The Advocacy Marketing Methodology
Who are your advocates?
How to start Advocacy Marketing?
Value of Advocacy Marketing
Advocacy is the nirvana of marketing with lower cost and higher returns. Done right, brands see a 650% ROI for every dollar invested in advocacy marketing!
This marketing strategy believes that every individual, not just big influencers, has something they can contribute to grow your brand.
Why? Because every person has real influence.
There are 3 key pieces through an advocacy marketing strategy:
When advocates find fulfillment and recognition by sharing your brand, it attracts both new customers and new advocates to your company, creating a sustainable loop of sharing. This is how great brands build momentum and truly capture the power of word-of-mouth to scale.
The Formula for Influence
Too many brands today constrain advocacy to just influencer marketing, believing that only the big influencers are worth their time and attention. However, reach isn’t everything. Here’s a simple formula to think about real influence.
Real Influence = Reach x Impact x Consistency
For example, many brands find super fans with ~500 followers regularly outperform massive 1-off influencers. Why? Although their reach may be smaller, they are more trusted and more consistent in sharing than a larger influencer looking for their next #sponsored post.
Now segment those people into different groups or programs that share common purposes, messaging, campaigns, and rewards. Here’s a simple example for a brand.
While each brand may be different, there are a common programs across brands:
Advocacy Marketing Resources
Beyond this article, we’ve compiled a number of resources to help you create your advocacy strategy and launch your first influencer, ambassador, or super fan programs. Here are a few to help you get started:
It may take time to build a strong advocacy marketing strategy, but it pays off. Brands that have built a channel through their advocates report faster growth, lower customer acquisition cost, higher quality content, and stronger brand loyalty.