Insights from every corner
of the advocacy globe
The Collective is a collaborative arena showcasing ideas and experience from customer engagement, experience, advocacy and success thought leaders across multiple industries and professional journeys.
We get it. There are a lot of things to balance when it comes to managing your customer advocacy program—or, programs (we see you, portfolio managers). But without this one critical piece of the puzzle, your efforts will only take you so far: alignment.
What’s in a customer program name? Would that which we call an advocacy program by any other name smell as sweet?
As a business, having customers that actively advocate for your brand can be incredibly valuable. Not only do they help to promote your products and services, but they can also act as a trusted source of information and feedback for potential customers.
There are only a handful of organizations with advocacy programs that have achieved broad-scale brand recognition outside of their own customer base or industry. Cisco is one of them.
How to Develop Mutually Beneficial Relationships to Achieve Your Desired Outcomes
Meet our 2022 CAP Award finalists!
𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎’𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞: 𝙰𝚗 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚛. 𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝙲𝙼𝙾 𝚜𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝙾𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛? 𝙱𝚊 𝚍𝚞𝚖 𝚙𝚜𝚜𝚑! 𝙲𝚞𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛.
When I ventured out into the world of B2B customer engagement and advocate marketing, I felt adventurous. Eight or nine years ago, very few B2B organizations, outside tech giants such as Microsoft, had successful customer engagement programs that were delivering measurable influence on company growth.
This article is the second in an Advocacy-Loyalty Fusion series that explores a question.
We’ve talked about customer-obsession for a while now — about the need to prioritize the customer and deliver excellent experiences.
March 11, 2020, was a warm and sunny day with a beautiful blue sky. I had just enjoyed a relaxed lunch at a sushi restaurant just north of San Francisco with my client.
Customer experience pros, customer marketers, customer success managers, customer engagement and advocacy practitioners are all prepared to connect with customers inside and outside of this pandemic.
Wow, what an opportunity we have in front of us right now as customer-facing professionals! Today the world is surreal, scary and uncertain.
After many years of daydreaming about setting my entrepreneurial self free, back in early 2018 I stepped off the edge of the corporate world without a parachute.
Oftentimes, the best ideas bubble to the surface at the most unexpected times.
Since publicly announcing that I would be leaving my VP of Customer Advocacy role at Influitive in order to team up with my former colleague and long-time peer, Deena Zenyk, to start our own customer engagement consultancy, I’ve gotten quite a few raised eyebrows about the timing.
Oftentimes, the best ideas bubble to the surface at the most unexpected times. In preparation for delivering a workshop in London in April last year, I undertook a routine, deep analysis of the client's advocacy program.
I walked into an all-day meeting back in February and on one of the tables I saw a piece of notebook paper with my name and a heart written on it. To the side of the paper was a Starbuck tea (I abhor coffee) and bottle of water.
Wanted: An eager, happy customer who is ready, willing and able to go on a mutually beneficial journey with one of their favourite companies.
The thought leader. The maverick. The trailblazer. It occurred to me a few years ago that being an early adopter or someone who is pushing the boundaries can be a lonely and sometimes perilous position.
It’s a question that comes up frequently in conversations with clients. And, unfortunately, it’s not an easy one to answer.
Hugging your haters isn’t just a nice-to-have aspect of the modern brand. Hugging your haters is what you should be doing if you want your business to succeed.
Give and take. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Mutual benefits. A win-win for all.
Do you like free stuff? Of course you do. Do you sometimes do things you wouldn’t have on your own for a giveaway? Sure you do.
I love being a customer advocate marketing manager.
