The Best College Brand Ambassador Programs Care About Their Reps and Promote a Great Product
Imagine this: thousands of fans come to see you, cheering and screaming when you walk on stage to…show them the newest tech or app you created. Why? Because entrepreneurs are the new rock stars, that’s why.
Startups, innovation, apps — these are what dreams are made of now. Instead of playing guitar in a garage band and trying to make it big, we’re all coding in dorm rooms and talking about disruption.
It’s really cool, but there’s more to it than just having great tech or ideas. Here’s a pro tip: to make it big as an entrepreneur, you also have to be an amazing ambassador for your brand.
And college is actually a great place to learn this. Lots of companies want to get the word out, so they turn to students through what’s usually called a brand ambassador program. The best college brand ambassador programs end up being both good experience and a lot of fun.
Basically, you should get into one if you can. Stick with us to the end, and we’ll tell you how.
One Equation for the Best College Brand Ambassador Programs
Like everything, some of these programs are great and others…ehhh, not so much. The formula for the best college brand ambassador programs is simple:
Paid Gig + A Company with a Great Product = New Awesome Experience / Your First Step to Becoming a Modern Day Rock Star
You do want to be a modern day rock star, right? Yeah, I thought so. Me too. So get good at identifying which of these programs is worthwhile.
Five Signs to Look for in College Brand Ambassador Programs
The equation is a good start, but there are also more nuanced signs to look for when spotting a brand ambassador program that’s worth your time. If only there were a cheat sheet! Oh wait, there is.
Here:
- Good Sign: The program actually pays you.
- Bad Sign: The program pays you…with free t-shirts or coupons.
- Good Sign: The program recruits through normal hiring channels or college recruiting sites like University Beyond or WayUp.
- Bad Sign: The program recruits at a table in the student center with a cute guy who smiles at you (okay, maybe some of that is good).
- Good Sign: The company has a cool concept, one that helps connect people, entertain people, or promote environmental sustainability.
- Bad Sign: The company has cool beers they want you to promote by wearing tight pants and low cut tops at parties and bars.
- Good Sign: The program is something you want to put on your resume.
- Bad Sign: The program is promoting something, like pizza, that you don’t want to spill on your resume.
- Good Sign: The program puts you in a position to grow your real-world skills by collecting feedback from users or making presentations.
- Bad Sign: The program puts you in the position of begging your friends to buy stuff so you can get paid.
Three Brand Ambassador Programs Worth Your Time and Energy
Okay, you know the equation, and you know the good or bad signs. Let’s get to the really useful stuff: the best college brand ambassador programs to join up with. You have limited time in college so you want to make the most of it by choosing to work with only the best companies. Here are a few of the really good ones.
- Kaplan Student Brand Ambassador: Yup, this is the test prep company. And sure, we can understand not wanting to think about tests in your off-time, but Kaplan does something cool (helps students get into the schools of their dreams), and pays pretty decently, too, without making you hit a sales target.
- OXO Brand Ambassador: OXO makes tons of products (you probably know their kitchen products like vegetable peelers), based on universal design that makes stuff usable by as many people as possible. This is so much better than lots of campus jobs, because it pays $15 an hour plus $60 for four-hour demos. Ka-ching.
- Airtime Strategist: This is another good gig that pays well, by a company that actually cares about their reps. Airtime is an app that you can use to listen to music with friends or to create a space to hang out and share videos, gifs, songs, pictures, and more while doing a group video chat. This a great one because the strategist label really stands out on your resume, and the company is serious about letting reps be creative and learn skills. Another nice thing about Airtime is the product itself, which is really powerful and flexible (and fun!), so it’s useful and easy to promote on college campuses to clubs, groups, teams, causes, friends, whoever.
So there you have it: everything you need to get a paying campus gig doing promotion and brand leadership, the perfect first steps on your journey to becoming a tech entrepreneur rock star.
And if Airtime sounds cool to you, apply to our strategist program here. We care about our campus strategists and we want you to be part of the next big thing (we’re talking about our awesome app). You’ll get good experience, something great on your resume, and a chance to tell other students about an amazing, high-tech product that will change the way they use social media.
Airtime is waiting for you, your many awesome friends, and your (mostly) excellent taste in music and videos. Let’s take this relationship to the next level — you can become an Airtime brand ambassador (we call it a strategist) on your college campus. Finally, did you like what you just read? We’ll love you forever if you recommend our post to others.
