Post on 20-Aug-2015
Advocate Marketing: An Overview
Mid-Atlantic Marketing SummitBaltimore, MD
September 19, 2013
Chad Horenfeldt @chadhorenfeldtDirector, Customer Operations @Influitive
Fred Bals @fredatektronManager, Media & Customer Relationship Programs @Ektron
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@chadhorenfeldt
SELECT CUSTOMERS:
About Influitive 2013 Cool Vendor in Social Marketing
Influitive helps B2B marketers recruit, mobilize and recognize an army of advocates that outsell their best sales reps.
WHO WE ARE:
• Founded in 2010
• Toronto, Bay Area and Boston
• >$11M raised from top tier investors
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@chadhorenfeldt
Marketers are no longer in control of the buying process
2006 2010 2014F0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
3.5X increase
Dependence on knowledgeable peers in the buying process (B2B software buyers)
Initiates process
Initiates contact
Purchase
complete
75% of buying process complete before B2B buying interacts with company!75% 25%
Advocate reviews ATTRACT buyers
Fact: 60% of tech B2B customers search for peer testimonials/reviews of a product
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Advocate reviews attract buyers
Xactly’s FOX program drove 262 LinkedIn reviews, follows, and shares, making it one of the most visited profiles in 2012.
Advocates refer the best leads
Fact: Your biggest fans spend 13% more than the average customer and refer business equal to 45% of the money they spend
Advocates help you capture the best leads
200+referrals
$180,000 pipeline
5% conversion rate
“The biggest untapped resource is your existing customer base.” Jeff Linton, Act-ON
$80,000(Closed)
In 6 months, Act-On’s referral program drove $180K in pipeline
Nothing nurtures better than customer success stories
Fact: B2B marketers cite case studies (78%), followed by white papers (73%), and in-person events (72%) as the most effective content for lead nurturing.
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@chadhorenfeldt
Referrals
Product reviewsBlog comments
“Hey can you help me with …?”
ReferencesRetweets, likes, shares
Discover Consider PurchaseRetain Inspire
Media interviews
User groups
Product surveys
Customer Advisory Boards
Analyst interviews
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@chadhorenfeldt
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@chadhorenfeldt
Experience is poor for advocates today
What advocates seek:
Status
Recognition
Career value
Connections
Part of the team
Reputation
Perks
Feedback
What advocates get:
Neglect
+
Abuse
=
Annoyed
Leads to Advocatedisengagement
Fred Bals: Customer Advocacy Manager at
Enterprise Content Management
Digital Experience Software
• Founded in 1998
• Headquarters in Greater Boston area
- Offices in Australia and the United Kingdom
• 200+ Employees
• Over 3,800 customers and 12,000 sites
MISSION: Empower marketers through best-in-class solutions for WCM and DXM
WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT
Create, deploy, and manage enterprise-scale, global, dynamic websites.
DIGITAL EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENTPersonalize, analyze, and optimize content deliveryto digital channels – web, mobile, and social.
About Ektron
• A community for Ektron fans and followers
• Influence Ektron through participation in betas, surveys and questions
• Recognition from Ektron through perks and special programs
Ektron Inner Circle
Program
"Our first job in marketing is to help empower our fans to bring others on-board. That's what makes us grow.“
~ Ken Gullicksen, Evernote COO
OUR GOALS
• Nurture our advocates
• Grow our relationships with them
• Learn from them
• Broadcast their advocacy of Ektron to our markets
Who are Ektron’s advocates?
Customers – Developers, Designers, Content Authors, Administrators, Marketing and other roles
Partners – Developers, Sales, Marketing and other roles
Employees – Everyone at Ektron
Invite customers, partners,
employees
Mobilize them to complete
‘challenges’
Recognize their
achievements
Customer Advocacy in Action:The Inner Circle helps Ektron recruit,
manage, and acknowledge its advocates
“I could not do my job without the Inner Circle”
THE OBJECTIVE:Ektron’s annual SYNERGY Customer Conference: We needed to make it more Customer-Centric
CHALLENGE: VIDEOS Crowd-source the “I am Ektron” customer videos to be shown at the opening keynote.
No Recruiting!
Videos collected on the spot.
40 “I am Ektron”Videos Collected.
CHALLENGE: FUN Mobilize attendees to build “one great song” for keynote breaks.
“…One of the most popular challenges we’ve ever
done.”
CHALLENGE: AWARDS Generate huge increase in customer submissions for “Site of the Year” award.
50 Submissions500% Increase in nominations
CHALLENGE: CASE STUDIESVideo case study interviews.
Hours of footage
Dozens of interviews
• Over 200 reference contacts coordinated through EIC
• 50+ nominations for 2012 Site of the Year
• 73 sign-ups to participate in Beta Programs
• Feedback on Aloha Editor, eSync, Ektron Support
• 247 Tweets, 25 LinkedIn recommendations, Dozens of survey responses, testimonials, quotes, etc.
EIC in Action
Download the Advocate Marketing Playbook www.influitive.com/playbook
Questions? Need more information?
@chadhorenfeldt
@FredatEktron