The second day of Advocamp began the way all camping trips should: with a bear fight. (Watch the opening video below and you’ll understand why.)
Head Counselor Buck managed to wrestle the Advocamp flag away from the wild beast (who turned out to be a softie).
Then the talk got serious: how can brands change the way they think about engaging customers and turning them into advocates?
Here are some of the top insights from the Day 2 speakers:
- Keith Ferrazzi, speaker and author of Never Eat Alone, outlined the secrets of building great relationships. It begins with extreme generosity. Start out a new connection by asking first “How can I help?” Once you’re in, you can be your most authentic self.
- Mark Organ, CEO and Founder of Influitive, explained the benefits of elevating customers and turning them into advocates for your brand. Give them social capital and a sense of belonging and they’ll go above and beyond for you.
- Dan Ariely, Duke University Professor, author and TED speaker, took campers through a journey of human psychology and how it affects reciprocity. The good news: humans are more generous than we think—if they trust you. Crowds can also influence good (or bad) behavior.
- Joseph Jaffe, CEO/Co-Founder of Evol8tion, re-enacted ‘The Revenant’ with the bear before getting on stage to deliver his advice for creating an army of brand zealots. First, forget about jumping on the next marketing tool bandwagon. Focus on perfecting what you have (email/CRM/websites) and leveraging your best assets (like your network and employees) to make your current customers happier. They account for 80% of your revenue, so invest more in delighting them.
.@jaffejuice survived a bear fight to be with us at #Advocamp #therevenant2 #givehimanoscar pic.twitter.com/zuG4fbQUIp
— Influitive (@influitive) March 8, 2016
- Bill Macaitis, CMO of Slack, shared how companies can incentivize their employees to treat customers better and grow through positive word of mouth (instead of cheap marketing tactics). The secret? Align sales, marketing and customer success around long-term metrics like NPS, CSAT, Daily Active Users and Response Times.
- Jill Rowley, social selling evangelist, explained why empathy and knowledge will mean more to your customers than pushy sales tactics. To achieve this, marketing should support sales with the right content at the right point in the buyers journey. (Notice she didn’t call it the sales process? Be on your customer’s side.)
- Laura Ramos, Forrester’s Vice President and Principal Analyst, says customer advocacy isn’t an accident. Companies must invest and put aside resources (people, tech) to create better customer experiences at scale. Advocates will give you greater brand reach at a lower cost if you treat them right.
