So you’ve launched a customer advocacy initiative? Congratulations!! But you may also be thinking, what’s next?
Sadly, many initiatives start and end with a focus on the number of published customer stories or recruited reference customers. And then that's it. We think once the story is published, our work is done. Right?
But, it’s all about leveraging. So, what can we do to leverage the stories we've created?
Sales
Every happy customer can have a massive impact on your organization’s success. But keep in mind - in Advocacy, we use the word authentic for a reason. The challenges and problems found within the story are what give its success meaning. So, focus on telling real stories - add in the human emotion, the people, what the process was like, etc.
Marketing
An article written by your customer, a demo of a feature narrated by a power user, a social post by a customer celebrating their success with your solutions, or a nurturing stream that includes customer stories.
Product
The amount of valuable insight both in the published story and even more in the unedited customer interview is pure gold. It can enhance or even replace qualitative research and focus groups and describe the actual challenges and needs of customers.
HR
Onboarding new team members is so much easier when you can show what customers appreciate about your company culture, services, products, and staff. Also, imagine if the 360 reviews included customers too? You get happy customers, and happy employees too!
So, where would you like to include your customers?
