Powerful Brand Ambassadors, Retailer’s Major Hope

February 25, 2020,

Do we smell a comeback?

Fashion retailers are sliding, falling and in some cases disappearing off the once lucrative brick and mortar map.

As posted by businessinsider.com on February 3, 2020, “Retailers are expected to close more than 2,200 stores this year, following record-high rates of closings last year. More than 9,300 store closings were announced in the US in 2019, smashing the previous record of roughly 8,000 store closures in 2017, according to an analysis by Business Insider.”

Coming up with solutions to stem or reverse the trend is very challenging in the new online environment where it is far more difficult to gauge results for your advertising dollar than in the previously more straight forward world of print.

As a result many primarily young female entrepreneurs have launched and propelled powerful YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and other Social Media pathways for their followers to expand globally.

One of the most successful Social Media entrepreneurs is Emma Chamberlain.

Emma Chamberlain (born May 22, 2001) is an American YouTuber.

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com via- J-14 Pinterest.

She won the 2018 Streamy Award for Breakout Creator. In April 2019, she launched a weekly podcast titled Stupid Genius.

In July 2019, Time Magazine included her on its fifth annual list of The 25 Most Influential People On The Internet, writing that “Chamberlain pioneered an approach to vlogging that shook up YouTube’s unofficial style guide.”

Though raised in Nor Cal, she’s gone Hollywood and currently lives in Los Angeles. Good for her.

Our star uploaded the first video to her YouTube channel on June 2, 2017.

She posted videos almost daily during the summer of 2017. Despite her frequent upload schedule, she had just 50 subscribers after her first twenty videos.

That was then and this is now.

SocialBlade, a social media analytics firm, estimates that from her videos alone she makes at least $120,000 a year, and perhaps as much as $2 million. Sponsor deals with Hollister and Louis Vuitton are another revenue stream.

The enjoyable Social Media insiders at cosmopolitan.com add, “Back in 2018, Forbes revealed that Emma’s engagement (aka “the amount of Likes and comments of a post divided by the total amount of followers”) is literally wild. She was averaging around 25 percent engagement on Instagram in 2018, which is huge—especially when you consider that Kim Kardashian was averaging just 9 percent engagement with way more followers.

This means advertisers love Emma and she’s presumably making a ton of money from her sponsored posts.”

Very presumably.

Regarding the effectiveness of Social Media platforms, the team at mediakix.com enlighten:

80% of marketers find influencer marketing effective.
71% of marketers rate the quality of customers and traffic from influencer marketing as better than other marketing sources.
89% of marketers say influencer marketing ROI is as good or better than other marketing channels.
65% of marketers plan to up their influencer marketing budgets in 2019.

Some in the industry aren’t so sure how effective influencer marketing is.

The team at marketinginsidergroup.com related, “The 2017 Millennial Shopper Survey by DealSpotr found that 52% of Millennials don’t trust influencers anymore.

Social media influencers were no longer authentic, promoting brands they liked and giving honest reviews of products. They were another channel for marketing a firm’s brands, another tool used for their ability to sell goods or services to target audiences. A social media influencers made the transition from enthusiastic amateur to professional content producer, a kind of media market clerks.”

Some of the concerns stem around social media influencers not being objective brand reviewers but marketing mouth-pieces to monetize their efforts for companies they are getting paid by.

This in part emphasizes the importance of Brand Ambassadors.

A brand ambassador, often times called a corporate ambassador is a person who is hired by an organization or company to represent a brand in a positive light and by doing so help to increase brand awareness and sales.

The brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in appearance, demeanor, values and ethics.

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Estee Lauder photo credit

The latter embodiment is extremely critical.

The key element of brand ambassadors is their ability to use promotional strategies that will strengthen the customer-product-service relationship and influence a large audience to buy and consume more.

Predominantly, a brand ambassador is known as a positive spokesperson, an opinion leader or a community influencer, appointed as an internal or external agent to boost product or service sales and create brand awareness.

The primary job of a brand ambassador was undertaken typically by a celebrity or someone of a well-known presence, who was often paid considerably for their time and effort.

In today’s online world, a brand ambassador can be anyone who has knowledge or can identify certain needs a brand is seeking. The fashion industry however, solely rely on celebrity clientele in order to remain brand ambassadors.

Brand ambassador programs are becoming a huge part of the digital and social media marketing landscape as modern consumers are wanting to become more integral parts of recommending and promoting the brands they love.

A perfect example of this is the relationship between the incredibly popular Karlie Kloss and cosmetics giant Estée Lauder.

Karlie Kloss is an American fashion model and entrepreneur.

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Estee Lauder photo credit

At the tender age of 17, Vogue Paris declared her one of the “top 30 models of the 2000s.”

Models.com has said that Ms. Kloss “represents the gold standard of modeling—a girl with the look, the poise, and the drive to take things to the next level”

She was a Victoria’s Secret Angel from 2013 until 2015

Outside of modeling, Kloss has an interest in technology and has founded the “Kode with Klossy” camp, which aims to get young girls interested in STEM fields. Starting in 2019, Kloss became the host of the Bravo TV series, Project Runway.

American cosmetics company Estée Lauder is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrances and more.

The company is committed to supporting her initiative “Kode with Klossy” through scholarships and events.

The spectacular fashion and beauty team at wwd.com add, “For entrepreneurial model Karlie Kloss, a role as global spokesmodel and brand ambassador for the Estée Lauder brand is “a natural fit.”

She is partnering with the brand on digital beauty content for her and Lauder’s social channels, which is to be produced by her production company, Klossy Productions. The first order of business is creating Lauder-branded beauty content for Klossy’s YouTube channel — Kloss has close to 700,000 subscribers.”

Sounds very impressive and effective.

The shifting landscape of retail fashion continues to morph.