Customer Reference Friendlies, Allies & Champions

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In my previous article in this series on customer references in technology marketing, I provided a few best practices for getting to know your customer champion and answering their upfront questions so they’re suitably prepared for marketing activities.  Internal customer champions who are not especially ambitious or outgoing could be hesitant to speak in a public forum. The fear of saying the wrong thing, being misquoted, or treading on the toes of their own corporate marketing departments can deter people from participating in brand advocacy.

In this post, I’ll examine the various stages of customer advocacy that can help you determine the activity that is the best fit for that particular customer champion.

Finding The Right Fit

Understanding your customer champion’s preferences, constraints and interests is the most critical element in developing a customer champion as an asset for your company. Most companies underutilize customers – as the opportunities may not be as obvious. The graphic below defines a wide range of possibilities in which your customer can begin to participate in your marketing and sales initiatives.

At 10Fold, we look at customer advocacy in three key stages.

Advocacy_LogoThe first stage, which we call “Friendlies,” encompasses customer participation that can typically take place without formal approvals. However, it is important to note that a non-company-specific thought leadership quote attributed to an individual at a specific company may require approvals, depending on the title of the individual.

The second stage, “Allies,” offers your customers safe ways to participate in programs where they can review what will be published, or in other ways have control of the situation. All of the opportunities listed are pre-written/created and approved by the customer prior to being submitted or published.

The third stage, “Champions,” refers to the group of customers with whom you have developed strong trust, has experience with your solution, and is very competent in expressing the value of your product and company in a wide range of fora, including “live” situations such as media interviews and customer events.

Picture of Susan Thomas

Susan Thomas

Susan Thomas is a B2B tech marketing executive best known for her ability to deliver creative thought leadership strategies to support high-growth companies. Founder of 10Fold, Susan built the agency to become one of the top 10 independently owned PR agencies on the West Coast focused on B2B deep technologies. Susan has won nearly a dozen awards for her leadership and 10Fold has won more than 35 awards of excellence. 10Fold clients include Brocade, Comcast, CA, Nimble Storage, Seagate and Vodafone, as well as 350+ IPO-bound venture-funded startups including AppDynamics. Susan's business has enjoyed support from venture capitalists including Battery Ventures, Foundation Capital, Intel Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital. Under Susan's leadership, 10Fold has established a history of repeat clients, and 65% of current business is with executives that hired 10Fold in a prior role. Helping to create billions in corporate valuations, 10Fold helps strategically set companies apart. Prior to 10Fold, Susan was a manager for Sybase (acquired by SAP) where she was responsible for visibility of core System 10 product lines. Prior to Sybase, Susan was with MemorexTelex, helping the company communicate with its investor, analyst and media. Before Susan left, she managed a budget of more than $2 Million and reported to the Chief Financial Officer of this global, $2 Billion corporate entity. Susan is on the advisory board for Heritage Commerce Bank and was the prior Vice Chairman for YMCA East Bay Board of Directors. Susan has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Business and a Master of Arts in IO Psychology from the University of Tulsa. Susan has continuing education credits from Execrank, Institute for Women's Leadership and te Strozzi Institute and Susan has been a member of Vistage since 2006. Susan and her family enjoy supporting charities and spending time together.

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