Why Ambassador Codes Aren’t Brilliant, But What Is Instead
Why Ambassador Codes Aren’t Brilliant, But What Is Instead
If you’re already an Ambassador (or Brand Advocate), don’t get bummed out. You’ve made it this far, so keep reading.
I’ve never been a big fan of ‘ambassadors’ or ‘affiliates’.
What is the difference between ambassadors, affiliates, and/or even partners for that matter? I don’t have time to give you a dictionary definition, so let’s continue.
Now, our first year with GRRRL, we started out an ambassador program that didn’t contain concrete outlines, unlike a company say like 5% nutrition. If you go on their website, it’s real clear that you can apply, but you need to have 10,000 + followers to even begin with.
We were taking women and girls onboard who were more or less “grrrl material”. We would check through their feed and read comments they left on other people’s profiles to make sure they were acting in accordance to our ethos, not posting with airbrushed photos, or just doing a bunch of tits and ass shots for likes.
When you have online ‘ambassadors’, the point is to use their channels to promote your brand, and they in turn make a commission off of any sales that get generated. But nowadays it seems like everyone has some kind of ‘code’ or ambassadorship with some kind of company. Livesore. Be Strong. (Just be Strong?) The list goes on.
There are a couple of different reasons why I don’t like giving people codes:
1.. I feel like they make other people feel excluded
2. Our brand weighs so heavily on connectivity, sisterhood, and abiding to a certain philosophy of life, that if someone is associated with our brand, they need to conduct themselves in a certain way.
3. They turn people into a walking billboard. PS- People love to shop, but they hate being “sold to”. That is why network marketing is so goddamn hard!
It’s confusing because some women have codes with less than say 1,000 followers, but when someone emails up to tell their story and apply, and we write back saying we have guidelines now, is that they might not realise, that this other grrrl has TATTOO’D the brand on her body for LIFE.
Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch! If you’ve tattoo’d GRRRL on your body somewhere, you are straight up RIDE OR DIE. Call yourself an ambassador, my blood sister, IDGAF. You are OUT THERE DOING THE DAMN THING.
We also have grrrl’s like Diana Van Rompey who go out and set up booths at events and have paid for table clothes and display items out of their own pockets (with permission of course!), and are out there pushing the brand because they truly believe in what we are doing.
Our current team of ambassadors and advocates are amazing and have generated us a lot of new recruits, and we are forever grateful.
But when we get 100’s of emails a week, of women asking for codes, even with the few professional Athletes we support financially, once someone posts to their markets, their database is aware of who we are. We need people talking about WHY we exist, and how that has impacted their lives. Out in the street doing gorilla marketing. Thinking outside the box. Etc.
Having professional Athletes like Rose Namajumas and Holly Holm (former) on the team, are great for us. They are straight up grrrl material. But as a start up company, who’s main focus is an equal sisterhood, with our clothing already being affordable AF, codes tend to give an air of ‘better than’, if you will, and to be frank, our stuff margins are already tight as me trying to fit into a pair of jeans. Comparable brands selling the EXACT same leggings as us, will charge up to $75-110USD.
Furthermore, back in the day when we used to have more time, we could check up on Ambassadors and see what type of interactions they were having on other people’s comments. I came across “That bitch is just a thirsty hoe, don’t pay her any attention”, and nearly fell off my seat.
I don’t have the mentally capacity to brush my teeth twice a day, make love to my partner in over a year, let alone find time to heal my thyroid, so I certainly don’t have time to be looking into other women who are Ambassador’s ‘stuff’. It’s not our job to police anyone. You’re either in, or you’re not. What you do in your spare time, is totally up to you. However, when a brand is based off of principles, values and ethos, we can’t mess around.
We’re not GymShark- we’re not DoYouEven... we are fucking GRRRL. We are here to build a sisterhood, where we are created equal. A brand that doesn’t need to be paying people to grow the sisterhood. We have so many members of the grrrlarmy who ‘get it’, and are out there already doing the damn thing.
Going out on the street with pledge bands and cards. To be starting their own free training boot camps and asking us to give a 1 time discount for a massive order for all the new recruits to buy a shirt...
Sure... some women just want to say they have a sponsorship of some sort, and feel like they’re being supported somehow. Some just want the title. But most often than not, women want to give back and be involved in any way possible, as well as be able to be heard and share their story.
So therein lies the issue. How do we get more women involved?
Because I know the feeling. Full-stop. I’ve experienced first hand, that the first step to building self love and finding happiness, is by being of service to others. Making $400/hr to stand around and flex in videos, did not give me happiness and fill the void in my soul. What did, was being of service and finding my purpose. Feeling like I could help others.
So how we get more women involved? Well I’m so f**king glad you asked!
This is in part why we are running this Indiegogo campaign!
We want to give our grrrlarmy members the opportunity to take proven programs back into their communities and teach girls how to become women!
Yes! Selling clothing and being a brand that
-refuses to use photoshop/airbrushing
-all body types
-doesn’t use traditional sizing
is amazing! But it’s no longer about us. It’s about YOU and giving YOU an opportunity to heal, then change the world around you, by first changing yourself.
So to give you a taste, we’ve put the Self Love Success Academy on our campaign.
We’re envisioning doing Train The Trainer style format, where you, our grrrlarmy members (customers, if you are unfamiliar with our brand) get to come and learn the rebranded format of Kamp Konfidence, and create change in your world.
This “Self Love Success Academy” is just ONE of TEN components from Kamp Konfidence. And what we end up re-branding Kamp Konfidence to, we’re not sure at this stage. At this stage, we’re just focusing on hitting our $85,000 mark so we can take our GL18 on the road and do a mini road show! In the clothing world, $85,000 is a drop in the bucket when you’re expanding on a global scale.
So we’re giving you an opportunity to familiarise yourself with what the future is to hold. As well as get this information into as many hands as possible. This course is life changing....
SO......
WTF is the “Self Love Success Academy”
OK, so by now you’ve been looking at all of our AWESOME perks on our crowdfunding campaign and you can’t decide what to get. I don’t blame you... there is so much awesome stuff on it.
So... what exactly is the “Self Love Success Academy” anyway? (which I’ll refer to as SLSA)
The SLSA is a 160 page, interactive workbook/journal that is designed to help any woman or girl, 11 years and older, start working on developing self love.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grrrl-clothing-the-self-love-rebellion-project/x/3743439#/
Developing self love takes work. It requires taking time to sit down, and put pen to paper, and ask yourself some important questions. Most importantly, self love starts by building awareness. Building awareness can easily translate to ‘mindfulness’. Instead of living life on ‘auto pilot’, we learn to observe our thoughts and behaviours and more importantly, strategies on how to start creating change.
The trouble with explaining what this program covers, is that there is just SO DAMN MUCH it actually covers.
For $70, the course includes 15 HD (hi def) videos ranging from 5-10 minutes of myself, walking you (or your loved one) through how to use this workbook/journal. The course also includes supplemental videos that go along with the course, as well as printouts, such as an assertiveness quiz and so on.
The ironic thing is, I HATE doing online courses. I lose interest, am HELLA A.D.D. (Official) and have a hard time sitting still. But, the beauty is, and I’m not ashamed to say, I am HELLA entertaining and engaging :)
I guarantee when you finish this online course, which you can do during the 8 week suggested pace, or do at your own pace (because you have lifetime access to the course) that you will walk away a more empowered, confident female brimming with self love.
This course helps combat bullying, regardless of age, improves self esteem and worth, creates a sense of achievement, builds self love, enhances confidence, and overall sense of serenity.
So for the love of Prince, get this specific perk in your home, out to other parents at your kids schools, to women who run girl groups, coaches, DO IT YOURSELF! It’s a great way to bond with your Daughter in doing this together, but also is designed to be done by yourself as a grown ass adult! I guarantee you will learn something.