Running a successful business requires careful planning and hard work behind the scenes. Many businesses spend a great deal of time investing in internal processes and developing their brand’s core values. While it’s important for your business to be in great shape internally, how effective is your brand at communicating your core values to your target market? Using brand ambassadors as part of your marketing strategy could help take your business to the next level.

Build Relationships by Making it Personal

“People establish relationships with brands,” says Melissa Maker, President of Clean My Space, a Toronto-based cleaning business and the driving force behind CleanMySpace.com, a website where users can find answers to their toughest cleaning questions. Maker runs a YouTube channel where she answers cleaning questions from viewers all over the world, and a cleaning blog averaging 10,000 hits per day. Maker is the face of her brand, and she represents it well. She solves cleaning conundrums on CleanMySpace.com, has been quoted in numerous publications, and has appeared on a variety of television shows, including City TV´s CityLine and Slice Network´s Princess, as a go-to cleaning consultant.

Boost Your Presence

Make yourself visible by increasing your profile and expertise in your area. “The owner of a business needs to be apparent. You need to see them,” explains Maker. “So much of the business is the person behind it.” Maker has taken steps to ensure she stands out as an ambassador for Clean My Space. “I’ve made myself a cleaning expert,” says Maker, “I know a lot about cleaning.” Having started her business with no background in cleaning services, Maker learned everything from the ground up. She prides herself on having developed this expertise and makes sure she shares it with prospective customers through her YouTube channel. Maker is a great ambassador for her brand and her 36,000 YouTube followers agree. Many of Maker’s television appearances stemmed from the great SEO of CleanMySpace.com. Maker and her business are easy to find when producers or writers use Google to see who can appear on an episode of a talk show or provide a quote on cleaning. Good SEO can be the best PR.

Create a Community

Building a community around an area of expertise is a great way for brands to establish themselves as specialists in their fields and can even be an independent revenue stream. “Even if you don’t like using a cleaning service, you can always go to our website and learn to clean things yourself. It’s a wonderful knowledge base that you can access and as a cleaning expert I’ve put that all together for you,” says Maker. Creating an online cleaning community has helped Maker generate a loyal following. Creating a community makes it easier for your customers to develop a relationship with you brand.

Building Trust

Building relationships with users and potential users of your services requires trust. Your brand ambassadors should show that your business and your employees are passionate and knowledgeable about what they do. Creating relationships where customers can trust your brand is essential. Establishing a personality for your business through your brand ambassadors helps communicate your business’ core values.

It’s not always easy to establish a relationship with potential customers. Many businesses have difficulty connecting with their markets and building that trust. By adding a face to your business, and communicating your core values in a personalized way, you can create personal relationships between your brand and you customers with the potential to last a lifetime.

About the Author

Melissa Reiter is a corporate/commercial lawyer in Toronto. Her typical day involves anything from working with start-ups to advising some of Canada's largest pension funds on a wide range of complex commercial and investment matters. Melissa organizes and speaks at events where she teaches businesses and entrepreneurs about strategy and planning. When she was 5, she had the deed to her Barbie Dream House notarized.