Page 10 - Marlborough Chamber Voice Magazine Autumn 2023

B U S I N E S S F O C U S
ADVOCACY MARKETING: THE POWER OF
CONNECTIONS
Advocacy marketing is when existing customers share their positive experience with your
company to other people in their network. It prompts the most enthusiastic customers to amplify
the voice of your brand and in turn brings in more business.
When people genuinely love a brand, they’re
often happy to tell everyone they know about it.
It's just gold when one of your loyal customers
goes online and starts talking about how good
your product/service is! Perhaps they share a
photo or even better a video highlighting how
awesome it is. The video then circulates among
their friends, and boom – you have new
customers!
Marketing effectiveness is increased by around
54% when advocacy is employed, making
advocate marketing one of the most affordable
ways to bring in more customers.
Some businesses excel at this strategy, whilst
others are yet to explore how to get their
customers to be their advocates.
Brands like Uber, Coca-Cola, and Tesla have
implemented innovative ways to push more
and more customers into becoming their
advocates. Using some clever ideas, they have
managed to prompt enthusiastic customers to
amplify their voices.
But, you don't have to be a big brand or have a
big budget to harness the power of advocacy
marketing.
When it comes to social media you don’t always
have to spend time and money on copy and
design – you can let your loyal customers
handle that for you. Sharing their content
makes it easier for consumers to relate to them
and is more genuine.
But here's the hard part. How can you capture
your customers’ attention and turn them into
fans who will actively advocate for your brand?
9 VOICE MAGAZINE
Three ways to turn customers into advocates:
1. Make customers feel appreciated.
Every customer should feel like a VIP when they
do business with you. This starts by delivering
exceptional service at every single opportunity -
from intuiative websites to helpful support at
the end of the phone if they run into an issue.
You can also make customers feel appreciated
by giving them perks and extras, such as loyalty
programmes, access to special events, or
priority purchasing. This helps to demonstrate
that your relationship is more than just
transactional.
2. Give them something to talk about.
Share exciting news, exclusive sneak-peeks and
one-time-only discounts with your loyal
customers first. Then, encourage them to
spread the word to their networks so their
friends can get in on the fun. You could also
offer a referral reward for those who
successfully encourage someone from their
network to buy your product or service.
3. Be active on multiple channels.
The more active you are on social media, the
more likely you are to reach your fans. You don’t
need to be on every channel, but you should be
on more than one. Do some testing to figure
out where your fans are, and focus your efforts
on those channels.