Advocacy Marketing

It is no surprise that a marketing budget can add up fast, and while marketing is an essential part of business, there is one strategy that may give you just what you need on a very low budget.

We have mentioned before the importance of online reviews and the impact they can have on consumer behavior. However, what if you took that a step further? Many in the business world are blissfully unaware of how their existing fans can be leveraged to grow their business, help with content marketing efforts, and generate a huge stream of referral-based leads.

Advocacy marketing is essentially your own customers creating buzz around your brand or products. This could be through word of mouth, reviews, social media posts and so much more. You want your customers to become your brand advocates, spreading the word on how amazing your products and services are. This is so effective due to how much consumers rely on word-of-mouth recommendations and the retention rate of customer referrals.

Another reason it is so successful is because of its low cost. Tomoson conducted a poll of marketing professionals surrounding their influencer marketing efforts and practices, and they found that, on average, businesses are making $6.50 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing. All you need to do is create a great product, have outstanding customer service AND give people a reason to advocate for you.

Sometimes, businesses will incentivize their customers to advocate for them. This can come in many different forms; for example, a business could ask their customers to post a photo of their product on social media and tag them. The business could then enter that customer into a raffle to win more products. These businesses are not asking their customers to be dishonest; rather, they are simply giving them a reason to go out of their way to advocate for them.

Another way we see this is through referral or loyalty programs. “Refer a friend and get a $10 coupon,” or “get a stamp for each smoothie you buy and after 10 stamps you get one free.” These are all ways that a business can push consumers in the right direction to help them get the word out. What follows is, if you have a great product and matching customer service, those new customers you get will turn into advocates as well.

Although these things may sound simple, there are many ways to go about these strategies incorrectly. You don’t want people to think you’re buying reviews or being untrustworthy. At First Flight Agency, we have the ability to build first-class customer advocacy, loyalty and ambassador programs for your business and integrate them into centralized business processes. Check out our Advocacy Marketing Checklist for more information.