Why Brands Must Embrace Advocacy Marketing Today, Not Tomorrow

“Advocacy marketing” and “advocate marketing” have become popular buzzwords in the marketing community over the past few years. It’s not surprising; multiple research reports have demonstrated the positive impact customer advocacy has on conversion rates, revenue and client retention.Advocacy marketing isn’t just a passing fad, though.If the conversations at Influitive’s Advocamp 2016 were any indication, more and more marketers are beginning to understand and embrace its power. And if you haven’t, you need to. Immediately.In my previous blog posts about advocacy marketing, I looked at how advocacy content can benefit your brand and how to start sharing your customers’ love.However, Daniel Pink’s challenge to Advocamp attendees has inspired me to refocus my outlook.During his presentation “Advocate Marketing and the Science of Motivation,” Pink encouraged everyone to have two fewer conversations each week about “how” and two more about “why.”Doing so, he explained, helps marketers develop a better understanding of their projects’ purpose and goals before diving headfirst into day-to-day tasks.If we’re going to have a conversation about why advocacy marketing needs to be taken seriously, we just need to consider advocacy marketing’s most important component: the people we’re marketing to.Here are 5 Advocamp insights that shed light on why customers’ behaviors and preferences have led to advocacy marketing’s sudden surge in popularity.1. You do business with people.While terms like B2C and B2B are still incredibly relevant, successful marketing comes down to mastering your H2H (Human to Human) approach.People are looking to create more meaningful relationships—both in life and in business. If you want to strengthen your relationships with your audience, every interaction you have must be geared to their individual needs.During his presentation “Improve the Customer Experience By Transforming Managers Into Trusted Advisors,” Keith Ferrazzi talked about the keys to establishing a lasting and productive relationship.Lead your relationships with excessive generosity, intimacy, candor and accountability, he said. Find a way to help, find a way to care.

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