Creating Your Own Brand "Influencers"

Who doesn’t feel better when their decisions in life are endorsed by a trusted advisor?

We’re all familiar with those fleeting moments of panic when called upon to decide, or act upon something we are not 100% certain about. Whether it’s a small but expensive purchase, or a significant life-changing outcome rests upon what you do, you often find yourself looking for reassurance from someone you can trust. That can be a family member, friend, mentor, professional advisor, or retailer assistant, waiter, or bartender. Everybody looks for advice and makes the decision to seek others’ opinions at some point – it’s human nature.

In today’s world, influencers are a common source of advice, and many make buying decisions based on what they say. However, whilst millennials and Gen-Z are probably the most enthusiastic followers, they, and other age groups, still put trust in opinions and experiences delivered face-to-face.

In noisy distribution channels, the face-to-face personality of your brand needs to closely reflect the promoted values, and in fast-moving markets like retail, IT, automotive, jewellery, and many others, achieving that is a full-time job.

To get there, you need the people representing your brand to customers, to become advocates for it – your influencers if you will. In such channels, Neon help client brands find and target suitable advocates, through a fun mix of communication, learning modules, and incentives/recognition. By establishing one product or brand enthusiast in a store team, it’s possible to leverage higher engagement across teams.

Employees should naturally be advocates for your brand, but it is not necessarily always the case. Nonetheless, if tasked with the right tools i.e., learning, a positive mindset, and being rewarded for hard work, many will become advocates, which will help to acquire additional customers.

We have experience in this! A client offering a unique new no-smoke alternative device to smokers asked us to create an ambassador programme to encourage referrals and build awareness of the brand. Still working under extremely strict guidelines, we are devising an advocacy approach for their employees to approach family and friends who smoke, with an alternative experience. The campaign for employees will provide learning, feedback, and winning opportunities to produce advocacy.

If you would like to know more about how Neon can help develop more product advocates within your business, get in touch!