Loop Earplugs Ambassador Marketing Breakdown

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Loop Earplugs is making some serious noise (no pun intended) in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) market. With an impressive 3,815 posts under #loopearplugs on Instagram, over 25,000 reviews on their website…

…and a staggering 42,068 reviews on Amazon for their Loop Quiet product alone, this brand is setting a high bar. 🤯

But the numbers don't stop there.

From the second half of 2020 through all of 2021, Loop found fresh audiences and honed in on expanding its customer base, catapulting its revenue from 1€ million to 12€ million. 💰

This meteoric rise didn't come from a stroke of luck.

Instead, it is the result of a well-executed ambassador marketing strategy. 🤝 🏷️

Loop's transition to an almost entirely DTC model - with D2C sales jumping from 50% of all sales in 2019 to nearly 100% in 2022 - is a testament to this strategy's success.

In this blog, we're going to look at the tactical moves Loop made to achieve these impressive figures. If you're a marketer or a DTC brand owner who wants to, this is a journey you'll want to understand.

So let's start exploring how Loop Earplugs used ambassador marketing to amplify their success.

1— Turning customers into ambassadors, organically 📣

In a candid interview with Shopify, the founders unveiled the core principle behind their successful affiliate marketing program - showing how their brand makes a positive impact on people's lives.

"The bigger the positive impact you can generate in people’s lives, the more vocal they’re going to be. And the easier it is to get influencers and brand ambassadors because you don’t even have to facilitate it. It just happens organically.”

Loop's approach to ambassador recruitment rests not on aggressive sales pitches, but on offering genuine value to their users. The brand believes that if a product truly makes a positive difference in a user's life, they will naturally be motivated to share their experiences and, in doing so, act as an ambassador for the brand.

💡SARAL Tip: Identify the positive impact your product is making in people's lives. Then, communicate this impact effectively to your audience. It can be a significant differentiator and can spur your customers to become organic ambassadors for your brand.

After all, people are more likely to share experiences that have made a meaningful difference in their lives.

The message of enhancing users' lives is also echoed on Loop's dedicated affiliate landing page. We'll explore the intricacies of this powerful page in the next section.

2— Dedicated landing page to attract affiliates 🧲

One of the ingenious strategies employed by Loop Earplugs in its ambassador marketing efforts is the creation of a dedicated landing page for attracting potential affiliates. 📄

A dedicated landing page for affiliates is great because of 3 reasons:

• Rather than seeking out potential ambassadors or affiliates, a process that can be time-consuming and hit-or-miss, Loop's landing page allows creators to come directly to them.

• All the necessary information about the affiliate program is laid out on the page, from the benefits of joining to the application process. This transparent approach saves both the brand and the potential creators' time, making the entire process more efficient.

• By using a system like this, Loop is able to gather essential details about potential ambassadors right from the get-go. This means they have a well of information to draw from when deciding on the right match for their brand.

Now let's delve into the specific qualities that make Loop's affiliate landing page so effective.

"EMPOWER OTHERS TO LIVE OUT LOUD" - This immediately communicates the brand's mission and subtly indicates the impact one can make by becoming an affiliate.

"Get paid to create content about Loop." - This sentence is straightforward and hits home the primary benefit for potential affiliates - monetizing their content creation.

"What the world's saying about Loop" - Makes the brand attractive for affiliates by positioning it as reliable and well-received by showing recognition from established platforms like Amazon, Shopify, NY Times, and Wired.

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By stating the process simply as "Create content about Loop. Share your referral link. Earn a 20% commission.", the page clearly communicates what is expected from the affiliate and the associated rewards, making it easy to understand.

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"Getting started" - This section ensures that prospective affiliates know exactly what to expect when they sign up. It also removes barriers by indicating that joining is free, and they will be provided with necessary resources like the media deck.

"How Are Referrals Tracked?" - Addressing this critical aspect transparently adds another layer of trust, reassuring potential affiliates that their efforts will be properly tracked and rewarded.

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"What Works Best?" - This part gives potential affiliates some guidance and tips on how they can best promote the brand. It helps them to start thinking about what kind of content they could produce.

"Join our affiliate team today. It's 100% free. So why not?" - The call-to-action is clear, direct, and ends with a rhetorical question that minimizes potential objections.

For brands looking to create a dedicated landing page to attract brand ambassadors or affiliates, Loop's strategy provides an excellent roadmap.

To replicate a similar page for your brand, you can use tools like SARAL.

3— Unique Coupon codes for each creator 🏷

Loop Earplugs provides each creator with their own distinct coupon codes.

The strategy offers benefits to the creator, their audiences, and, of course, to Loop itself. Here's how:

• 💳 The incentive for Audiences: Creators offering their followers a unique discount on Loop's products act as a persuasive call to action. This practical advantage not only encourages potential buyers but also underscores the benefit of following the creator's recommendations.

• 💪 Boostin status of Influencers: Providing exclusive deals allows creators to be the heroes of their audience, boosting their authority and likability. This affinity the audience has for the creator then extends to the brand when the creator promotes Loop's products. And this is often shown

• 📊 Performance Tracking: Unique coupon codes offer Loop a reliable means to monitor the effectiveness of each ambassador. By keeping track of the frequency of code usage, Loop can gather critical data about the ambassador's reach and impact.

This approach isn't exclusive to Loop. Many other brands, like Olipop, have successfully utilized this strategy in their influencer marketing campaigns, proving its effectiveness across different sectors.

You can create coupon codes for each creator you onboard directly inside SARAL:

4 — Utilizing influencer-generated-content 🤳

Loop Earplugs cleverly utilizes the power of influencer-generated content for their social media, creating a partnership that benefits both parties and leads to greater brand authenticity.

Here's an example of a creator's post…

…that was used on Loop Earplug's Instagram handle later with graphics added around it to match the brand. Credit for the post was also given to the creator.

There are 3 main benefits of this tactic:

• 👭 Community Building: This lets influencers feel that they're not just an external asset, but integral members of the brand's community. They feel valued and special, which increases their loyalty and enthusiasm for the brand.

• 💵 Cost-Effective Content Generation: Relying on creators for content allows brands to get a wide variety of creative and engaging materials without incurring the costs associated with hiring professional studios or photographers.

• 💃 Audience-Driven Creativity: Influencers have their finger on the pulse of their audience's preferences and are constantly pushing the envelope with their creativity. By leveraging their content, Loop benefits from this inherent understanding of the audience and the innovative ways influencers connect with them.

• ☺️ Authenticity: The content generated by influencers is real and raw. It's not a staged commercial with models or paid actors, but genuine experiences of people using a brand's products. This authentic content resonates more deeply with audiences who crave real-life testimonials over staged promotions.

The idea of capitalizing on influencer-generated content can not only streamline your content production process but also create a genuine, relatable brand image that resonates with your target audience.

5 — Leveraging partnerships to communicate nuanced messages and reach diverse audiences 👩 🧏‍♂️ 🙇‍♀️

Loop Earplugs' most recent strategy involved partnering with creators in the ADHD and autism communities.

When it was launched, Loop's primary target was individuals attending nightclubs, concerts, and clubs - environments where noise can often be overpowering.

But when they recognized that noise sensitivity is also a concern for individuals on the autistic and ADHD spectrums, they expanded their focus, reaching out to an entirely new audience.

Instead of reaching out to their current pool of ambassadors, they chose creators who could genuinely connect with this new audience because they either personally experience these conditions or work to raise awareness about them. The creators then shared how Loop Earplugs could help manage noise sensitivity, offering a solution that was truly meaningful for their followers.

Here's a post from a creator on how Loop Earplugs help her with ADHD

Her profile shows her niche is ADHD, and she talks about autism…

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💥 What truly sets Loop's approach apart is that instead of directly flooding its website with this information, it utilized the influence and credibility of its ambassadors to subtly introduce this product application. This enabled Loop to share its message organically, ensuring it didn't overshadow its core brand narrative.

Another example is a video posted by the account 'livingwith.adhd', subtly targeting the ADHD community. The post emphasizes how Loop earplugs can help those who often experience overstimulation due to ADHD, highlighting another use case of the product

By tapping into this new market, Loop isn't only broadening its customer base.

They are showing how influencer marketing when done thoughtfully, can foster inclusivity and highlight a brand's commitment to solving real-world problems. This strategic move provides valuable insights for marketers on how to leverage partnerships to communicate nuanced messages and reach diverse audiences.

6 — Managing affiliate program 👨‍💻

In the influencer marketing world, building and maintaining a massive internal team isn't always the most effective or economical approach.

Loop Earplugs has found a smart solution to this: keeping its operations lean by hiring a freelancer to manage its affiliate marketing.

Rather than bringing in a large in-house team, Loop has chosen to partner with a professional who brings the necessary skills to the table while maintaining the flexibility that comes with freelance work. 🧠 ➰

This decision not only demonstrates a resourceful approach to team building but also reflects a keen understanding of the dynamics of mastering affiliate marketing.

By hiring a freelancer, Loop can tap into a wealth of specialized knowledge and experience without the commitment and overhead of a larger team. This not only keeps costs manageable but also allows for a high degree of adaptability – a crucial factor in the ever-evolving affiliate and influencer marketing landscape.

Loop's lean approach to influencer marketing operations offers a valuable lesson for other brands: bigger isn't always better 🤷‍♀️.

The key is finding the right talent that can drive your influencer marketing efforts effectively and efficiently.

You can also consider programs like SARAL's experts program where we connect you with specialized talent that can take care of your influencer marketing while you focus on whatever your expertise is (exactly like what Loop Earplugs did!).

⛳ Step up your influencer marketing game

To efficiently manage a lean influencer marketing team, using the right tools is essential. Long gone are the days of fumbling around with spreadsheets that are prone to human error, lack real-time updates, and become increasingly complex and unwieldy as your influencer network grows.

✨ This is where SARAL steps in – an all-in-one influencer marketing tool that streamlines your operations, allowing you to easily find influencers in any niche, and manage and track them from one centralized platform.

With SARAL, you can seamlessly manage multiple types of campaigns – from gifting and seeding to affiliate and ambassador programs – irrespective of your budget. You can finally foster lasting relationships with influencers, all without the hassle of manual work.

Claim your free trial here >>

We offer a 7-day free trial so yu can literally run a test campaign for no commitment and decide to stick only if it works for you! Give it a shot!