This is the seventh post in a series about launching a customer advocacy program. The latest post in the series described how to run effective customer user groups. In May, I presented at Gainsight Pulse 2017, which drew 4,000+ Customer Success professionals to Oakland. They asked me to speak about the first two years of … Continued

On your never-ending to-do list, generating more customer stories may seem like a “nice-to-have” item, not a “need-to-have.” Maybe you need a reference or two at the end of the buying process, but your marketing and sales teams likely aren’t incorporating customers into earlier stages. However, according to Bob Peterson, Research Director at SiriusDecisions, advocacy … Continued

I walked into an all-day meeting back in February, and on one of the tables I saw a piece of notebook paper with my name and a heart written on it. To the side of the paper was a Starbucks tea (I abhor coffee) and a bottle of water. While it was a small gesture, … Continued

As content marketers, we know that to create top-notch content, we have to know our audiences intimately—their hopes, their fears, the things that drive them absolutely nuts. Why else would we invest so much time interviewing customers, surveying them, and creating buyer personas? According to Forbes, getting right inside your customers’ minds is the key to … Continued

Listen, if you’re an online community manager, or are responsible for the success of an online community, you might want to know this: According to Gartner, 70 percent of online communities are destined to fail. But wait. There’s more. Despite the billions of dollars being poured into online communities, almost 70 percent of customers never … Continued

In a world full of paid social media influencers and confusing “native” ads, every buyer has become a skeptic. In his Advocamp 2016 talk, Robin Hamilton, director of UK-based agency inEvidence, delivers hard-hitting insights about how to build trust with doubtful prospects. Using fascinating examples from human history, Robin presents the one tool brands can … Continued

The biggest marketing trends of the year are often influenced by conversations that happen at SiriusDecisions Summit. This year’s hot topics included: The new Demand Unit Waterfall Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Ungating content If you’re concerned about how to effectively implement these ideas in your already-packed marketing strategy, there’s good news. You already have a way to bolster these … Continued

When you’re looking for ways to improve your branding and reach with consumers, some of your most important assets are (literally) sitting right in front of you: your employee ambassadors. In some shape or form, all employees have interactions with customers, be it directly (sales and customer service reps) or indirectly (developers, fulfillment workers, and … Continued

This post is part of a series on the evolution of developer relations, evangelism and advocacy as a marketing and community-building function. Click here to read the first blog in the series, An Introduction To Developer Relations: What It Is And Why You Need It. When I joined Constant Contact in 2013, developer relations programs … Continued

I want you to meet a pretty cool guy (IMHO): Truman Tang, Director of Marketing, Customer and Advocacy, at Influitive. He’s the mastermind behind our incredible advocate marketing program, Influitive VIP.  Truman’s got a pretty long list of accomplishments under his belt, like driving 1,000 customer referrals in a year, running highly effective ABM campaigns … Continued