So, you’ve received an email from your VP asking you to set up a CAB. What now?

A CAB shouldn’t exist without the buy-in and active engagement of internal stakeholders. You can’t and you shouldn’t do it all.

Part of any Customer Advocacy strategy (and very often the first step into Customer Advocacy) is producing and publishing Customer Stories.

So, you’ve decided to use staff augmentation to fill the talent void. We have already talked about the benefits of outsourcing. But how do you successfully integrate this outsourced resource into your team?

When you face lean staffing budgets, it’s often difficult to increase headcount where you need it. That’s particularly true of customer advocacy, a relatively new discipline with a shortage of experienced practitioners.

One of the most common challenges companies will face when looking to make advocacy a strategic function is stakeholder buy-in. It is also the most important aspect of running a successful advocacy program.

So let’s look at the different stakeholders, why their investment is important, and some ideas on how to get it.

To develop your advocates and have them become part of your Customer Advocacy Program, you have to pay attention to what your customers’ needs are and be mindful of the fact they will vary from customer to customer.

Your goal is to turn Passives (customers who are happy with your brand or product but won’t actively promote it) and Promoters (the satisfied customers that actively recommend you, even without being part of any program) into Advocates. You do this by climbing the hierarchy of Advocate needs.

There are many definitions out there, so chances are that you will never receive the same answer when asking this question. However, one could argue that the best advocacy program is whatever fits within your organization, and it’s not ‘one-size-fits-all’.