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What brands can to do assess a brand ambassador

This is a juicy one! In this blog (and podcast!) I want to talk to you about things that brands can do to assess a brand ambassador and sponsored rider before they even talk to them. Because you need to do this. If you’re looking for people to align with your brand, you need to put the leg work in. These people, if selected to be a brand ambassador or sponsored rider, will be a flag waver for you. And you NEED to make sure that their ethos fits well with yours.

Although this podcast is recorded from the point of view of what brands should look for, it’s really helpful for potential brand ambassadors and sponsored riders too. Because if you know what brands are looking for, you can check in on your own platforms and see what you have nailed and what you can improve.

It can be a really anxious moment when you decide to invest in a rider, whether as a brand ambassador with product or even on a monetary level. What if you’ve picked the wrong person? What if it all goes wrong? The thing is, people aren’t always predictable, but following the tips below should, hopefully, provide you with some ideas to look at.

What brands can to do assess a brand ambassador

In this episode of the Small & Supercharged Podcast, I chat about what brands can do to assess brand ambassadors and sponsored riders. I’ve broken this up into various headings below… so each bullet point covers one thing to look at…

 

  • What products do they use? When you’re looking at potential riders, look at what products they use. Do they use your products? Do you think they know about your products? Does the style of the product that they use look like yours? To me, if someone has bought one of your products and they’ve spent their own money on it, that’s really positive. If they haven’t, this doesn’t mean it’s a no, but it means that there might be more work to do there. In a perfect world they’d be using your products and would already be a raving fan. But I’m a realist, so we need to assess a few more things beyond whether or not the just use your product.
  • Attitude. This is an essential one for me. And behaviour is very closely connected. A brand ambassador is your flag waver and you need to make sure that your attitudes and character traits align – if they don’t, this isn’t a good thing. A bad attitude, to me, is a big no. It could do your brand a lot more harm than good. Obviously behaviour is slightly different. Behaviour can be things like drinking (and how that’s documented) – and it’s not necessarily having one drink – it’s drinking to excess and then documenting it social media… there are very few brands that this will align with. If you’re assessing a brand ambassador and they’re acting in a way that is at odds with your brand, put a cross by the name. It’s not worth it. You’ll be doing crisis management every day. And no one wants more work from someone who’s meant to be making their lives easier!
  • Following and engagement. And out of the two, I’ll take engagement every day of the week. If you’re looking to get conversions and sales, engagement is the thing that will do it. And if you’re not looking to increase your brand presence online (on whatever social media platform), then maybe brand ambassadors and sponsored riders aren’t for you. It’s really easy to assess engagement – just look at what people do on their social media platforms. When people ask questions connected to a post – do they respond? Of course, massive accounts aren’t going to have the time to comment on every single comment, but the best accounts do spend some time doing this. I would never dismiss someone with moderate following if their engagement was good.
  • Ideas. We love ideas. As brands, we want brand ambassadors to come to us with ideas. Ideas we can help them with so both of us benefit. I’m lucky in that I work with some incredible brand ambassadors that do this. The people you choose to be brand ambassadors or sponsored riders are building their personal brand too, and the whole point is that you’re working WITH them so you’re supporting each other on your journey. It’s not the job of the brand or the PR to come up with all the ideas for the brand ambassadors. It’s really easy to assess this by looking at what the people you’re considering have done.
  • How they present their content and content quality. If you look at the content across their different platforms, look at everything. Look at the quality of their images, the spelling mistakes, how videos are edited, etc. if the quality of the content isn’t good, it’s not going to engage their audience and could also reflect on your brand quite badly. If your equestrian brand ambassador is creating good content for themselves, to grow their own personal brand, there’s a much better chance that they’re going to do this for you. Making sure that the content is presented in the most native way too is a big one. If they’re not pushing the final bit and making it native on each platform, that’s something that I look at as well. You do expect people to learn and develop as they go, but need to make sure they have one really strong place where they have skill.
  • Which platforms do they operate on? Most people tend to have specific platforms that they’re stronger on, and it’s worth assessing these in line with your target market. If your target market are businesses and your potential person is active on LinkedIn, that’s really good. It doesn’t mean it’s a no if they’re better on others, but it’s worth being aware.
  • Let’s talk about other sponsors. How they engage with other sponsors and how many other sponsors they have. It can be good to work with people who already have sponsors because you can see what they’re already doing for these people. However, if you’re working with a rider who has a list of sponsors as long as your arm, how much air time do you think you’re getting? Look at overlaps too – if there’s a conflict of interest that might not to good for you either.
  • Consistency. I know. I’m a broken record, but consistency is so, so important. Being consistent is the way to win. They need to show up on social media consistently if that’s how they’re promoting your brand. They just won’t get the traction otherwise. For you or for them.

The way that sponsorships have changed since social media has been huge. Previously, a rider would be more likely to get sponsorship if he was excelling at his sport. Nowadays, that’s secondary if you’re looking at promotion on a day to day basis. There are some INCREDIBLE accounts out there that are run by amateur riders – and they’re genuinely wiping the floor with many professional rider accounts who have no engagement.

So there you have it – a list of ‘things’ brands can do to assess a brand ambassador – I really hope it helped, whether you’re the brand or the potential brand ambassador or sponsored rider.

Rhea Freeman Newsletter

 

 

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Sponsored riders, managing riders, and how it can help equestrian businesses – with Pippa Hawksfield & Jess Crofts from Stride Management

Sponsored riders, managing riders, and how it can help equestrian businesses - with Pippa Hawksfield & Jess Crofts from Stride Management

In this week’s podcast I speak to Pippa Hawksfield and Jess Crofts from Stride Management. This business was set up by two best friends to address the issue of rider management, sponsored riders, and how brands can work with both more effectively. This is a subject I’m really passionate about. I work with a number of brands and many of these work with riders. I’ve seen amazing relationships with riders that have really blossomed into exciting things. And I’ve seen ones that have generated nothing. But that’s enough from me, over to the ladies at Stride Management to share their tips and thoughts. It’s a good one.

Sponsored riders, managing riders, and how it can help equestrian businesses

Here are the show notes from the Small & Supercharged Podcast- Episode 19, all about sponsored riders, managing riders and how this can help equestrian businesses. We also have a delve into Stride Management and how the business works, the support it offers, and why it started life.

  • How the idea for Stride Management developed from conversations with brands saying they really struggled with riders, and seeing how some riders go above and beyond.
  • Why some riders don’t approach brands, even if they could do a really good job for them.
  • The disconnect between some riders who are very skilled at what they do (and very nice people too!), and delivering to brands who they want support from.
  • How some brands expect riders to do things for them with no information. As all brands are different, we speak about the value of two way communication.
  • The importance of coming up with ideas for brands.
  • Why it’s important for riders to speak to brands they really do like, not just from the brand’s point of view, but also from the rider’s personal brand point of view too.
  • We talk about good approaches and not so good ones… and the difference between the two.
  • What Stride Management do day to day for the riders they manage.
  • How brands can also work with rider management companies to get the most out of them too.
  • The difference between supporting the riders and brands, and being the gatekeeper.
  • How working with management companies can be good for riders, to help them serve current sponsors better, get new sponsors, and ease the workload too.
  • The importance of really good, strong imagery and how that’s something to consider.
  • For riders – we talk about top tips, such as what to do if a rider likes a brand and how that ‘journey’ should progress, and why riders shouldn’t give up too easily – a no might not be a no forever, it might just be a no for now. We run through a good few additional top tips too.
  • For brands – we talk about when you’re looking at riders, thinking about the support team around them and how they’re going to deliver on what they promise to you. We talk about engagement as well as following on social media, and a few other top tips too.
  • We discuss the value of people with engaged followings on social media, rather than riders who compete at the top of their game.
  • And we talk about brand ambassadors, sponsored riders, financial gain and products being gifted too.

To find out more about Stride Management, find them here…

Stride Management Website

Stride Management Instagram

Stride Management Facebook

And for a little further reading…

If you fancy a little further reading about this subject, I have written a few blogs around the subject here…

Should you sponsor someone?

What should you look for in a brand ambassador?

Can you be an ambassador for too many brands?

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How to be a sponsored rider

How to be a sponsored riderWould you like to be a sponsored rider? Read on…

Through my clients, I receive many, many, many sponsorship requests each week from people asking for rider sponsorship. Some sound like interesting propositions, some leave me open mouthed by the time I’ve scanned the first sentence. Being aligned with the right kind of a rider CAN be good for a company, it can be really good for a company, and I’m lucky enough to say that I’ve seen some of these great associations in action. However, these great connections are not common, they’re like rare gems that should be cherished, and I really don’t think the majority of riders asking for sponsorship understand what they’re asking for and why they get no after no after no after no. So, I thought I’d put together some thoughts for consideration that might help you increase your chances if you’re asking for sponsorship or, if you’re a company, might help you get the most from an association… here’s my take on how to be a sponsored rider… well, a starter for 10 anyway!

How to be a sponsored rider

1. First impressions count. Sending someone a message through Facebook isn’t the best start to a sponsored rider relationship, especially if there’s an obvious way to contact the company through their website! Sir/madam is rather impersonal…get the name of the marketing manager or marketing director…put some effort in. Also be aware that messaging a number of Facebook pages at the same time is probably not going to end too well as a) you might find a PR admins a number of pages and sees the same message two/three/four times and b) you might get confused with who you’re writing to…I’ve received Facebook messages mentioning the wrong company. Can you guess what the response was?!

2. Why are you an asset? Saying that you enjoy riding and you have done well at your local show isn’t enough. I like Audi R8s. I think they’re really nice. I have spoken to people about my love for Audi R8s…but would I ask Audi to give me an R8 to use, for free, because I like them and I’d park it in Sainsbury’s once a week? No, no I wouldn’t. I’ve had people offering less exposure than that in exchange for the contents of a warehouse. Really think about why you are an asset to that company. Why should they pick you to be their sponsored rider?

3. And you want?! Don’t be too quick making your demands. Think about what you can offer the company before you decide on the products that you want them to give you! What value will you add to their marketing? How are you going to get their name out there (wearing a branded saddlecloth is not enough!)? How are you going to promote them? There are some riders (at all levels) who do an excellent job, and some that make me want to cry. THINK ABOUT IT.

4. It’s only product. The chances of you getting paid for your support are slim unless you’re one of the top riders in the UK. BUT product does have a value, and although the RRP isn’t what it’ll cost a company to make, it is still costing them, so don’t be ungrateful.

5. Think outside the box. Really think about how you can be different to the other 100+ requests that hit someone’s inbox or land on their desk. What will make you stand out as a serious prospect to be the company’s next sponsored rider? Reading the same kind of letter offering the same kind of thing isn’t very exciting and is very forgettable.

6. Be honest. If I receive an email or letter that vaguely interests me, I go to Google and I do my research. If you say you’re the next Charlotte Dujardin or Mary King then you’d better have done something to suggest that you are!

7. Think about what you say. You’ve heard of Facebook? Well, if you’re looking to represent a company, you’d better make sure that your personal profile portrays you in a good light too! Yep…it’s amazing what you can find out on the internet. Say you’ve approached a company about representing their brand as a sponsored rider and you’ve explained how you’re a great role model for young people because of X, Y and Z. Now, imagine the company’s marketing manager has a look on Facebook and sees pictures of you at a party in a drunk state. Not many people like to align reputable brands with drunkenness. I’m not saying don’t have a nice time, but think about what goes on your public profile. Actually, that’s a tip for life too. Employers aren’t too keen on that kind of thing either!

8. Do you know the product? If you’ve never used the product a company makes, then don’t bother knocking on their door and asking to be a sponsored rider. Please. A ‘I love your product and would like to use it’ just screams ‘I’d like free stuff…I don’t care who makes it!’

9. Read it back. People make mistakes, but checking back over what you’ve written and correcting the obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes will improve your chances of the person actually reading your letter/email. This will improve your chances of being one of their sponsored riders. You’ve passed the first test!

See these pointers as a place to start…it’s not a complete guide about how to be a sponsored rider, but it’s certainly a good starting point! And, let be honest, if you get your initial approach right, your chances are much greater!

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