When you create an experiential marketing event, chances are you don’t want your own staff working your event. They have other important tasks to accomplish for your company; they may not live in the community where your activation is taking place; and they may not have the skill set to sit around and talk with consumers all day long. In the case of a very large activation, you may not have enough employees to staff your event.

That means you need brand ambassadors. These are temporary employees who sole goal is to do an outstanding job of representing your company during your experiential marketing activation.

If you need brand ambassadors, you best bet is to hire them through an experiential marketing agency. An agency like Factory 360 has years of experience interviewing, recruiting and training these specialized employees. They have a pool of talent people who have proven they can do a great job representing companies. An agency will also have the infrastructure to handle the human resources end of hiring brand ambassadors.

What do experiential marketing agencies look for when they hire brand ambassadors? What should you look for if you decide to hire them yourself? Here are five qualities to look for in a brand ambassador.

Great personality

Experiential marketing is all about providing consumers with a high quality, positive experience so they create a positive association with your brand. Your activities are a big part of creating that good memory, but your people are a big part of that too. Make sure your brand ambassadors are memorable in a good way.

Brand ambassadors should be friendly and outgoing so they naturally draw people into your activation. They should welcome everyone with a smile and friendly word, and they should continue to make consumers feel welcome and engaged the entire time they’re attending your activation.

Brand ambassadors should also appeal to the demographic group you’re trying to target. If you’re trying to attract college students, your ambassadors should be cool and educated on topics that might be of interest to college students. If your activation seeks to appeal to mothers with young children, it’s a good idea to have ambassadors who like children (or are at least willing to put up with toddlers and teenagers running around the activation).

Quick learner

Brand ambassadors may or may not be familiar with your brand when they first start working with you. Even if they have a good working knowledge of your products and services, they likely don’t know the internal messaging they need to convey to consumers. Yet by the time they’re out interacting with the public, they need to be experts on your company.

It’s important to hire brand ambassadors who learn quickly. You want them to be able to pick up your key messages and run with them soon after you hire them. They should be able to answer questions about your activation, your products and services, and more in-depth questions about your company’s mission and values.

These traits are especially important if your experiential marketing event is educational – for example, where the ambassadors will be sampling or demoing your products. But they’re also important if you’re doing an entertaining event, such as a concert or festival. You never know when the person entering the event may ask the ambassador an important question about your company and its mission, products or services.

Adaptable

Sometimes experiential marketing events go exactly according to plan. Sometimes they don’t. Brand ambassadors must be able to adapt to changing situations quickly. Can each person you hire keep their cool if a problem arises? Can they deal with consumers who are less than friendly? If something happens with the technology at the center of your activation, can they keep consumers entertained until it’s back up and running – or do they become a part of the problem?

Sometimes you may assign a brand ambassador to one role, but need them to switch to a different role over the course of the day. All your brand ambassadors should be able to take on new tasks without objection, and perform well after a reasonable amount of instruction.

Hard worker

Experiential marketing events can mean long days and repetitive tasks. Make sure your brand ambassadors are up to the task. They should be willing to work as hard as it takes and as long as it takes to help your activation reach the maximum number of people.

With any brand ambassador you think about hiring, explore questions like whether the person showed up for work consistently, was on time, and always dressed appropriately. Ask them, or ask their previous employers, if they stayed until all their work was done or always insisted in leaving at 5:00 p.m. You need people who will work hard for you and your brand, no matter what the circumstances.

Specialized traits

There might be circumstances where your brand ambassadors need specialized traits. If your hope to reach a community that doesn’t have English as a first language during your activation, it’s a really good idea to hire brand ambassadors who are bilingual and bicultural. If your company’s goal is to reach out to people who are very young or in their retirement years, it a good idea to hire brand ambassadors who fit within those demographic groups.

If your company is focused on affluent marketing, or simply wants to make a very lasting impact with your brand ambassadors, you might want to avail yourself to a model network to recruit your brand ambassadors. A model network will have a list of very attractive men and women who can promote your brand at experiential marketing events.

No matter what traits you seek in a brand ambassador, Factory 360 can help you find, train and activate the right people. We’ve worked with thousands of brand ambassadors over our many years in business. We still have thousands of outstanding ambassadors on a list of people in cities across the country who are ready to help make your brand’s experiential marketing events a huge success. Contact us today for more information about how Factory 360 can provide you with brand ambassadors for your upcoming events.