In a nutshell, marketing advocacy means finding the champions and opinion leaders in your industry and becoming their mouthpiece or spokesperson in order to gain credibility with your audience, build credibility and trust, and ultimately, grow your business.
If you’re unfamiliar, marketing advocacy is the process of finding influential people or opinion leaders in your industry (such as marketing gurus, bloggers, and journalists) and either asking them to champion your product or service or bringing them on board as a speaker at an event to give it credibility. Most often, the person you’re trying to win over is a stranger to you, and they’ll likely have never heard of your company or product. That’s where the idea of “breaking bread” comes from — gaining credibility by demonstrating to potential customers that you’re a person they can trust. In most cases, you have to pay to play, but the benefits can be significant.
Why does marketing advocacy matter for you as a business owner or operator? Let’s take a look.
It Grows Your Business
In today’s world, consumers have more access to information than ever before. Thanks to the internet, mobile phones, and social media, consumers can find the answers they need with the touch of a button. As a business owner or operator, you want to ensure that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. When potential customers can find reviews, testimonials, or case studies about your product or service, it gives you a chance to set the record straight and demonstrate its value. You can also use these channels to promote special offers and discounts for new and existing customers.
Forbes’ 2017 marketing report found that customers are 65% more likely to purchase a product or service after reading an influencer’s review. In the same report, HubSpot found that marketers spend more time gaining media coverage than engaging with customers. What does this mean for you? If your goal is to grow your business, marketing advocacy is a key strategy for ensuring that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. By gaining the support of influential people in your industry, you can increase the likelihood of others choosing your product or service over others.’
It Builds Your Credibility
In today’s world, consumers have more access to information than ever before. Thanks to the internet, mobile phones, and social media, consumers can find the answers they need with the touch of a button. As a business owner or operator, you want to ensure that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. When potential customers can find reviews, testimonials, or case studies about your product or service, it gives you a chance to set the record straight and demonstrate its value. You can also use these channels to promote special offers and discounts for new and existing customers.
Forbes’ 2017 marketing report found that customers are 65% more likely to purchase a product or service after reading an influencer’s review. In the same report, HubSpot found that marketers spend more time gaining media coverage than engaging with customers. What does this mean for you? If your goal is to build your credibility, marketing advocacy is a key strategy for ensuring that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. By gaining the support of influential people in your industry, you can increase the likelihood of others choosing your product or service over others.’
It Establishes You As an Expert
In today’s world, customers have more access to information than ever before. Thanks to the internet, mobile phones, and social media, customers can find the answers they need with the touch of a button. As a business owner or operator, you want to ensure that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. When potential customers can find reviews, testimonials, or case studies about your product or service, it gives you a chance to set the record straight and demonstrate its value. You can also use these channels to promote special offers and discounts for new and existing customers.
Forbes’ 2017 marketing report found that customers are 65% more likely to purchase a product or service after reading an influencer’s review. In the same report, HubSpot found that marketers spend more time gaining media coverage than engaging with customers. What does this mean for you? If your goal is to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, marketing advocacy is a key strategy for ensuring that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. By gaining the support of influential people in your industry, you can increase the likelihood of others choosing your product or service over others.’
It Increases Product Awareness
Even if you’re an expert in your industry, chances are, your product or service is still unfamiliar to many people. That’s why you have to work hard to gain their awareness. After all, you can only convince someone to try your product or service if they’re already aware of it. You can use several tactics to increase product awareness, such as sponsoring discussions about your product or service on social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn as well as Reddit and Quora. You can also produce and distribute educational videos focused on explaining your product or service in detail. Having a brand ambassador spread the word about your product to other businesses and potential customers is also a great way to drive awareness and interest.
Product awareness is increased when content creators and social media influencers talk about your product or service in their media. According to HubSpot, marketers are expected to spend more time engaging with customers and less time on advertising. So, by engaging with potential customers on social media platforms such as Twitter, you can both increase product awareness and establish yourself as an expert in your industry. Reddit is another great place to engage with potential customers, especially as a business owner or operator. For starters, you can use specific subreddits, such as r/Entrepreneurs and r/SmallBusiness, to follow and connect with people in your industry. You can also use these forums to ask questions about getting started in business.
It Helps Identify Trends And Issues
In today’s world, customers have more access to information than ever before. Thanks to the internet, mobile phones, and social media, customers can find the answers they need with the touch of a button. As a business owner or operator, you want to ensure that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. When potential customers can find reviews, testimonials, or case studies about your product or service, it gives you a chance to set the record straight and demonstrate its value. You can also use these channels to promote special offers and discounts for new and existing customers.
Forbes’ 2017 marketing report found that customers are 65% more likely to purchase a product or service after reading an influencer’s review. In the same report, HubSpot found that marketers spend more time gaining media coverage than engaging with customers. What does this mean for you? If your goal is to identify trends and issues in your industry, marketing advocacy is a key strategy for ensuring that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. By gaining the support of influential people in your industry, you can increase the likelihood of others choosing your product or service over others.’
It Gives You A Competitive Edge
Even if you’re a small business, you have a lot to gain from marketing advocacy. Let’s say that you’re a landscaping company and you decide to launch a new product line of gravel for lawns and gardens. To get the word out, you contact a few prominent bloggers and journalists to see if they’ll review or feature your product. After all, people love a good review as much as the next person, and publicity can help your business thrive.
Let’s say that one of the journalists responds with some positive coverage (he can’t resist your product—it’s been covered in multiple places, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal). As a result, you receive some great PR and publicity, which leads to increased demand for your product. In the long term, this can mean growing sales and becoming a viable business.
In today’s world, customers have more access to information than ever before. Thanks to the internet, mobile phones, and social media, customers can find the answers they need with the touch of a button. As a business owner or operator, you want to ensure that your product or service is presented in the most favorable light possible. When potential customers can find reviews, testimonials, or case studies about your product or service, it gives you a chance to set the record straight and demonstrate its value. You can also use these channels to promote special offers and discounts for new and existing customers.