. Also, compensation doesn’t always have to be monetary. A brand ambassador program can include free products or special discounts as a sufficient enticement.
On the other hand, influencers and their content-creation services, which tend to be professional-grade, often require more resources and higher fees.
The ideal influencer vs. ideal brand ambassador
Profile of the ideal influencer
- High-quality output: An influencer who consistently puts out high-quality content is perceived as dedicated, conscientious, and not prone to easy opportunism. Brand endorsements from such influencers are therefore given more weight.
- Authenticity: It’s important to look for an influencer whose values authentically align with your brand’s. An obvious clash between the influencer’s personality and the brand they’re sponsoring will instantly signal untrustworthiness.
- Versatility: The most effective influencer marketing campaigns are those that make use of multiple social media channels and apply multiple points of engagement to generate new leads. You want an influencer who’s capable of juggling between several mediums.
Profile of the ideal brand ambassador
- Trustworthiness: In brand ambassador marketing, the ambassador’s good character and lifestyle are their primary asset. You want someone whose character you believe can faithfully and successfully represent your brand’s goals and values in any area of life—such a character also causes people to see them as trustworthy.
- In-depth product knowledge: The most successful brand ambassadors are those who already know a lot about the brand they’re sponsoring and don’t need much guidance to know what to say or do.
- Engagement: Brand ambassadors tend to have a smaller following, but this is compensated by their ability to engage their loyal audience and convince them to follow their suggestions. A charismatic and engaging brand ambassador who knows how to easily create conversions is a must.
Integrating brand ambassadors or influencers into your campaigns
So you’ve already onboarded a brand ambassador or established an influencer marketing relationship, but you’re wondering how to integrate them into your marketing campaign. Here are some tips.
Brand ambassadors
- Highlight success stories: Brand ambassadors likely have personal experience with the product or service your campaign is promoting, which is a fantastic opportunity for leverage. Your brand ambassador can craft success stories of the good experiences they’ve had with your products or services, which you can highlight in your campaign.
- Publish behind-the-scenes content: Getting a sneak peek into what goes on behind the scenes helps the audience feel a closer, more personal connection with the brand ambassador. This increases their trustworthiness and relatability.
- Create opportunities for interaction: One of the top benefits of having a brand ambassador on board is the opportunity to use their gift for promotion by word-of-mouth or personal example. Send your brand ambassador to events such as trade shows or conventions, where potential customers will be able to personally interact with them.
Influencers
- Make limited-time offers: Influencers tend to have a broader audience than brand ambassadors but also have a harder time inspiring them to take action. Special, limited-time referral offers are a good way to encourage the audience to interact with your brand right away.
- Use guest-curated content: Influencers have a knack for creating engaging and potentially viral content— influencer marketing deals are a great opportunity to outsource some of the content creation to them.
- Influence the influencers: Developing a closer relationship with the influencers can go a long way. If they’re convinced of the value of your brand and its goals, they’ll be better at convincing others of the same.
Strategies for both
Some strategies apply to working with both brand ambassadors and influencers.
- Include a clear call-to-action (CTA): A clear call-to-action will ensure that the message—brand promotion—doesn’t get lost in the noise.
- Track performance: Most affiliate marketing tools include analytics that let you track each affiliate’s performance. Observing these metrics can help you learn what exactly they can improve on and suggest it to them.
- Combine the two roles: Both roles have their own uses, and choosing between them doesn’t have to be a simple “either/or.” As long as you have the resources, it may be worth combining them, especially for large-scale campaigns.
Making the choice: Who fits your campaign?
If you’re still unsure which type of brand affiliate is right for your campaign, try consulting this checklist:
Define your campaign’s core goals
One of the prime questions to consider is whether you are aiming for breadth or depth. An influencer would likely be more beneficial in a broad and brief brand-awareness-raising campaign, while a more focused, long-term campaign needs a brand ambassador’s touch.
Understand the traits of your ideal advocate
Perhaps you already have an idea of the kind of person you want to represent your brand. If so, take a look at the ideal profiles for each role: such a person may be better suited for one or the other.
Evaluate the potential reach
Always consider the realistic margin of people your campaign can reach. Influencers, who are typically able to reach more people, are also more expensive and might prove to be a financial overkill.
Conclusion
As a rule of thumb, influencers are the preferred choice for broad, awareness-raising campaigns, while more focused campaigns find brand ambassadors to be more beneficial. Still, this rule is far from universal—there are many factors to consider, and you should approach the issue with a careful, strategic mindset.
My final advice: always base your decision on the type of campaign you’re about to launch, and the specific methods you’ll employ. This view will help you see that type of advocate that will blend perfectly with your efforts, and help you reach your objectives.