Guerrilla Marketing: Ambassador Programs
Young hustlers drive Sopht Drink’s operational wheel. OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, claims that he hasn’t seen a lot of hungry 20-somethings in the startup market. Naively making this remark on the Joe Rogan Experience, Altman is behind the times because a successful young entrepreneur in this decade looks a lot different than Mark Zuckerberg from Harvard. Recent developments in creative industries, internet platforms, and athletics have opened new roadways for innovation.
Sopht Drink has an ongoing recruitment program called the Synergy Network, receiving hundreds of applications a week from young people interested in entrepreneurship and unconventional marketing tactics. In this short blog, we will go into what makes the Synergy Network successful and how brands can take advantage of ambassador programs and community building.
Profiling the Ideal Ambassador.
Know the characteristics of who you want to represent your company. Beyond age and gender, consider what they do in their free time, what brands they buy, what they value.
Ideally, your ambassadors are walking examples of your core values and mission statement as a brand. The Synergy Network recruitment process produces a reliable profile of each of applicant using Sopht Drink’s survey strategy, powered by Typeform.
Sopht Drink employs the DISC profile in its recruitment process. Asking applicants questions to profile their behaviors simplifies delegation and saves time as ambassadors won’t end up with responsibilities their not naturally inclined to.
When in Rome, Do as the Romans.
Leaders need to think beyond email campaigns, discords, and telegrams when building a community. Get in deep with the day-to-day lives of your target customers and ambassadors.
Create community engagement exercises that don’t impede on daily life, but stand out and accentuate it. Listen to your ambassadors and pay attention to what they see as “cringe.”
Share Your Wisdom.
Young people are curious, receptive, and impressionable. A large motivator for Synergy applicants is the opportunity to get an inside look into the startup world and innovative industries. Combining strong leadership and vision-setting with ambassador networking ensures a successful and cohesive activation.
Reward with Events
Reward high-performing ambassadors with more career development opportunities and events. This approach allows you to create a positive feedback loop that saves you money and identifies your best talent.
Ambassador programs succeed with momentum and the incentives to work harder. By only rewarding ambassadors with stipends or care packages, their sense of loyalty and creativity will be subdued by their preliminary satisfaction. You want your ambassadors to be hungry for a bigger prize.
This is only a small view of what makes ambassador programs successful, and specific approaches vary depending on the brand’s core values, creative direction, and marketing strategy. Sopht Drink is committed to working with high-quality products and future-forward brands to customize ambassador programs and guerrilla marketing strategies for community-driven growth.
Reach out to Sophia Layton at ceo@sophtdrink.com to inquire about our consultation and ambassador network-building services.