If you’re having problems getting the most ROI out of your brand ambassador program, it could be because you’re wasting student ambassadors’ time.
The lives of college students are busier and more frantic than ever before. Life moves quicker, time is shorter, and experiences are measured in moments.
The average college student’s day begins at 9:00 am and ends around 1:00 am that night. Throughout this time, their schedules are packed with classes, meetings, study sessions, and part-time jobs. They value their social life because it’s the very fabric of the college experience and provides the support they need during stressful seasons. In a given week a student will typically have 10-12 hours of free time (that’s less than two hours per day), and what they opt to do with it is very precious to them.
That leaves very little time for brand ambassador tasks, and the more work you’re asking them to do, the less likely they are to do it…or do it right. And of course that puts the success of your campaign at risk.
So should you ditch student brand ambassadors and invest in other marketing methods? Not at all! Student brand ambassador programs can bring tremendous value and help nurture lifelong customers. It just means you need to provide jobs that brand ambassadors can complete quickly and easily. Here are some ways to do that.
Turn One Job Into 10 Jobs
Why hire one student to focus on ten tasks when you can hire ten students to each tackle one task? The objective here is to keep the students dialed into a single role and have them execute it with 100% dedication and efficiency. The other benefit is that you’ll take advantage of a student’s strengths and avoid giving them a task that they’re either uncomfortable with or aren’t equipped to handle.
Design Worthwhile Campaigns for Student Ambassadors
A flyering campaign may be easy to organize, but it doesn’t provide much value to you, it’s an annoyance to your target market, and your ambassadors will be bored and discouraged by the task.
Instead, create interesting campaigns that have high ROI, KPIs you can measure, and interesting tasks your ambassadors will enjoy. Remember that they’re spending their free time helping your brand—they won’t do it if they don’t enjoy it.
Make It Easy for Ambassadors to Prove Their Work
How quickly can your brand ambassadors prove their work to you? If it takes longer than an instant, it’s too long. Take advantage of mobile technology and have students send you a photo from their phones.
Rely on Vetted Brand Ambassadors
Vetted ambassadors are committed ambassadors who have already shown an interest in spending time on campus marketing campaigns. At Go Commando, we vet all our brand ambassadors for our clients so they know what they’re getting before an ambassador accepts an assignment.
Pay Your Ambassadors Quickly
The quicker you pay your ambassadors, the more value you’re giving them for the time they invest helping your brand. Too many brand ambassador programs are notorious for taking weeks or months to pay students. It’s ridiculously unreasonable, and it only emphasizes the feeling of wasting time on a task that has no value.
Student brand ambassadors will give you good work and help make your campus marketing program successful—but not if their valuable time is going to waste.
Next Steps
- Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
- Discover how the Go Commando app revolutionizes brand rep programs
- Ready to get better results with campus marketing? Contact us!
