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Any marketer who has navigated through all of the changes in the past decade would most likely admit that the journey has been amazing and quite unpredictable. Just over ten years ago, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, still worked out of his dorm room at Harvard. At that time, cell phones were just becoming commonplace, and the Internet had cemented itself as a pervasive part of our lives. A decade ago, it would have been difficult to predict the impact of social media platforms on marketing. With barely a chance to catch our breath, let’s forge ahead to see what exciting opportunities we are likely to face in the next ten years.

Word-of-mouth drives billions of dollars in sales every year, and the holiday sales season presents a huge opportunity for innovative companies to empower their happy customers to help them to build brand preference and hit revenue goals.

Gamification is becoming more and more popular as marketers create better brand experience through gaming, loyalty programs and behavioral economics, with the aim of driving user engagement. Over 70% of Forbes Global 2000 companies surveyed said they planned to use gamification for the purposes of marketing and customer retention. It’s, at times, an addictive interaction for customers that yields results in the form of more sales, improved experiences, and intensified brand loyalty. Which is why it’s a great way to engage brand ambassadors.

Many brands are venturing outside of their office and within their network to find early adopters that can take out some of the mass marketing legwork by driving word-of-mouth. For many companies, the ideal marketing campaign is self-sustaining — an organic ripple that migrates throughout target markets and accurately represents your brand.

If you take a look at the personalities that big brands are scouting to become brand ambassadors, the lineup starts to look a lot like the red carpet for last night’s 88th Academy Awards. Think Chris Hemsworth for TAG Heuer, Rihanna for Puma, Chiara Ferragni (of The Blonde Salad fame) for Pantene, and Drake for the Toronto Raptors. These well-known names and faces have a ready army of fans and have achieved a high-level status across several social circles. Companies are starting to leverage brand ambassadors to further their influencer marketing efforts in order to reach new people in more ways than a quality product or service could on its own.

In the referral marketing world, there seems to be a debate brewing over the most effective way to identify, enroll, and engage ambassadors.

In one corner is the belief that carefully enrolling only your most loyal and passionate ambassadors is the best approach. The thinking here is that those people, who already love and support your brand, will happily and aggressively work to generate referrals and new business for your company.

You’ve heard people talk about word-of-mouth and referral marketing and you probably understand the value of an authentic recommendation from a loyal customer. For example, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know directly. But what does referral automation really mean? How does it work and why is referral marketing technology critical to building, optimizing, and scaling these programs in a way that drives revenue?

I’m proud to announce that today, Inc. Magazine has ranked Ambassador Software no. 1144 in their 37th annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. 

Driving sign-ups for your referral marketing program is the first step to building a referral marketing program that will deliver sky-high ROI, far surpassing what you might spend on traditional flat-fee influencer marketing or digital advertising campaigns.  The more crucial next step is engaging your referral marketing ambassadors and reminding them that they are part of a community of people with shared interests and a shared passion for a meaningful product or service.

Exploring a New Way to Build a Smarter, More Organic Influencer Marketing Strategy