In the realm of customer marketing, the importance of customer advocacy is undoubtedly pertinent. When individuals collaborate with someone who delivers exceptional results, it is only natural for them to recommend and champion that person’s work. However, this raises an intriguing question: Should companies incentivize advocacy, and if so, how?
In this interview, Shannon Howard, Director of Customer & Content Marketing at Intellum, shares her insights on navigating the complexities of customer advocacy and rewards. While she acknowledges the value of recognizing and rewarding those who contribute their time and effort, Shannon emphasizes the importance of fostering genuine advocacy that is not solely tied to incentives.
How do you convince customers to become your brand advocates?
Shannon Howard: When you work with someone who has done an excellent job, naturally, you want to recommend them, advocate for them, and become a champion of their work. There’s also an ongoing debate in customer marketing about whether or not we should reward people for advocacy. While I do want to reward people, I don’t want them to advocate just because they’re expecting something in return.
How do we convince customers to become brand advocates? It’s a great question, but I believe we don’t actually “convince” them. Nor should we. Advocacy is the result of receiving value. If someone buys a product or works with a company that has delivered outstanding results, they naturally want to recommend and advocate for them.
Also read: Navigating the Challenges of Customer Stories with Emily Amos, Founder, Uplift Content
Rather than focusing on convincing, we should focus on helping customers solve their problems, investing in them both personally and professionally, and building strong relationships. Advocacy should become a natural outcome of that relationship. From there, it’s about determining how we want to ask customers to advocate for us and how we can activate these advocates we’ve already built strong relationships with.
What incentives or rewards do you offer for customer advocacy?
Shannon Howard: When it comes to incentivizing and rewarding advocates for their advocacy, it really depends, as with many things in our industry. Different customers have varying types of gifts or limits they can accept, and different policies, so we need to be mindful of that.
There’s also a significant debate in customer marketing: should we reward people for their advocacy? Of course, we want to reward people for their time and effort, but should that be directly tied to advocacy? Personally, I prefer not to promise something upfront. Instead, I believe in rewarding people as an unexpected “above and beyond” gesture. I do want to reward advocates, but I don’t want them to advocate solely because they’re getting something in return.
That said, sometimes incentives are part of contracts or renewal negotiations. However, my philosophy is to reward advocates in a way that makes sense for them and aligns with their company’s policies. I want to ensure that advocacy isn’t reduced to a transactional, quid pro quo arrangement.
Ultimately, I want people to advocate because they believe in us, and then I want to generously reward them when they do.
What advice would you give to companies starting a customer advocacy program?
Shannon Howard: My best advice for companies looking to start a customer advocacy program is to begin by investing in your customers. Before you ask people to advocate for you or take action on your behalf, you need to do something for them first. It’s a principle of give and take.
So, how are we helping our customers meet their business goals and solve their problems? How are we making them look like superstars? How are we investing in them personally and professionally? Once we’ve done this, we earn the right to ask for acts of advocacy.
From there, think about a few key things. First, what do we really need or want people to do? There are many options for advocacy, but what’s going to be most impactful for our business?
Also, be mindful of not repeatedly asking the same customers. Many companies fall into the trap of over-relying on the same people—whether it’s for references, case studies, webinars, or product feedback. Every time a customer helps your business, it’s an act of advocacy. So, ensure you have a system in place to track and manage requests, so customers aren’t overwhelmed.
These are some tips and best practices for how I would approach getting started with customer advocacy.
What tools do you use to manage and track customer advocacy?
Shannon Howard: I expect a few groans and eye rolls when I mention the tools we’re currently using to manage and track customer advocacy. Right now, it’s a spreadsheet—a lot of manual tracking and data entry. Many of us start this way, managing programs with simple tools in the early stages. While many customer advocacy platforms are relatively inexpensive compared to the larger marketing tech stack, we’re still in the process of proving the value of our program and building something more robust.
Until we reach that point, it may not make sense to invest in a dedicated platform just yet. Implementing and managing such a platform requires significant time and effort, and it would need to show a solid return on investment (ROI). So for now, we rely on spreadsheets and are gradually integrating our processes into Salesforce, which is where our account management and sales teams operate. This way, they can track their work and connect it to our advocacy efforts. So, if you’re in the same situation—working with spreadsheets or using Salesforce—don’t worry, you’re in good company.
The video has been shot on Endorse Live
