#CventCONNECT Recap: Building Brand Ambassadors Step by Step Session

Have we done a good job of making sure everyone understands the mission and communication goals of our venue? Think about the power of having a guest hear a consistent message no matter who they meet at your venue. At the Cvent CONNECT 2017 breakout session entitled Building Brand Ambassadors Step by Step, attendees got the rules, tactics, and equipment needed for engaging their entire team. Our coach for this session was Travis Howe, Executive VP & GM of Global Platform Solutions for Mediaocean. Travis has spent his career building and implementing strategies at global media companies and ad tech firms, and he is an industry leader in the convergence of digital and television enterprises. In his role, he works on everything from go-to-market strategies to operations, with a deep understanding of how best to support companies in creating and developing brand ambassadors.

Equipment as Data

Travis shared that it all begins with understanding who your customers are. A clear vision of the customer increases the likelihood they’ll respond to your messages. Despite everything we hear about the growing role data plays, only 27% of firms truly know customer details. How can segmenting your customers benefit you? Having basic customer information on their behaviors, norms, service desires, price sensitivities, and other factors can help you better meet and anticipate their needs. It also provides the foundation for modeling and developing communications to target prospects with similar characteristics.

Only 27% of firms truly know customer details.

Tactics for Applying your Data

With an understanding of your customers and their common characteristics, you can use the information to begin building your messaging.  You’ll be combining that information with the characteristics of your venue that make you unique. More customers are looking for personalization, so clearly defining and messaging how your venue delivers on those experiences and needs sets your identity apart. Your identity is the intersection of your venue’s distinctive qualities and customers’ characteristics.

Players Who Humanize Your Brand

Now that you’re confident in your brand identity, what can be done to make sure this identity is reflected outward? How do we create brand ambassadors and what is a brand ambassador anyway? Put simply, it’s someone who embodies the brand.  These are people who can promote and provide visibility to your brand identity. Who can be a brand ambassador? Both employees and customers can be players. Let’s say our brand identity is responsive, personal, and a bit edgy. Envision a concierge who is alert, helpful, and goes beyond the initial question a customer may ask with something quite clever. Also envision a planner in this role, sharing a story with another planner about a successful event influenced by a staff member who got them out of jam. Both the employee and customer are reflecting the brand.

Team Captains Create Your Success

How to get there?  Choose leaders, and train them on your brand identity and values. Let them lead by example and reward them. And consider planners who promote and refer your venue because they know, understand, and appreciate what your venue stands for. The more interactions customers have with people who accurately represent your brand, the more comfortable they’ll feel. After all, you did the work up front to capture your customer data and use it in conjunction with your brand identity development. If your brand ambassadors embody that identity, customers will feel that comfort like a pair of well-worn sneakers. And remember “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big thing happen.” (Legendary coach John Wooden)