I'm thrilled to announce that Ambassador has earned the ranking of #736 in the 36th annual Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. This achievement was not possible without the amazing team of Diplomats who consistently live our core value of "OUTCARE," which stands for:

What can I say? This has been quite an extraordinary year for Ambassador. From awards to new customers to growing our own team, I'm incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished in 2017.

Another year in the books! And a great one it’s been. From focusing on OUTCARE to hitting over 10 Million ambassadors using our platform to our first PongVember Tourney, it’s been a busy, rewarding, and exciting 365 days.

At the beginning of every year, marketers are scrambling to make sure their strategies are in line with ‘the biggest trends’ of the coming year. And this year is no different. The buzz around influencer marketing is echoing loud and clear - it’s THE it trend of the year.

When it comes to successful relationship marketing, we know that getting your work done requires many different web tools. In fact, the average business uses between 10 and 16 apps. You have your email app, CRM, note-taking tool, cloud storage tool, team communication app, along with project management tools and various to-do lists. Sometimes, it can be a struggle to get them all working in tandem. Now that Ambassador has 1,000 integrations, you can choose your favorite tools and easily ...

Before you dive into this guide, let's make a couple assumptions: First, your brand is already using influencer marketing. Second, you're happy with where it's headed and are looking to scale this acquisition channel. That's where an influencer marketing platform enters the picture. 

In an age where marketing is increasingly driven by technology, searching for an influencer platform can be downright overwhelming. But asking questions is crucial to finding the right influencer marketing platform for your brand. The more you learn up front, the easier it will be to make an informed decision.

Are you simply dipping your toe into influencer marketing or are you ready for an influencer management platform to scale your program? Whether you just sent out your first tweet to an influencer you'd like to work with or you're searching for the perfect influencer marketing platform vendor partner, we can agree on one thing: The importance of including influencer marketing in your overall marketing strategy.

Relationship marketing refers to everything your brand does to develop strong, lifelong relationships with your customers. From influencer programs to referral campaigns to affiliate marketing, relationship marketing builds brand awareness and positions your brand as your customers best option. The most important part of relationship marketing is facilitating two-way conversations with your customers.

As a company that is built on the importance of relationships, Ambassador is humbled and excited to be included in the G2 Crowd's Spring 2018 Grid® Report for Brand Advocacy as well as mentioned in the Relationship Index for Brand Advocacy.

Did you know 98.6% of people that visit your website leave without taking action? You can’t expect every single visitor to buy what you’re selling every single time they hop onto your site, but with a few tweaks, you can encourage visitors to stay a little longer, click through a bit more, and put some extra items in their shopping cart.

When most people think of a social media influencer platform, they assume it involves finding bloggers with massive followings and buying social endorsements from big celebrities. Research shows, however, that it’s more effective to build relationships with the right micro-influencers and invest in an influencer marketing platform that allows for end-to-end campaign management - not just parts and pieces.

Imagine for a second that you’re planning a dinner party. You want to expand your social circle, so you send your invitations far and wide - friends of friends, past colleagues, former neighbors, etc. The RSVPs are just the brink of your event planning process. Since you want to create a foundation for future friendships, you have to show everyone a good time once they walk through your door. 

People influence people. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising. - Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook The goal of referral marketing is simple: To harness the power of authentic word-of-mouth to drive a steady stream of high-quality referrals to your business (and grow revenue as a result). Executing against that goal, however, is a little bit more complicated. For referral marketing to work, you ...

If you polled a group of marketing experts and asked them to name their favorite type of lead, one response would clearly stand out: Referrals.

We are elated to announce the formal launch of our Partner Program. Over the past few years, we have had the privilege of working with some amazing marketing agencies and business consultants who have helped their clients recognize the true value and importance of word-of-mouth. 

I’m thrilled to announce that Ambassador has earned the distinction of Best Places to Work 2017 by Inc. Magazine, an honor which was awarded to some of the fastest growing companies in America.

Fashion, specifically, retail, is changing. With retail stores closing, marketing tactics of “discoverability” – for example, placing new products next to customer favorites – are seeing diminishing returns. According to a Morningstar report, malls across the United States are closing in record numbers, citing ecommerce as a primary reason.

Most marketing executives understand developing and establishing a brand is important. It's not necessarily easy, and, it's only half the battle. To win, you must take it a step further. That step is to not only recognize your brand, but to develop a passion for it. According to consulting firm Bain & Company, it costs 6 times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. What’s more, a mere 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by up to 95%. This is where ...

It's not at all difficult to imagine that word-of-mouth is one of the oldest forms of marketing. Long before most people could even write — much less live-tweet an event — farmers and craftsmen were urging their customers to tell friends and family where to find the best olive oil and sturdiest spears. But old doesn’t mean irrelevant. There’s been a renewed interest in referral programs lately, so let's explore the importance of them in our digital age.

Here’s an existential question to answer: If you have a referral marketing program in place and no one knows about it, does it really exist? If your referral program isn’t public facing or it’s difficult to use and share with the click of a button, then you’ll severely limit your performance. The most successful brands feature their referral programs on their website, in mobile apps, and across highest-performing marketing channels — and they ensure the referral experience is painless and ...

Out of all the marketing strategies out there in our uber-connected world, the power of word-of-mouth is still unparalleled. And what better way to leverage word-of-mouth than with referral marketing? A study done by University of Pennsylvania uncovered that referred customers are more loyal and profitable than their non-referred counterparts -- by 16 percent! Our own research conducted in partnership with Nielsen's Harris Poll Online revealed that 82% of Americans seek recommendations from ...

Whether you’re doing the bulk of your customer marketing online or offline, in today’s market you are a digital product. Everything from discovery to conversion happens behind a screen. Yet, to this day, no marketing strategy has stood the test of time the way word-of-mouth has. In fact, a recent study shows that 74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision. 

Finding individuals, customers and non-customers alike, to refer your product or service may come quick -- and even easy! However, identifying the cream of the crop, acknowledging them and finding more of those superstars, might not be as simple. We break down the best way to engage with this valuable audience and retain your best brand advocates. 

If you think customer service isn’t an important part of relationship marketing, think again. Your customer service team can actually make or break your relationship marketing efforts. Best case scenario, your customer service team can take your relationship marketing efforts to the next level.

More likely than not, customers joined your referral program because they love your product and the incentives offered. While not every customer referral program or referral program software will yield the same results, there are some steps you can take to set your brand’s program up for success. In essence, your aim is to help your customers help you. Here are five best practices you can share with members of your referral program so they can effectively engage their networks and send more ...

I'm humbled and extremely excited to share that Ambassador has earned the #6 (of 100) ranking of "Cool Places To Work" by Crain's Detroit, our 2nd consecutive year on this prestigious list. Being named one of the top 10 coolest places to work in a metro area with thousands of companies is a truly remarkable accomplishment.

It’s no shock that more and more businesses are investing in referral marketing these days, but executing like marketers running the best referral programs out there is no easy task. Especially since numerous research has shown that a well-executed referral program has the power to fuel higher conversion rates than any other channel1. 

When it comes to increasing leads, how can brands ensure their B2B affiliate marketing program is driving pipeline growth? Here are three ways to leverage affiliates in your overall marketing strategy.

If you brand is taking on aggressive growth strategies, expanding into new markets, while still trying to remain lean, planning your partner program strategy is a top priority. In fact, a study1 revealed that 1 out of 3 high-growth companies rated partnership marketing as the most impactful marketing technique. ROI on partner marketing initiatives outperformed marketing channels like paid advertising, email marketing, and trade-shows, to name a few. 

While not all effective referral programs yield the same results, there are some steps you can take to set your brand’s referral program up for success. Long story short, your goal is to help your brand ambassadors help you.

Affiliate management isn't an easy task. It's not about having a ton of members in your affiliate marketing program that may or may not share your links. It's not about having a popular influencer mention your product, which may or may not lead to conversions. It is all about developing the right relationships with the right types of affiliates. 

Developing measurement, management, and analytics functionality in-house for an automated referral marketing program is certainly possible, but it requires a laborious process that typically involves many internal departments, especially your technical development team. In addition to the internal infrastructure and tools necessary to scale your referral program, it will most likely require significant investments of time and resources in managed manually.

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. 

Effective referral programs are more influential than you may think. In fact, 82% of Americans seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase. Additionally, 67% say they’re at least a little more likely to purchase a product after a friend or family member shared it via social media or email - for example, through a referral program.

Whether your referral program just launched or is currently running, there are always ways to drive engagement with your ambassadors. With this in mind, we reached out to our Success Coaches to learn best practices for managing a client referral program, no matter what referral software you use. From brands that are developing their first campaigns to seasoned vets that are optimizing a well-oiled referral machine, we asked the pros to share their secrets when it comes to successfully ...

With so many online retailers keeping their eye on this holiday season, the competition is likely to be fiercer than ever. Online spending growth is expected to outpace brick-and-mortar expenditures, but many online retailers are still struggling. Whilst eCommerce sales, revenue, and audiences are poised to grow, success isn’t guaranteed and the companies who have done their due diligence to prepare will see their hard work pay off.

When 90% of consumers believe an online review is more compelling than input from a salesperson1, it's important to take advantage of reviews when it comes to your brand's holiday strategy.

It's that time of year - a time to review and reflect on the year behind us, while planning and strategizing for the one ahead. 

Word-of-mouth marketing is all around us. Whether it’s in the form of reading product reviews or texting a friend for a referral before making a purchase, word-of-mouth marketing strategy now plays a large role in the buying process for consumers and businesses.

Having a channel partner program in place is becoming an important piece of the overall customer acquisition plan for B2B marketers today. And it comes as no surprise. B2B buyers are researching your brand before actually engaging with you. In fact, roughly 80% of the B2B buyer’s journey is complete before a buyer reaches out to sales. Which is why it’s crucial to build relationships with customers using the help of partners.

Interested in initiating a customer-focused referral marketing plan or growing your existing program? You're in the right place! We're true believers that your happy customers are your most direct partners in your growing success, and their authentic advocacy is worth its weight in gold...and ROI. So how do you leverage your customer base in your existing marketing strategy? By enrolling customers as brand ambassadors in your referral program, you empower them to refer your company to others. ...

On January 31, 2013, LinkedIn's popular (or maybe not so popular?) Q&A tool met its untimely end. We loved the Answers feature for a number of reasons, but mainly for its value in generating customer referrals and high-value leads for social brands.

Happy birthday, Foursquare! This free geolocation app was launched back in March 2009, and it’s sure grown a lot in the last four years! As of January 2013, Foursquare reported more than 30 million users around the world. And given its high potential for generating customer referrals, more than 1 million businesses have made it a key component of their social media strategy.

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, a potential sale may have already left your site.

Have you ever noticed that brands are like people? In order to attract—and keep—loyal customers, your brand should resemble someone you’d like to grab a beer or coffee with on the weekend, or someone you know you can call anytime just to talk about life. Basically, your brand should be trustworthy. But much like the art of developing lasting friendships, it takes time for customers to feel comfortable enough to refer your brand to their friends. And while referrals are the most effective way to ...

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?

A strong, supportive fan base is the best way to build your brand and get more customer referrals from your brand ambassadors. Here’s why:

Levi Strauss hammered the last stud in the rear pocket, put the brand new De Nimes trousers on the counter and said:

Stuart had been having one hell of a crappy week. Bullshit arguments with his girlfriend, his boss constantly at his back, and his car had broken down to the tune of a $800 gearbox replacement.

3 Tips for Managing Churn Rates The entire customer lifecycle is in the hands of the SaaS company, and churn rate reduction is a business building block that needs to be cradled. Jason Lemkin of the SaaS blog saastr.com told OpenView Labs that if SaaS companies are doing what they're supposed to be doing—creating and selling products customers love—renewals will take care of themselves. If you want low churn rates and long-term, renewing customers, your customers need to love your brand, ...

Using Social Media to Create a Buzz about Your Brand With over 757 billion daily active users on Facebook and 241 million monthly active Twitter users, there’s no question where to find your target audience. Regardless of demographic, people across the globe are turning to social media as a way to not only connect with one another, but to also learn more and engage with brands they do business with.

In an amazing twist of karmic justice, Randi Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg’s sister and a former Facebook executive) recently fell victim to Facebook’s confounding privacy settings. Randi had posted a candid family photo for her Facebook friends, only to see it go viral on Twitter.

Which Social Networks Drive the Most Traffic, and Why You Should Care As most marketers know, Google Analytics includes a wealth of information and reports about your website, and you are likely already familiar with at least the basic statistics such as total visitors, time on site, and number of page views.

Regardless of the size of your business, or the industry you happen to be in, one goal you have in common with all other organizations is growth. A lot of factors contribute to achieving this goal, from improving customer service, to attracting and retaining top talent, to finding the most effective ways to market your brand. One of the most effective, yet often overlooked, growth mechanisms for business is a customer referral program. Here’s why:

Companies that start actively developing an m-commerce strategy, rather than the more common ad-hoc approach to mobile that many use today, will separate themselves from their competitors as they place themselves as leaders in the mobile space. Meeting the challenge of converting mobile shoppers into purchasers is one critical path towards achieving that differentiation.

It's starting to thaw outside, and with thawed earth and melting grass comes one important thing. Spring sports!

10 Super Simple Social Media Marketing Tips Because of its personal, relaxed nature, social media may seem like a marketing tactic that doesn’t require much strategizing to be successful. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, many businesses make the same mistakes over and over, and then wonder why their SMM isn’t producing the results they were hoping for. That said, here are 10 social media blunders to avoid making for your own organization.

7 Tips to Bring Your Retargeting Ad Campaigns to the Next Level Retargeting has been gaining popularity over the past decade or so, and for good reason – it can boost ad response by up to 400%!

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” - Jack Welch For some people, leadership just comes naturally. For the majority of us, however, it’s a skill that must be carefully honed and nurtured before it can come to fruition. Whether you’re already in a position of leadership, or you’re striving to become one in the future, there are certain things that you can do to further develop your skills so that you’ll ...

In late 2013, social media giant Facebook announced that organic reach for business pages was going to be reduced. This meant that marketing on this platform would no longer be as simple as setting up a page and sharing content.

The economy isn’t what it used to be. And even though things are finally starting to look a little bit brighter, activities like dining out and traveling are still considered to be somewhat of a luxury for many. What this means for the hotel industry is much tighter competition to try and win new customers.

Several factors influence a business transaction, but the most pressing one is the human element. While savvy business owners understand the importance of connecting with their patrons, many tend to overlook the significance of an unassuming “thank you.” Yet in our highly competitive, consumer-driven economy, customers no longer hope for such gratitude from vendors—they expect it.

We're sure you've heard it said that in a tight economy, marketing budgets are the last thing to cut. But, why? Here are a few words from B2B leaders backing that stance, and the facts indicating that digital marketing remains the best place to allocate your budget in 2013.

At

Free eBook: Turning Customers into Brand Ambassadors

Everyone knows that the most important factors for increasing revenue is networking and referrals. In fact a recent survey showed that businesses generated 70% of their sales through referrals, many of which were generated through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Aside from building a startup in DTW

The term search engine optimization, aka SEO, is one that most marketers generally nod their heads toward. In fact, according to a Fleishman-Hillard and Harris Interactive Annual Global Study, “89% of customers begin their buying process with a search engine.” We know the value of this popular marketing channel, and we understand the importance of including it as part of our overall marketing strategy, but why is it that SEO is still a giant mystery to most marketers?

Imagine that a customer has just discovered your brand. They think that your company is on to something amazing. They know exactly which friends, family members and colleagues would benefit from this information. They reach for the nearest electronic device, but without a referral program in place, it's up to them to decide how they'll share the good news.

According to a recent survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Ambassador, 82% of Americans say they seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase. The majority of brands, whether B2B or consumer companies, have an audience of prospective customers seeking information from your existing clientele.

Close your eyes. No really, close your eyes and let your fingers dance across your keyboard. Open your eyes. Now, break up the jumble of text with a few haphazard bullets, lists, and stats. Then, log in to your dashboard and publish your improvised masterpiece on your company blog. You can blast the email list while you’re at it too. Before you hit send, make sure that there are a few words underlined in blue to give your helpless clients an escape route to the nearest website. Congratulations, ...

I’m proud to announce that today, Inc. Magazine has ranked Ambassador no. 321 in their 35th annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. This achievement is an honor we now share alongside other innovative companies in America; including Microsoft, Zappos, Dell, Square, and Dollar Shave Club among others.

The marketing industry is shifting toward a customer-centric, solution-seeking, data-driven model and marketers are encouraged to follow suit. Marketers have to know how to crunch numbers, spot trends, spark interest, make changes, and make connections - all while surpassing the competition.

According to a recent survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Ambassador, 82 percent of people say they seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase. Brands that encourage customers to share recommendations via referral marketing are building off of a natural inclination to share with others. Instead of wondering about the organic conversations that online audiences are having about your brand, companies can leverage a platform that scales and transforms ...

Today, Ambassador was ranked #23 on the Crain’s Detroit Coolest Places To Work. It’s an amazing accomplishment and I am truly humbled to share the news with you.

So, I have a confession to make. A year ago, I had no clue “referral marketing” was anything but a buzzword. I certainly didn’t know referral marketing software existed. Sure, I understood the value of referrals (I’ve been a marketer for many years — it’s hard not to understand the value of organic word-of-mouth). But referral marketing? In my experience, referrals weren’t truly optimizable or scalable — two core characteristics of any modern marketing strategy.

Let’s say you came into work tomorrow, opened your marketing analytics dashboard (better yet, a referral program dashboard), and saw that an Instagram influencer campaign had driven 20x ROI for your fashion eCommerce brand. Or maybe you’re the Head of Marketing for a B2B business and found that a partner webinar had driven 1,000 qualified leads and 200 new customers with an average lifetime value of $5,000. How would you react?

Did you know that 74% of consumers identify referral marketing as a key influencer in their purchasing decision? To put it simply, customers value share-worthy experiences and have gotten used to passing on good news to others.

Marketing changes every day. Just a few years a ago, a flashy street-side sign advertising your company’s name and location was enough to attract new business. Even a print ad in the Sunday paper was sure to remind your closest prospective customers to stop by your brick-and-mortar store. Over the last few years, marketing - along with its platforms, audiences, and capabilities - has advanced.

If you’ve done any research on successful referral marketing use cases, you’ve probably run into a lot of the same examples over and over again.

Just like every other component of marketing, a referral program requires a well-planned strategy to meet and exceed goals. Strategic thinking becomes increasingly important when it comes to one often overlooked aspect of referral programs — developing an incentive structure.

The contracts have been signed, sales has made the handoff to success, the proverbial bags have been packed. We're on our way down the customer journey! Be sure to clear out any obstacles for a well-paved path to singing your praises and repeat purchasing. Do your thank you pages include your referral program? Is there a refer-a-friend pop-up on the home page?

We had such a great response to our recent epic referral email rundown that we had to do another one. This time, we dug into our own customer archives to share emails that are expertly optimized to drive referrals.

When you make a purchase from just about any major eCommerce retailer today, you’ll likely receive a follow-up email (or a series of emails) that deliver a few key pieces of information:

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from our most recent eBook, "The Executive's No-Nonsense Guide to Referral Marketing." To read the full eBook, click here.  If you polled a group of marketing leaders and asked them to name their favorite type of lead, one response would stand out: Referrals.

Back in the day, the customer journey began with the ding of the overhead doorbell of the convenience store and concluded as items were neatly wrapped at the cash register. If your company was lucky, a memorable in-store visit would result in positive recommendations from happy customers that eventually reached a host of potentially loyal customers. Today’s customer experience is a little different. Customers expect brands to be active online and proactive in responses to customer complaints. ...

Diversity |diˈvərsitē, dī-| noun: a range of different things. How do you consume content? Do you prefer reading? Listening? Watching? In today’s digital world, it’s more important than ever to have something for everyone. Whether that’s a blog, eBook, infographic, video, case study, or podcast, your prospects have different preferences for their journey through the sales funnel. So, how do you turn your content marketing plan into a well-oiled, diverse machine?

Every “social media guru” and “marketing maven” touts the importance of engaging with your social following in an authentic and conversational way. Most brands have an individual or a team that makes critical decisions about publishing curated information to their audience, but how many companies are building customer loyalty through these online chats? Sure, there are top brands like Google, Taco Bell, and Southwest Airlines, who have built social media empires but what about your company? Are ...

Think about the last time you searched for a restaurant review before heading to dinner. Have you ever stood in a store aisle, with your phone in hand, traversing the web to see how other people are talking about the products that are lined on the shelves in front of you? Most likely, you’re nodding along. In addition to seeking trustworthy recommendations from friends, most consumers today search online to learn more about brands before committing to a purchase. With technology at our ...

Welcome to the digital content creation club! You've double-checked your spelling, triple-checked your facts, and confirmed that each hyperlink opens up in a new window. Now, prepare for one of the most gratifying, yet fleeting moments of your entire life (or afternoon). It's finally time to press the publish button and share your ideas with the world. Publishing a new piece of content may seem like the finish line, but in the grand scheme of your content promotion strategy, it's just the ...

Social media is making it easier than ever to experience (or invade) events that would traditionally arise through word-of-mouth or, you know, formal invitations. It’s true, audiences of customers and friends enjoy getting the special treatment, but it feels a little odd when exclusive opportunities are promoted for the world to see.

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from our most recent eBook, "The Path to Becoming a Visionary Marketing Leader," which explores four of the biggest marketing trends through the eyes of four marketing visionaries. To read the full eBook, click here.  As marketing leaders, one of our primary jobs is to position our business for the future. To do this, we keep tabs on marketing trends and opportunities, and take action when we see something that could help us create lasting competitive ...

Let’s face it, nothing is more unnecessary (or redundant) than talking about your website on your website. As content marketing and a host of other inbound strategies rule modern marketing conversations, it becomes less and less likely that one landing page is sufficient enough to spread the word about a new aspect of your business to the masses. Creating a static website page assumes that your customers are curious enough to be on the lookout for new developments and roam your site at their ...

In the last year, publishing powerhouses have sent a wave of frenzied readers in the direction of their competitors as iconic magazines like Jet Magazine, Lucky Magazine and Details shut down for good. In the midst of other indefinite mergers and layoffs, it’s safe to say that the publishing industry is still reeling from the recession’s tumultuous media landscape. Even as today’s editorial teams reach for the hottest writers and coolest social media platforms, it seems like the publishing ...

A timely delivery. A responsive customer service department. An innovative product. Great brands are built upon nuanced and valuable customer interactions, but today’s businesses rely on analyzing metrics to succeed. Have you noticed that audience growth, website engagement, and conversion rates seem to dominate modern marketing conversations? It’s no surprise. Companies are starting to acknowledge that much of their success relies on the preferences and behaviors of customers. We know that ...

Think about the last time that you took out a loan or used an accountant to prepare your taxes. Even if your experience was positive, was it exciting enough to inspire you to refer the company to your friends, family, or colleagues? Did you run to your phone to tweet about the experience, or send a mass email to your contacts singing the company’s praises?

Let’s set the scene. Your company caters to an audience of digital natives ranging from knowledgeable customers to intrigued fans. One group is extremely familiar with your brand and fluent in your products and services. They are the ones who leave comments, give feedback, know your Twitter handle, and begin using your hashtags as soon as they go live. The other group has heard good things about your business and is interested to see how your brand can meet their needs. They are a little more ...

When it comes to word-of-mouth and referral marketing, there may be no industry that benefits more from — and aligns better with — referrals than health and fitness.

If you follow marketing thought leaders or read best practice blogs, you’ve seen the evolving roster of trending ways to spread the word about your business. Beneath every trendy marketing buzzword lies a metric milestone that your company wants to surpass or a barrier that you need to break. But somewhere between the viral headlines and virtual tips, successful companies are digging deep to engage customers and drive revenue.

It’s rush hour in Big City, USA and every route into the city is blocked with gridlock traffic. What’s the hold up? It appears that a few drivers have decided to aimlessly follow the vehicle in front of them instead of obeying actual traffic signals. Some drivers are even looking in their rear-view mirror to determine their next turn. Others have become so infatuated with their reflection that they bump into the nearest obstacle.

When it comes to word-of-mouth and referral marketing, it’s easy to assume that the energy industry — specifically, solar companies — aren’t a great fit.

So you've got an influencer marketing platform in place and you think your influencer marketing strategy is set to take your brand to the next level. Maybe it’s a campaign with a trending blogger with a very large following; maybe it’s a program with an industry expert going on a international speaking tour next quarter. But are they worth the fee? Will they help your brand speak to your audience in an impactful way? Will they care about your brand as much as you do?

So your referral program is up and running and just like we suggested, you've enrolled your loyal customers. But what about everyone else? Don’t quite know where to start? Well, let's start by thinking of when and how to ask for referrals.

The best way to convince your customers to simply and consistently share referrals for your product or service is to develop a highly productive, low-maintenance referral marketing program. Of course the idea of building buzz around your brand with face-to-face interactions and friend-to-friend suggestions sounds amazing, but how can this translate into a major inbound marketing advantage and turn into a new stream of revenue? It’s pretty simple. Learn how to scale a referral program and grow ...

When you hear the phrase “traditional marketing” do you instantly imagine a group of branding geniuses, clad in their power suits, brainstorming over a wooden desk that’s covered in creative briefs, mock-ups, discarded notebook paper and half-empty coffee mugs? Do you ever wonder how our marketing predecessors were able to get their hands on late-night snacks, without a delivery app, while burning the midnight oil just waiting for inspiration to hit? Did you watch all seven seasons of Mad Men ...

In a perfect social media world, your clients, followers, readers, and subscribers would hunt you down for new information, comment incessantly, and become loyal fans in the matter of minutes it takes to devour a new piece of content. Your queue would also fill up with perfectly edited and backlinked new content in sweet conjunction with the editorial calendar, creating a consistent pulse of branded content. Sounds nice, right? Well, come back down to earth.

As one of the world’s oldest market research firms, Nielsen’s Harris Poll Online has “analyzed every aspect of American life.” From consumer habits to television viewership to politics, Harris Poll is the gold-standard for conducting research. For instance, did you know that adults who were read to daily, or at least weekly, are more likely to report six-figure incomes? Harris Poll helps to answer the questions that we didn’t know we needed to know. So, when the opportunity arose in early 2016 ...

On most mornings in the Ambassador office, we hear the whistle of a passing Amtrak train as it surges to a stop then heads south to downtown Detroit. On most nights, the flickering lights from the Royal Oak Music Theatre signal the end of another team-building, goal-crushing, and gong-dinging day. So why are we so in love with metro Detroit? Because we understand that the Detroit community extends further than the city center. The city reveals itself in its most authentic form within the spirit ...

Do you remember the last marketing tool that your company adopted? How many problems did it solve, one or many? If you can answer immediately and point to specific resolved dilemmas or achieved business goals, then we're that much closer to the future of MarTech. There is a lot of marketing technology out there, so how can marketers combat this oversaturation to find proven, reliable, and logical solutions that will address their company-specific pain points? Brands should develop a ...

 All marketing efforts boil down to the same theory: casting your net far and wide over a very targeted area and coming back with more of a higher quality than what you had initially. Today’s net probably holds stellar outreach, compelling content, and experiential hooks along with new leads, but the idea is the same. Every company is tasked with developing irresistible messages that convince customers to embark on a strategic, shareable, and scalable journey. At least that’s what growth ...

This is an excerpt from our latest e-book, “How To Turn Your Customer Base Into New Revenue.” To download the full version, click here. With word-of-mouth marketing driving billions of dollars in sales every year, it’s no surprise that it’s one of the most coveted sources of marketing. And when it comes to consumer relationships with brands, 74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision. In fact, the best source of new business is a referral from a ...

If you haven't watched Netflix's newest binge-worthy docu-series, "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness," yet you might want to navigate to one of our blog posts about referral programs or word-of-mouth marketing. Because, warning: spoilers below!

Welcome to the Referral Marketing Software Café! Take a moment to look over our menu of marketing collateral suggestions. With any of these fantastic and fresh content offerings, and the right positioning and messaging for your target audience, you’ll be driving new sales and referrals in no time.

Why should your target customer purchase a product from your brand rather than from a competitor’s?

Over the course of seven years, Twitter has evolved from a simple microblogging service to an indispensable tool for referral marketers. With only 140 characters, a business can reach thousands of supporters across broad swaths of demographics. But one tweet only goes so far.

Landing page optimization is a cornerstone of any referral marketing campaign. After all, once you’ve done the hard work of making a sale, how can you convert satisfied customers into brand ambassadors?

It seems that LinkedIn has been on a mission to prove that professionals can be social too. And on April 4 they took it one a further by adding a Facebook-style Mentions feature to status updates and conversations.

If your referral rewards program is the body of your social media strategy, then a headline is the friendly face that will draw in customers.

Friction comes up a lot in our lives: in relationships, work, and politics—it’s pretty common, and oftentimes unavoidable. But in the case of managing a successful referral marketing program, friction can mean the difference between having loyal customers versus having brand ambassadors. Thus, reducing the amount of friction that your customers encounter should be a top priority.

Referrals Are the Most Cost-Effective—and Trustworthy—Ad Strategy Your customers may trust your product, but your advertising strategy may be a different story.

With more and more businesses recognizing the value of online referrals, it’s easy to overlook why the advertising technique is so effective in the first place—it’s social! Every day friends and colleagues interact with each other on social media sites in ways that weren’t possible even two years ago. But guess what? They’re interacting with your brand as well.

While Tumblr is a powerful tool for businesses to leverage when looking to engage fans online, the microblog’s mobile app has always been lacking in its integrations with other social media sites.

The marriage of social media and e-commerce continues to blossom. And with American Express’s recent announcement of its new “pay-by-hashtag” feature on Twitter, the love between these two Web industries has never been stronger.

Research shows that the positive word of mouth (WOM) surrounding brands outpaces negative by a 6 to 1 ratio. But this doesn’t happen on its own! Whether you’re a B2C or a B2B business, nurturing relationships with your customers is one of the most important factors for leveraging positive referrals and decreasing customer attrition.

There seems to be a strong inverse correlation between the use of social media and users’ attention spans: as social media becomes more popular, people are less willing to spend a lot of time reading long form content. Therefore, one might conclude that the obvious answer to this dilemma is to shorten your content, otherwise known as “microcontent.”

As we learned in our most recent infographic, Advertising: Do You Buy It, trust in advertising is changing. With this in mind, more and more online businesses are coming to the conclusion that word of mouth referrals are key to their marketing success. Let's take a look at this evolving channel and why you should tap into your customer's positive feedback.

With consumers more connected via social media than ever before, leveraging the collective influence of loyal customers has never been more important.

There are lots of reasons for new customers to get engaged with a brand, but occasionally they may need an extra push. And what better way to get fans motivated than with some healthy competition?

Our referral marketing software starts with giving your brand ambassadors personalized URLs, but it doesn’t end there. A critical component is the promotion of the referral program itself. There are many traditional ways to share your program out to your fan base, some of which we covered in our post on 4 Ways to Effectively Promote Your Referral Rewards Program.

If you haven’t noticed yet, referral software has been getting a little SaaS-y lately. To clarify—over the past couple of years, SaaS companies have begun implementing referral programs into their social media marketing efforts. And wow, have they been doing well as a result!

Integrating social commerce into a B2B sales strategy may be a relatively new idea, but the underlying concepts date back to the earliest days of civilization: We are all social creatures who are community minded and driven by referrals from friends and family.

At one point, social media was considered to be just a phase that some progressive marketers were going through. However, with the attention and returns that social media have garnered recently, it’s safe to say that social media is here to stay. Most brands and businesses have realized the importance of social media and the impact it can have on their business. So they’re making an effort to join the major platforms and get involved. But then what? Because social media is a new addition to ...

Millions of users world-wide have "bought in" to Facebook, and countless businesses are profiting handsomely. Leaving you wondering . . . What's in it for consumers—engagement, incentives, community? How could your page be more likable?

Social Media Referrals Are the Most Important Metric You’re Not Tracking What is the most important key performance indicator (KPI) for measuring success on social media? Likes, retweets, and shares? Not necessarily. While these metrics tell a story, they don’t equate to tangible sales.

Social media has always been about engagement. It's a place where conversations, networking and relationship building flourish. Unfortunately for business, this is difficult to scale. So many succumb to using the platform strictly for racking up fans and blasting promotions.

The success of group buying in the B2C market is pretty well established, but can it work the same magic for B2Bs?

With summer coming just around the corner, many of us have taken to the gym to get that perfect beach body. But every now and then it’s okay to splurge a bit.

With more than 644 million active websites in 2012, remembering your favorite ones can be a herculean task. Luckily, most Internet browsers have a “Bookmarks” feature to help you keep track. But it’s 2013—the year of the social Web! Who wants to keep their favorite websites to themselves?

We're very happy to announce that Ambassador now integrates directly with SurveyMonkey's Net Promoter Score® survey, and will create an Ambassador account for anybody that answers the Net Promoter Score® survey ("On A Scale Of 1-10, How Likely Are You To Refer A Friend?") with a 9 or a 10.

On March 7, Facebook announced the first major redesign of its News Feed (the center column of the home page) in more than three years, which places greater emphasis on visuals and provides options that allow users to tailor the information they consume based on their specific interests. The changes are considered to be a win for Facebook users and a big win for referral marketers.

Unless you’ve been living under a social media rock, you’ve likely come across the option to register for a website using your existing social media identity. Privacy issues aside, using social login is a great way to acquire not only more users, but also customer information that’s critical to establishing a truly social brand. Here’s why:   1. Social Login Helps Deter Shopping Cart Abandonment Research shows that on average, 75 percent of ecommerce sales don’t occur because site visitors ...

Most B2B companies know that social media is a great tool for not only increasing awareness and engagement, but also generating high-value customer referrals. If you didn’t already know this, then keep in mind that the closing ratio for nonreferred leads is only 10 percent versus a 60 percent closing ratio for referred leads.

Moving your brand onto social media sites presents a lot of great opportunities for online marketing, but simply setting up a Facebook page won’t be enough to help you reap the full benefits. While marketing has always been about communicating with customers, social marketing is actually a two-way conversation. This brings up an interesting question: What does your brand sound like to real people?

The social media world is like high school: every week there’s a new rumor circulating. But a big one seems to be gaining traction recently: Facebook hashtags.

It’s widely accepted among dog trainers that the most effective and humane way to train a dog is through positive reinforcement. Basically, it means you reward the animal’s behavior that you want to see repeated and ignore the behavior you don’t.

Infographic originally published on Mashable.com, found via

"Experts," those perceived to be well-versed and respected in their fields, can expect more doors to open to them. Phone calls and email responded to on a more regular basis. Invitation to speak and contribute articles. More business. Learn to position yourself as an expert, including which social media channels to tap into, to enjoy the benefits of expertise. 

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”

As shoppers increasingly engage with brands online, social media has become as much of an eCommerce referral engine as it is a networking tool. In fact, data collected online shows that a person’s purchasing behavior is influenced exponentially more by friends and family than by traditional outbound advertising. An effective referral campaign, backed up by comprehensive referral software, can leverage these trends and capitalize on the power of word-of-mouth recommendations.

Thanksgiving is here and like most Americans, our mind is not on the historical significance of the event, but on the historically significant amount of food we’ll consume. Amidst planning our own menus, we realized that each dish could accurately be pinned to a social medium. That’s just the way we are.

Social media has evolved beyond cat memes and vanity status updates into active engagement with consumers. Today, businesses active on social media increase exposure, improve search rankings, generate leads, and grow partnerships that lead to wild success in the online marketplace.

In 1954, Abraham Maslow laid out a theory that would radically reshape ideas on human development: the Hierarchy of Needs. In layman’s terms, the theory held that individuals couldn’t realize true emotional development unless basic needs were satisfied.

With so many networks available to marketers, understanding the landscape of social media can be difficult. But don’t fear the unknown! The following infographic from Awareness Inc. offers 5 best practices for traversing Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to help optimize your referral campaigns and start generating more leads, increasing brand awareness and promoting brand ambassadors now.

Whether it’s using dynamic tools to reach audiences seconds after a campaign event, or masterfully crafted CTA’s that drive voters to the polls, there’s no doubt that when it comes to social media marketing—both presidential candidates are decisive winners.

Today’s consumer is turning to online mediums to make informed buying decisions—wanting to feel as if they are a valued consumer that is heard by the businesses they buy from. Businesses can capitalize on this opportunity by knowing their audience, and targeting messages accordingly. Let’s take a look at how your business can benefit from this shift in consumer behavior.

Zombies will roam the streets on Halloween—mindless creatures covered in blood soaked rags, staggering around in an endless search for…candy?

3 Ways Crazy Sports Fans Transform Brand Engagement Ambassador is based in Detroit, so as you can imagine the majority of our staff are avid Detroit Tiger’s fans. So when our home team swept the New York Yankees [in 2012] to secure a spot in the World Series, celebration ensued.

6 Psychological Hacks That Get More Referrals It’s no secret that social media has radically changed how businesses sell and interact with customers. What hasn’t changed is the underlying psychology of why people make purchases in the first place.

The world’s biggest companies are becoming heavily active on social media sites as part of their marketing strategies…and it’s working.

In the Field of Dreams, a mysterious voice tells Kevin Costner: “If you build it, they will come.” Well, maybe for baseball fields but in most cases not for a referral rewards program.

63% of B2Bs and 70% of B2Cs are now engaged with social media for lead generation and sales.

In this comprehensive free eBook you’ll learn how to:

Love is in the air and the moment is yours for the taking. You’ve got your game planned out and engines revving to go, but how do you know you’re making the right moves?

Although running a social media campaign for your brand can be effective, it’s even better to create social media brand ambassadors. Not only are these individuals extremely loyal and usually customers themselves, they often bring an element of virality that can help market a brand even further and increase exposure. Here’s 4 great ways to create social media brand ambassadors.

There are many reasons to adopt a customer referral program for your business. It’s cost effective, builds trust between customers and your brand, provides a strong ROI…you get the idea.

Does it sometimes feel like social media has taken over the world? Your life? Learn just how much social media is becoming a part of our everyday lives, influencing everything from how we interact to how we shop. 

Like a churning customer base, brand ambassador disengagement is a significant concern for your business. It is far from inevitable, though. Disengaged ambassadors can be effectively brought back to active status…with the right strategies.

via

via

via

In an age where marketing is increasingly driven by technology, most marketing leaders know that one of their most important responsibilities is evaluating, buying, and implementing the right marketing technologies and then building strategies around them. And that rings especially true when it comes to scaling with affiliate marketing software.

Having worked with thousands of clients all over the globe as well as powering thousands of B2C referral programs and millions of new sales, we've heard almost every question possible from brand marketers. We understand the intricacies of running a referral program, and are always happy to lend a helping hand to marketers that want to leverage this customer acquisition channel.

We've seen a massive shift in the way businesses market online, especially when it comes to word-of-mouth. This is why it's crucial to leverage referral marketing automation to help marketers track, manage, and scale initiatives across the enterprise.

While word-of-mouth marketing impacts a tremendous amount of revenue for most brands, fewer than 1% of all companies have an actual word of mouth strategy in place. We all know word-of-mouth works, but for it to deliver results, we need to have a strategic plan for it.

With more and more companies leveraging partner marketing, it’s never been more important for marketers to learn how to build a channel partner program. In fact, in today’s multi-channel, always-on, digital landscape, it has become nearly impossible to generate awareness, trust, and acquire customers in one certain way, at one specific place without enlisting in the help of partners to increase success.

Webinars are a key part of acquiring and retaining customers. But many marketing teams are still unclear on how to leverage the content webinars create and use these evergreen assets in future campaigns.

Zaps. The word itself ignites a spark, especially if it's referencing a way to simplify your marketing workload. If you're a busy marketer looking for a way to optimize your referral marketing workflow, keep reading for how to automate tasks so you can focus your time and energy on what matters most.

If you’re shopping for affiliate software and are a bit lost on how to vet a vendor, you’re in luck, we can help in your search for the best affiliate marketing partner. Even the most seasoned marketer can be overwhelmed when it comes to adding new technologies to their marketing stack.

After being in this industry for almost a decade now, one of the most common questions we get is, "what is referral marketing?" While most people inherently understand the concept, the strategy goes by many different aliases and it can get confusing.

If you’re a marketer, remember the days of yore when you had to log into Facebook and post an update, and then sign into Twitter to check your last tweet’s engagement, and then keep a pulse on LinkedIn to see how many followers your brand had? All social activity was siloed by network and it was time consuming to manage all the different platforms whether you were engaging, reporting, or just plain browsing.

In digital marketing, where the landscape is changing at the drop of a dime, it's important for marketers to lean on proven strategies - like word-of-mouth marketing - rather than wasting time on the latest fad that might negatively impact your bottom line and eat up resources.

Influencer marketing is gaining momentum. A growing number of B2B and eCommerce brands are leveraging an influencer marketing platform to reach and engage with their target audience. Ambassador defines influencer marketing as "a modern take on traditional affiliate marketing. Instead of a network of smaller affiliates driving traffic, influencer marketing targets specific people - influencers - who have large, captive audiences."

Having a referral program as part of a customer acquisition strategy is continuing to gain traction amongst marketers with large revenue goals. And it's no surprise. In fact, 82% of people seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase. So what are the do's and don'ts of referral marketing that successful campaign managers follow in order to bring in more new business? 

With all the talk of influencer marketing, you may be wondering, "what is influencer marketing automation? And how can this platform help my business grow?" You're not alone. Nearly two-thirds of marketers are planning to increase their spending on influencer marketing this year, so it's important to know what exactly you're spending your budget on.

Are you contemplating why referral software should be part of your marketing strategy? Whether you're a marketer in the B2B space or with a consumer brand, you're not alone. Especially since referral programs drive some of the highest conversion rates among all marketing channels, it's no surprise that more and more businesses are leveraging referral software to scale this customer acquisition channel.