This is the third post in a developer relations and advocacy series. In my previous posts, I touched on the concept of developer advocacy—AKA turning developers into brand advocates. In this post, I’ll cover how developer advocates are different from developer evangelists, and where growing a community of advocates (and shifting the mindset of your … Continued

This is the eighth post in a series about launching a customer advocacy program. The latest post in the series described how to determine which facet of your program to focus on: reach or relationship. Because advocacy managers are so focused on day-day activities, we are prone to tunnel-vision. Sure, we set aside time to … Continued

A new IDC report has found that one organizational tactic has grown 570% YOY among B2B vendors (and no, we don’t mean ABM). It’s customer advocacy programs. Last year, only 10% B2B vendors surveyed had a customer advocacy program in place, according to the IDC research. This year, “The Role of Marketing in Customer Advocacy” … Continued

Dear content marketers: no one believes your brand’s messaging. However, they do believe influencers—we’re talking about pros in your field with whom you’ve established a genuine connection. (Not Kim Kardashian!) But how do you get them to help you spread your message—especially if you don’t have a huge budget to buy their affection? Lee Odden, … Continued

In a noisy world of non-stop ads and content marketing, it has become increasingly difficult for us to trust the brand messages we see. First, buyers place a lower degree of trust in branded content, or anything produced by a company about themselves. According to UK marketing agency Earnest, only 9% of B2B buyers actually … Continued

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