If I asked you to tell me about your favorite brand, who would come to mind? Why would you recommend them to me? If you had a quick answer to those questions, you’re a strong brand advocate. If not, hopefully you can easily identify one for your own company. These are the early adopters, the long-time subscribers, and your friend who won’t shut up about that new thing that you need to buy. Importantly, these are not paid influencers who don’t believe their own pitch or insufferable pop-up ads (for more on these, see my last blog). No, brand advocates are people who genuinely and earnestly believe in your company and your values. Above all, these are the people you want on your side.
Hopefully I don’t need to tell you that having brand advocates is a good thing for your company, but I really want to stress how good of a thing they are. Companies such as Apple and Starbucks benefit from an enormous pool of loyal, passionate customers that not only provide consistent business but also help bring in more customers as well. Think about your likelihood to buy an iPhone if your friends are Apple people to avoid the notorious green bubble from Android group threads, or how often you’ve bought food from a place that your friends wanted to go. People who are passionate about your brand will advertise it to those close to them, and they will be honest, genuine marketers when doing so. The lifetime value of these customers is unparalleled, representing an incredible return on investment with minimal input.
This isn’t even including the main area of relevance for brand advocates, public relations. Word-of-mouth advertising is one thing, but how about having a PR team that’s ready to respond anytime, anywhere on the web? This includes engaging with company marketing efforts and spreading good PR, but much more importantly includes coming to bat for you when there’s a crisis. A great example of this is when Nike received criticism for featuring Colin Kaepernick in an advertising campaign after he kneeled during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice. Despite the controversy surrounding the situation in the beginning, Nike came out of it stronger after brand advocates reframed the situation as Nike taking a stand against social issues and being socially conscious. They even saw a direct increase in sales as a result! Another great example is when Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7. This was probably one of the most widely hated moves the company ever made in terms of initial backlash, yet people not only bought the phone anyway but later even went on to argue Apple was embracing wireless technology and showcasing their position as innovators! I’m skeptical any other company could remove a feature without compensating for it and receive praise for it, but Apple’s existing brand equity and pool of brand advocates made a would-be blunder into a shockingly successful strategic decision. There are other great examples, including from Tesla and Coca-Cola, but the point is the same: brand advocates help your company during the good times as well as the bad ones.
Provided I’ve convinced you of the benefits, hopefully you want to cultivate your own brand advocates. Before you start, it’s important to note that there are wrong approaches to this. There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to develop a brand advocacy program, but taking shortcuts to achieve your metrics can give your would-be advocates the wrong idea. There’s a fine line between a membership benefits program and a pyramid scheme if you’re trying to drive up word-of-mouth recruitment, so I’d recommend you focus more on the customer experience, user-engagement, and integrating feedback than trying to buy support. Offering a points system without developing a strong brand identity or community alongside it won’t make your brand more personable or responsive, and it’s so common nowadays that you need to invest pretty heavily for it to be a selling point. Instead, start with your brand and its values, and authentically engage with your customers in accordance with these values. If you want to be a socially conscious brand, you might want to take a stance on popular issues. If you’re a creative company, you should consider encourage your customers to make their own content and respond to it. Give your employees agency to have authentic interactions with customers in accordance with your brand identity. Do this enough and you can develop a clear brand image and personality, and hopefully one that your ideal customers believe in and want to continue to engage with.
If you’ve gotten this far, I trust you have a strong idea of what a brand advocate is, why you want them, and some of the pitfalls to avoid. Remember you want to foster a long-term relationship with your customers, and to develop a strong brand identity, encourage user engagement, reward loyalty, and invite and integrate feedback. Contrary to what I said before, it’s okay to use metrics provided they’re not your end goal. Rather than looking at short-term sales or recruitments, take a look at social media replies and especially original posts tagging your brand. Keep all these things in mind, but more importantly than anything I’ve said previously, get started. People don’t like robotic companies, and with any luck you won’t be one of them!
Leave a Reply