Being a Brand Ambassador Can Be Good for Your Career

Posted on: October 19, 2012, by :

Being unique can help you stand out as an employee and professional and is important whether you are employed or seeking employment Serving as a brand ambassador for your organization can positively impact your career.  You may be thought of as unique if you are a proactive, effective brand ambassador and serving in this capacity isn’t required of you in your position. 

While many employees are formally responsible for being brand ambassadors, often business development professionals and product or service representatives, others without such formal responsibilities may be quite effective serving as brand ambassadors.  For example, consider an employee who is employed as a safety manager at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant.  This employee may not think of themselves as a brand ambassador or deliberately share company messages in the course of their personal lives.  This same employee may help out with their child’s baseball team or simply attend their games and have casual conversations with others discussing where they work and what they do—it is in these moments that brand ambassadors tell the story of the brand that is their organizationStories are powerful and are often of great value to organizations.

As an employee every interaction you have with others is an opportunity to build up or detract from your organizations’ brand.  Savvy organizations are recognizing these opportunities and taking action to help employees better understand the organization so they in turn can better represent the organization.

You add value to your organization when you understand and communicate its history, progression, and future aspirations with others.  Your ability to do so may result in your being viewed as unique by management, clients (and potential clients), and your peers.  This can be particularly significant if your role within your organization does not require you to engage with others on behalf of the organization.

While management and clients (and potential clients) may appreciate your proactive professionalism, your peers may not understand and may ultimately be skeptical of your actions.  If you purposefully seek opportunities to serve as a brand ambassador for your organization you may want to share your intent with others to prevent any misunderstanding.  It’s likely that many of your peers will understand and appreciate your attempts to promote your organization and may even increase their participation as well.  When done well, management will appreciate your actions. 

In addition to adding value with your current employer you are also positioning yourself to demonstrate to others how you add value by serving as a brand ambassador whether or not you are formally responsible for doing so.  For job seekers the ability to articulate this and provide examples exposes potential employers to the unique way in which you add value above and beyond the requirements in your position.

 

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