In the first year of our online customer community at Commvault, we experienced some ‘aha’ moments in customer engagement. Those insights led us to focus on what was working well and resulted in a Best Emerging Advocate Program (BAMMIE) award from Influitive. We used their technology to gamify and scale our online customer community, Commvault
I had the opportunity to sit down with Margot Leong, creator, and host of Beating The Drum, a podcast about the art and science of customer advocacy. In this episode, How to Create Relevance and Boost Your Team’s Visibility, we discuss several common topics in the field of customer advocacy. Whether you intentionally chose your path to
Channel Partners are a vital part of the business model for many companies. Why and how would you want to include Partners in your customer advocacy program? Consider them as an extension of your customer ecosystem. As such, here are two approaches to including Channel Partners in your customer advocacy program: As a reference –
We’re currently living in an engagement economy, wherein everyone and everything is connected. People have always talked, but they now do it on an unprecedented scale. That’s important in a world where it takes anywhere from five to 20 touches with your marketing efforts to generate a sales lead, and 80% of marketing reach comes from amplification via
This is an excellent time for customer advocacy professionals! We are now in the age of the customer experience, and customer engagement is hot in the minds of both marketing and sales. It’s what now differentiates your company from the competition. So what does all that mean for you? It means CMOs are now
As someone who is passionate about customer advocacy, I am convinced that a customer advocacy program is one of the most effective ways you can start building meaningful relationships with your customers and empower authentic word of mouth. Amplifying your Happy Customer’s voice through a mix of media and channels not only extends your
Sales needs a reference to speak with a prospect. Demand Generation needs a customer success story for a specific campaign. Product Marketing needs a customer to speak with an analyst for a product review. These are just a few examples of the diverse requests you may have in your organization where you are sending
What do customer success, customer advocacy and account-based marketing have in common? The answer is the Customer. And together they form the foundation of the Customer Experience. Research from SiriusDecisions shows that 80% of buying decisions are based on customer experience. To better cater to customer demands, B2B companies are beginning to focus on metrics
The moment of truth has arrived. You are ready to evaluate the ROI on your customer advocacy program. What metrics have you identified as your barometer for success? If you use any one of the many reference management software tools available, you may benefit from the efficiency of creating many of your reporting metrics
Your customer advocacy program can benefit from technology to provide you a single view of communication with a customer and equally important, provide you a single view of communication between your sales and marketing teams internally. Many of today’s reference management software solutions can be integrated with CRM solutions and automate the processes you
Most customer advocacy programs have grown out of a need to supply a reference to a prospect for a sales opportunity. If you wait until the prospect asks for a reference then you are working in what’s called an ‘on-demand’ and reactive state of doing business. As such many customer advocacy programs were once called
Your customer advocacy program is a powerful tool in strengthening your brand and shortening the sales cycle. Here is how your program can impact the various sales milestones: Pre-Qualification by B2B Buyer According to Forrester, ‘today’s business buyers are increasingly self-directed: 60% prefer not to interact with a sales rep as the primary source