Who could be better at promoting your business than your very own employees? If you get your team on board, they could be very effective ambassadors for your brand and help you build mutually beneficial partnerships with other businesses. You need to ensure your employees are engaged and motivated and believe in your company vision. You could also provide incentives and recognition in exchange for promoting your brand and successful networking. Here are ten tips for turning employees into ambassadors for your brand.
Effective onboarding
Incorporate promoting your brand as part of an effective onboarding program. If you start early with new employees, they’ll be motivated from the get-go and understand being a brand ambassador as part of their job description. Train them in your brand identity and voice, and how to communicate this to potential clients. Encourage them to take part in your social media program and post engaging material about your brand.
Social media strategy
Social media is a great tool and should be invested in. It’s an opportune way for employees to spread the word about your brand and reach out to potential clients. It’s a good idea to develop a social media strategy and give your team specific instructions to follow. There’s plenty of evidence that employee advocacy on social media works, and it’s an effective way to promote your business. Encourage your staff to look for new networking opportunities on sites such as LinkedIn, for example, and to post regularly on other platforms with content relating to your brand story.
Encourage them to attend events
One of the best ways to build effective partnerships with other businesses is by attending events, in-person or virtual. It’s also a great way for your employees to build up their own professional network. Give your employees plenty of involvement in any business events and this will motivate them to act as ambassadors on the day. You could assemble a team to plan a virtual event or even form a partnership with another business to host one together. Provide plenty of training courses on how to organize events, deliver presentations, and successfully network with other businesses. This will help build confidence in even the shyest members of your team.
Incentives and recognition
Offer incentives and recognition in exchange for promoting your brand. For example, reward the members of staff who have posted the most on social media, or made connections by reaching out to businesses. Come up with a reward system, even if you can only budget for small prizes. You could even nominate employee champions, and give them the opportunity to share their networking expertise with other members of the team. It’s up to you how you decide to reward your staff, but they will respond well to incentives and recognition.
Invest in your staff
Only engaged and motivated staff will be effective brand ambassadors so it’s essential to invest in your employees. Regularly meet with them on an individual basis to discuss their professional development goals. Offer opportunities for them to learn and grow based on these goals. Make them feel valued and listened to.
Give them input
Another way to make your staff feel appreciated is by giving them plenty of input. Hold brainstorming sessions about your next social media campaigns and make sure your best ambassadors voice their opinions. Your employees might be able to come up with interesting insights that you hadn’t previously thought of, and this will be an opportunity to see things from a new perspective.
Boost office morale
Happy employees are also the most motivated so try to come up with creative ways you can boost morale at work. For example, here are some of the best team building games and activities for startups. Team-building is a fun way to develop positive relationships and improve collaboration among colleagues. They are plenty of activities to choose from, even with a remote team. You could try quick quizzes or full-on scavenger hunts or more complicated projects. Make sure the activities you pick are inclusive and that everyone’s on board.
Communicate your message internally
Don’t put all your efforts into external promotion and remember to communicate core business values to your staff as well. It’s important not to neglect internal promotion as you need your message to resonate with your employees as well if they’re going to be brand ambassadors. Share your values with your staff and get them behind your brand. Ensure your team understands how to express your vision and message when promoting your brand to other businesses. If they believe in the company themselves, they’ll be much better ambassadors.
Monitor your performance
Track employee engagement and monitor your B2B networking. By using key metrics to analyze your performance you’ll be able to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. There are various factors your need to take into consideration such as employee satisfaction, employee retention, and employee participation. You could send out surveys asking for your employees’ opinions and suggestions. Get client feedback as well. This way you’ll clearly be able to identify any weaknesses and areas for improvement.
Ongoing training
Employee engagement needs to be maintained if your team are going to make effective ambassadors for your brand. Shake things up a bit from time to time to keep them interested. You could host new events with a special theme or twist. Switch your team leaders around and get them working on different projects. It’s also very important to provide ongoing training for your employees to successfully promote your business. This could mean introducing new social media campaigns and reinforcing old methods that have proven effective.
Boost your brand recognition by encouraging your staff to be dedicated representatives. Marketing your business as a great company to work for will give you credibility. Employees should be active participants in shaping your brand and it’s important they recognize their contribution to your success. Turning employees into ambassadors for your brand isn’t only good for business, you’ll also boost satisfaction and motivation among your team.
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