In this ebook, Eric Paquette and Kevin Clancy deliver a first-hand account about how marketers have built a superior base of knowledge about their Brand Advocates to create a true competitive advantage.

1. 1

2. Introduction
When the topic of brand advocacy comes up in conversation these days,
you can usually catch marketers straining to listen from across the room, if
only to grab a tidbit of insight into how to find and motivate this somewhat
mysterious group, widely acknowledged to play a critical role in marketing.
It’s true that marketers have always loved Brand Advocates—a group we
define as consumers who not only use a brand, but also love it and want
to help others get to know it—because they, among many
other marketing-related benefits, help to build awareness,
positive perceptions, trial of brands, and ultimately customer
loyalty. Today, however, there’s a confluence of events that’s
driving up their perceived value to marketers:
• The growing importance of word-of-mouth to marketing. According
to Nielsen’s most recent Global Trust in Advertising report, 92% of
consumers say they trust recommendations from friends and family
above all forms of advertising—an increase of 18% since 2007.
• The explosion of digital technologies, social media, and Facebook
in particular. Cutting across the ages, 62% of adults worldwide now
use social media. Social networking is the most popular online activity
with 22% of time online spent on channels like Facebook, Twitter, and
Pinterest.
• The focus on the loyalty end of path to purchase. According to IBM’s
Global Chief Marketing Officers study, “CMOs see customer loyalty as
their top priority in the digital era,” and their absolute main concern
“is to enhance customer loyalty and encourage satisfied customers to
advocate for their brands.”
In addition to their propensity to share brand information and experiences,
Advocates can have more street cred with other consumers looking for
guidance on a purchase decision than the company selling the brand.
©2012 by Kevin Clancy & Eric Paquette “Industry experts and big-time social media influencers may seem attractive
Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0. to marketers. But often, the regular Joe is the most powerful type of advocate
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us out there and can have the greatest effect on his friends and family,”
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3. explained Kimberly Maul, a writer/analyst for eMarketer. “By leveraging costs, especially as they feel increasingly inspired to share their feelings and
connections with these everyday influencers, brands can amplify word-of- bring members of their social network into a brand’s user fold.
mouth online and increase engagement.”
Marketers can find Advocates, of course, on the upper, most passionate
Though their efforts are hardly limited to online channels and social end of the affinity scale and represent an unmistakably attractive target
networks, Advocates clearly have an ever-widening number of digital, social, in terms of costs-savings and revenue-generation. As a banking CMO in
and mobile tools to more quickly, broadly, and effectively communicate with the US testified, Advocates “provide you with immeasurably valuable free
other consumers. Not surprisingly, “creating brand advocates is a big part marketing.” They often use and buy the brand with greater frequency as
of a brand’s social media efforts,” said social media strategist Ted Rubin. well. Perhaps the biggest contribution they make to the brand, however,
Ferreting out the true Brand Advocates from among a brand’s fans and comes from the invaluable role they play in drawing other consumers toward
followers has become a growing obsession among marketers looking to a brand along the path-to-purchase.
strengthen relationships with this group. Debate about the size, shape, direction, and even the very existence of a
Advocates also play a key role in growing brand loyalty and, even better, purchase funnel has raged on for a few years now. Regardless of where they
affinity, something with which many brands continuously struggle. The net out on the funnel issue, most marketers agree identifying which among
American Customer Satisfaction Index, for example, reported that the the exploding number of opportunities to influence a consumer’s purchase
cross-industry satisfaction average hovers around 76%—a “C” grade—and decision will produce the highest return on investment has become a critical
hasn’t budged for two years. The lower the level of satisfaction, the higher and often frustratingly complex process.
the likelihood the customer won’t purchase the brand again. Not surprisingly, “What’s changed is the sheer number of potential sources of information
a Bain Consulting study found the average company loses 20%–40% of its that might sway the consumer toward one brand or another and one channel
customers every year. or distributor or another,” explained our colleague Peter Krieg in a recent
Brand Advocates have a deeper connection than just simple brand loyalty. interview on the topic.
To quote Debbie DeGabrielle, CMO of Visible Technologies, “brand loyalty “Obviously it’s easier and faster than ever for the consumer to access
has its limitations.” Loyalty is often behavioral—consistently purchasing one multitudes of information, compare prices, and purchase locations. It’s also
brand versus another—and sometimes is more a function of history, habit, easier and faster for them to share opinions, reviews, and news with others.”
or inertia than an intensely strong conviction the These opinions, reviews, and news show up in
brand provides a unique or exceptional value. more places that are easily accessible to consumers
With brand affinity, on the other hand, there is throughout the purchase and post-purchase
that intensity of conviction—that much sought process. Because of the inherent credibility of
after “emotional connection,” and more personal information sourced from fellow consumers, these
identification with and passion for a brand. opinions, recommendations, and stories often act as
Consumers who express affinity kick in on the that last “moment of truth” trigger to purchase.
revenue generation side with a lower likelihood of
switching brands and help drive down marketing
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4. Brand Advocates frequently facilitate prime early experiences with a brand While few would argue about the perceived potential of Brand Advocates
for new consumers. Advocates know their favorite brands in and out; they to smooth the progress of interactions and transactions along the path to
know which products/services are ‘good,’ which are really special or great. purchase, the bigger and, naturally, harder question for marketers to
They can, therefore, authoritatively guide new consumers to the best parts of answer is how “real” is the group’s value? How much—if any—time and
the brand and away from some of the “so-so” products/services. Advocates resources should go into engaging and broadening relationships with
also tend to know the in’s and out’s of ordering or purchasing a brand. They Advocates on- and off-line? The IBM CMO study we mentioned earlier also
know, for example, where it’s always in stock, or where to locate a hard-to- found that nearly two-thirds of CMOs think return on marketing investment
find size, color, etc., so Advocates can help new consumers find what they will be the primary measure of their effectiveness by 2015, so it goes
want more easily and efficiently. without saying that marketers looking to get the most out of their increasingly
Finally, because Brand Advocates really know a brand, they are often very precious marketing dollars want to make the most effective and efficient
good “targeters.” They know who will—and who won’t—really enjoy a brand decisions.
and often make sure that those new consumers most likely to love a brand There are many working assumptions and hypotheses currently circulating
are the ones that they introduce it to in the first place. about the value of Advocates, where they fall on marketing’s priority list,
and their impact in driving a brand’s sales through social media. Rather than
As Eric Paquette, co-author of this chapter, noted recently “consumers who
base decisions on generalities, we’d suggest marketers get an in-depth
are introduced to a brand by a Brand Advocate are considerably more likely
understanding of the size and scope of the profit-enhancing opportunity
to become Brand Advocates themselves.”
Advocates hold as a group for their individual brand based on a big-picture
“Brand Advocates steer new consumers away from potentially problematic perspective of:
experiences with the product or its delivery that could disrupt a positive
• Who they are?
brand experience and taint their relationship with the brand when it’s just
• How many are there?
forming. Brand Advocates are also sure to seek out and introduce those
• How do you identify them?
most likely to really connect with the brand.”
• What is the best way to communicate with
Brand Advocates are essentially the double-sided Scotch tape of the path to and motivate them?
purchase. They’re stuck on a brand and can get others stuck too at a variety of • How do you integrate this knowledge into the
important junctures along the consumer journey—in-the-moment places and brand’s overall marketing strategy?
touchpoints to which marketers may or may not have knowledge of or access.
As is the case with many things in business, the companies that create a true
“Brand awareness is not enough today,”
said Javier Herrero-Velarde, CMO of Spanish
“Brand Advocates are essentially competitive advantage do so through superior knowledge and it’s no less
brewing company Mahous-San Miguel, “you the double-sided Scotch tape of
the case with Brand Advocates.
have to build an emotional link as well.” the path to purchase.”
Advocates can serve as that emotional bridge
between companies and their customers.
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5. Who Are They? There Are Those Who Advocate with others. They could just as easily switch brands the next time they make
and Then There Are Advocates a purchase in the category and share that recommendation and those
One of the bigger issues muddying the waters when it comes to assessing experiences with their social networks.
the value of Brand Advocates and identifying them for marketing purposes Likewise, there are people in almost every category who can and will
is the variety of definitions of the concept. Many companies doing work in influence the purchase decisions of others. They answer “yes” to questions
this area have working definitions for brand advocacy that find individuals such as “I spend more time reading, writing, talking, and thinking about
willing to participate in sharing and recommending activities. While it is likely this product category than the average consumer,” and “my friends,
that these efforts to increase advocacy have resulted in expanded reach of family, and colleagues generally perceive me as more knowledgeable
marketing messages, particularly on social networks, it is less clear that these about this product category,” that self-identify them as “influentials” in a
activities have really targeted Brand Advocates. particular category. While they do like to share their
What’s also not quite clear to us is how well some of these working definitions knowledge with others, especially on social channels,
help companies prioritize Advocates in terms of ROI potential and maximize they are driven to do so by an interest in a
that potential in the form of incremental sales and loyalty for a brand. category or industry, not necessarily—or even
It’s true that in many categories, a good number of consumers will routinely—by affection for any one brand.
“advocate” for your brand on a paid or, preferably, unpaid/unsponsored Aside from unclear levels of loyalty, affinity,
basis. More and more, companies are building advocacy-related programs and reliability, another challenge presented by
into their overall plan to encourage consumers in general to share and adopting a broad definition of a “Brand Advocate” is
disseminate brand information. As part of its new CoverGirl “Smoky Eye that members of the group are much more likely to
Look” makeup kit, for instance, P&G used online advertising and Facebook be heterogeneous than homogeneous. Odds are
to encourage consumers to try the product and write a review. By way that the characteristics that help marketers—
of another example, Ford picked out 100 twenty-something YouTube items such as demographics, needs, interests,
storytellers who’d developed a fan community of their own and gave them media preferences, sizes of social networks, and
each a new Fiesta for 6 months. In exchange, Ford asked them to share their types of brand actions and information that will
experience with their communities via social channels including YouTube, deepen their bond with the brand and inspire
Twitter, and Facebook on a monthly basis. them to act in ways that benefit it—of a large and diverse
Even when it is an unsolicited, unprompted, or unincentivized behavior— group are likely to be more different than similar. We can’t help but wonder
such as posting a positive review on Yelp or YouTube, recommending a about the relative effectiveness of messages and programs designed to
brand to friends on Facebook, or tweeting how much you are enjoying your reach and motivate such a big and broad audience to respond and act with
pumpkin spice latté at Starbucks—a single act or indication of advocacy similar levels of support and enthusiasm.
does not in and of itself reflect devout loyalty to and/or passion for a True, there are a handful of marketers monetarily and technologically
brand. It does not indicate whether a company can or should comfortably equipped to tailor specific one-to-one messages to each individual that has
rely on an individual to buy a brand, engage with it, and share experiences expressed an interest in the brand and willingness to share. Still, it’s hard to
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6. imagine that the return from that level of personalization on key performance It’s not that they don’t love what
measures including revenues, profits, and loyalty is incredibly high. If a major a brand offers or consistently
plus of targeting Advocates is the cost-savings they deliver—all that “free Brand Users delivers—many in the loyalist
marketing” via word-of-mouth and broad distribution—marketing programs group do—they just prefer
tailored to a specific individual intended to inspire them to share with their to more or less keep it to
wider social networks doesn’t sound like the most efficient course of action. 20–30%
“Regular” themselves, or are just not quite
Customers
The defining feature that distinguishes consumers who express a as passionate as Advocates. As
willingness to promote a brand and Brand Advocates is a passionate a result, even though they tend
connection to a brand—that affinity-generated stickiness—built on 15–20% “Loyalists”
to be a larger group, loyalists are
usage, interaction, and experience. It’s because of this connection that probably not the best target if
Advocates naturally want to support a brand by helping other consumers the communications objective
5-10%
interact with it. What’s more, it’s because of this connection that Advocates is to achieve greater message
“Advocates”
offer an inherent value to brands—they are loyal customers in their own right distribution.
and a reliable source of behavior that’s beneficial to a brand. As we discussed in the previous
Eric once clarified for a client looking to understand the difference between section, there are those who
advocacy and Brand Advocate strategies that “there is getting a bigger advocate and then there are Brand Advocates. It’s true that becoming a
group of people to do things for the brand—such as ‘share’ news or Facebook fan, or participating in a brand’s loyalty program, could be forms
recommend the brand—that Brand Advocates naturally do, and then there of brand advocacy. However, each and every Facebook fan or loyalty
is growing the number of true Brand Advocates, which requires a more database member is not necessarily a true Brand Advocate. In our work
fundamental connection generated through genuine experiences with the for clients, we have discovered more Brand Advocates on social networking
brand.” sites and in fan or loyalty program databases than in the general population
of brand customers, but most are not Brand Advocates.
How Many Are There? Brand Advocacy and the Emotional As an example, we typically find that a brand’s Facebook fans are
Connection Potential of the Category 1 ½–2 ½ times more likely than average to be Brand Advocates. For a
Intriguingly, when passion and brand usage are added to the definition, we brand that has 8% of customers as Brand Advocates, that means that only
find most brands have very few true Brand Advocates. In the categories 12% –20% of Facebook fans will be Brand Advocates. Notably, brands
in which we have worked, we typically find about 5%–10% of customers that have invested heavy time and energy into expanding their Facebook
qualify as Brand Advocates. There’s often a larger “second tier” of loyalists fan base with off-brand-strategy promotions should expect to find a
that don’t have quite the same intensity of passion as Advocates or natural lower percentage of Advocates among fans. Yes, these promotions tend
inclination to facilitate interactions between other consumers and the brand, to increase the number of Facebook fans, but they also tend to attract
representing about 15%–20% of customers. consumers who do not have strong connections to the brand and who
wouldn’t have otherwise become fans. Having these less impassioned fans
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7. is not necessarily a bad thing. Marketers just need to recognize they aren’t It did appear, however, that an emotional connection was more readily
driving large numbers of Brand Advocates to their page with those types of formed in certain product categories. The four categories with the largest
promotions. percentage of consumers reporting a moderate or strong connection were:
Importantly, there isn’t a uniformly large and active population of Brand • Cola soft drinks (39% reporting strong or moderate emotional connection)
Advocates that each and every brand in each and every category has at • Beer (37%)
their disposal. There will be varying numbers and degrees of activity among • Personal computers (33%)
Advocates of different brands. • Ground coffee (31%)
Most brands have Advocates but only some will exceed by leaps and The same appears to be true when it comes to Brand Advocates. In some
bounds the category average. It’s not a big stretch of the imagination to categories—including, for instance, more mundane consumer packaged
suppose that iPhones, iPads, iPods, Macbooks, and Apple in general have a goods—there are limitations as to how passionately most consumers will
much higher percentage of Brand Advocates relative to other brands in the ever feel about their preferred brand, no matter what marketers do. They
category in which it competes—not to mention most brands in general. might be loyalists because they see the value in what a brand provides, but
Apple didn’t achieve these exceptional numbers simply they’re just not going to feel the same level of intense love that they might
because of the conduciveness of its category to the for other brands that they use.
formation of emotional bonds and opportunities to Other categories—colleges and universities and sports teams, by way of
advocate. It did it by solving a pretty major problem example—more naturally lend themselves to developing strong affinity
consumers were having with PCs—they were frustrating and and passion for a brand because of the way the products and services in
sometimes incomprehensible to use—by offering a product the category are experienced, and/or the role or function they play in a
that was the exact opposite—user-friendly and easy to use. person’s life (i.e., entertainment). These categories might also present more
One of Steve Jobs’ many claims to fame was his religious opportunities for experience-sharing, campaigning, and promotion.
focus on making Apple’s products “plug and play.” While there are these general tendencies for categories to have more or
The company stayed razor-focused on that positioning and pretty fewer Brand Advocates, exceptional brands have more Advocates than
consistently delivered on it. It was/is easy for customers to love Apple and weaker brands, and there are instances where strong brands have large
have those feelings develop into the level of personal identification with the numbers of Advocates in relatively mundane categories.
brand that’s the envy of the business community. Every marketer out there has that same opportunity to encourage
When Copernicus and Greenfield Online surveyed a nationally representative strong, affinity-level connections with customers by dependably solving
sample of consumers on their “personal or emotional connection with their their problems with products or services. In our own work, we have found
preferred brand” across a variety of product and service categories, less that the brands that have a compelling positioning strategy, one based on a
than 10% on average claimed a “strong” connection. Just 20%–25% of real customer problem—something consumers need or want that products
consumers on average reported even a moderate emotional connection to in the category could solve for them, but no brand currently does—also have
a brand. the most and strongest advocates.
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8. In 40+ years of working with B2C and B2B How Do You Identify Them: Measuring Brand Advocacy
companies to develop and launch marketing Tackling brand advocacy on a variety of fronts serves six information
strategies, we have discovered time and time objectives:
again that the bigger the problem a brand
solves for the target consumer, the bigger 1. Finding the criteria that filter out the likers—customers who think
the emotional—and market—response. you’re OK—and leaves in the lovers.
As Kevin Clancy, the fellow co-author of this 2. Understanding what the lovers are doing to help others to experience
chapter, explained in a conversation with a the brand for direction on the types of programs to put in place.
client about the potential to grow the number 3. Estimating their value to guide investment decisions.
of Brand Advocates, “when brands really ‘live’ 4. Identifying the drivers of their passion to help foster similar feelings
a powerful brand positioning, deliver against it among the brand’s customer base at large.
from an execution perspective, and act in more 5. Quantifying their “reach”—getting a feel for how broadly they will
engaging ways, it stands to reason that they distribute a message to determine the potential multiplier effect.
would get more people who would be attached 6. Determining what messages and content they would like that would
enough to be considered an Advocate.” deepen the relationship and enable their advocacy efforts.
Getting back to the matter at hand, speculating We’ll go on record right up front and say that single-measures of advocacy
about the number of advocates a brand has, are simply not enough to get at a consumer’s level of devotion or value. It
their value to a brand, where they can be found requires a few different sets of questions to build a superior knowledge-base,
in higher concentrations (i.e., which market starting with the level of affection and attachment consumers have for the
segments, which media channels—particularly brand.
which social channels), and why they love the Sometimes focus groups and in-depth interviews with heavy users are a
brand won’t get marketers very far. good source of inspiration on how customers articulate their feelings about
Whenever we hear statements such as a brand. Statements that might help gauge affinity, attachment, affection,
“determining which loyal customers have the passion, personal identification, a sense of shared values, etc., might include:
ability to be influential advocates in social NEITHER
STRONGLY SOMEWHAT AGREE/NOR SOMEWHAT STRONGLY
media may be the biggest missed opportunity AGREE AGREE DISAGREE DISAGREE DISAGREE
for brand marketers today,” from Phil Mershon -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
at the Social Media Examiner, we feel the • This brand is made for people just like me
urgent need to bring some rigor to the process • If the brand were gone I would really miss it.
of identifying Brand Advocates to make certain • I love spending time with the brand.
marketers make smart, high-return decisions to • My friends and I love to talk about the brand.
take advantage of that opportunity. • I feel a sense of community with the people who use the brand.
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9. • My life is happier and healthier because of the brand. • Posted a YouTube video about the brand
• The brand is perfect for people like me. • Recommended the brand to friends/family
• The brand clearly is the best product/service in the category. • Forwarded the email I got from the brand to friends/family
• My family loves this brand. Logically, there’s also a more customized set of behaviors. Depending on the
• Using this brand is a big part of who I am. category, brands might also ask if customers have:
• I wish I could be more involved in helping others appreciate the brand.
• The brand shares similar values to my own. • Taken friends to the restaurant for the first time
• Served the brand when entertaining
Some of these expressions of affinity will cut across categories—“if the • Pinned the brand’s product to their Pinterest board
brand were gone I would really miss it,” as an example. The list should most • Called in to a radio show to support/defend the brand
definitely include language that’s specific to the category and brand—“the • Reviewed the brand’s product on Amazon
brand is my kind of place” might apply to an entertainment venue, a retailer,
or restaurant, where as “the brand is the best product/service on the Asking questions that reveal how often and how much Advocates are
market” might fit the bill for a consumer packaged good. doing things such as using the brand, going to a restaurant, taking
others to the restaurant, giving the brand as a gift, etc., will help
Coming up with a list of 25–30 different expressions is not overkill by establish their value to the brand.
any means. The end goal is to find the measures of passion most
predictive of advocacy behaviors and winnow this big list down to a more One restaurant chain we worked with found that while Brand Advocates
manageable 4–10 that can be used in the future to ID advocates among, say, visited the restaurant the same number of times in an average month as
a brand’s Facebook fan base or in a loyalty program database. The bigger frequent users, they introduced the brand to other people three times
the list, the higher the likelihood of identifying the indicators of affinity that as often. There’s no doubt that Brand Advocates do positive things for
best correlate with supportive and promotional behavior and getting to the the brand’s business and bottomline, but marketers have to know how
customers who are most deeply engaged with a brand. much financial return they should expect from the group to select an
appropriate level of investment. Ultimately, marketers have to justify
Another thorough list to pull together is a set of behaviors that reflect what decisions to senior management based on financial criteria, and programs
customers are doing to express how they feel about the brand and encourage targeted to Brand Advocates don’t often get special dispensation.
others to learn about or try it. As with the measures of passion, more accurately
pinpointing how a brand’s Advocates currently behave often requires a A NOTE OF CAUTION: While frequency should be a measure of
decent-sized list. Almost any brand might ask a customer if they have: advocacy, it is not the only measure, and in isolation is not a very good
• Posted something positive about the brand on my one. It’s true that most Advocates are heavy users of a brand, but only
Facebook page or Twitter account a small percentage of heavy users are Advocates. Finding a heavy user
• Shared news or stories about the brand with others means you found someone who buys your brand a lot, not someone who is
• Defended the brand to others who were critical of it necessarily deeply engaged—or even all that loyal—to your brand.
• Given it as a gift to friends/family
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10. Discover the Drivers of Affinity: Why Do They Love Me?
There’s not a marketer out there who wouldn’t like to get inside the minds of
Relationship Between Affinity, Use and Advocacy deeply engaged customers to find out what it is that got them to love their
brand. After all, if a marketer knew what drove their love, he or she would
work to ensure that other customers were exposed to those same drivers.
e
ag % of Heavy Users
Us At the same time marketers are collecting data about expressions of affinity
d Who Are
an and advocacy behaviors, they should take down some personal brand
Br io
rs Advocates
av history from customers. Just as a medical assistant might ask a patient when
Beh
cy they first noticed symptoms, find out when and how a customer became
ca
vo a customer and what they have experienced since then. Did someone
Ad % of Advocates
Who Are introduce them? Who and under what circumstances? As we said earlier,
Heavy Users when a Brand Advocate introduces someone to a brand, that person is more
Level of Affinity for Brand likely to become a Brand Advocate.
As part of the personal brand history, marketers should ask about what
traditional and digital advertising customers have heard/seen about the brand
Before we move on to the other sets of questions to pose, we wanted and what messages they’ve heard/seen. Was there something about the brand’s
to jump ahead to describe the analysis process that culls down the list of positioning strategy or story that broke through the clutter and resonated?
expressions of affinity from large to highly-focused. After collecting data
Zappos, the online retailer of “more than shoes,” has focused on positioning
in a large-scale quantitative survey where customers are asked how much
itself as delivering consistent and exceptional customer service. Paid
they agree or disagree with the list of 25–30 possible measures of affinity
advertising has ranged from felt puppets voiced by real customer service
statements, marketers should determine the combinations and levels of
calls to dressing naked models—real people as opposed to the Bar Refaeli’s
agreement that best indicate big “spikes” in advocacy behaviors. In other
of the world. The personal narratives of the firm’s founder, Tony Hseih, have
words, marketers should look for the subset of measures and the threshold
centered around “delivering happiness” and cultivating the personal goals
of agreement where suddenly advocacy behaviors takeoff.
of employees and positivity in the work place. Any or all of these things
In our work, we index the total scores on a scale from 0–100. Giving a “5– may have gotten through to customers and contributed to the high level
strongly agree” to each statement would earn an index score of 100, for of affection the seemingly larger-than-average group of Zappos’ Brand
example. We have observed for brands in very diverse categories ranging Advocates feel for it.
from pet food to restaurants, OTC medications to sports teams, advocacy
When it comes to the specific products or services the brand offers, what have
behaviors tend to pick up dramatically when the 4–10 measures of affection
the interactions been like? A consumer packaged goods manufacturer might
hit an index score of 91–100.
like to know which of the brand’s products and line extensions customers
have interacted with, in what channels, and on what occasions. Meanwhile, a
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11. sports team might like to know what type of ticket holder (i.e., season, luxury Aside from which channels to concentrate on, the other major component
box, etc.) the customer was and stadium services the customer used. of communications is the message. What do Brand Advocates want to know
The end goal with this line of questioning is to compare Advocates to non- that would maintain their level of excitement and affection for the brand?
Advocates to see which experiences and interactions pop out and could Again, exploring this issue as part of the research among customers pays off
serve as potential indicators of what got them to their heightened love- when it comes to developing and launching successful programs targeted
state. Incorporating these kinds of insights about the drivers of affinity into to Advocates. One prevailing theory out there now is that cause-related
programs targeted to current Brand Advocates and into loyalty programs and corporate social responsibility programs deepen a customer’s sense of
targeted to the broader customer base could deepen relationships all around. shared values with a brand. Does it do anything for Advocates? Does news
about a brand’s green initiative, for example, increase Advocates’ affinity for
the brand? Just as importantly, is it the type of news they want to share in
How Big Is Their Reach and What Do They Want to Know
social channels or elsewhere because it demonstrates what they love most
One of the major appeals of Brand Advocates is their power to amplify a
about the brand? In some cases it might be. In others there may be little
marketer’s message. According to Forrester Research, each time a consumer
interest.
posts something on the social web it reaches a minimum of 150 people, but
what exactly is the scale of a Brand Advocate’s reach in social networks, on At this point in time, it’s well-established that Facebook’s EdgeRank weights
the web, and in the real-world among their circle of family and friends? different types of content more heavily than others as it serves up news
In order to determine what kind of marketing multiplier effect they might from different sources on user pages. If Advocates appear to have a wide
expect from their Brand Advocates, marketers should include in their survey distribution network on Facebook and/or if it’s a social media channel of
of customers questions such as: import to the company, marketers could help themselves by determining
what kind content—videos, photos, newslinks, etc.—as well as the subject
• HOW MANY Facebook friends do you have?
matter the group would most like to share. As mobile becomes a bigger
• HOW MANY Twitter followers do you have?
factor in social communication, determining more specifically the types of
• HOW MANY LinkedIn connections?
content or messages Advocates like to share via a mobile device might give
• DO YOU blog? How many readers?
marketers a bigger head start in that area as well.
• DO YOU post on online forums and bulletin boards?
• DO YOU post YouTube videos? How many views? “Connecting with the right audiences, at the right time, with the right
• HOW LARGE is your circle of friends/family? message in the right place is the mantra of digital marketing,” relayed this
year’s CMO Summit State of Marketing report. By delving more into the
Importantly we’re not suggesting marketers ask about a consumer’s level of
specifics of the scale of distribution across channels or in specific high-priority
influence within these social circles as they might when developing influencer
ones, subject matter, and types
communications. In this case, marketers are looking to understand how
of content, marketers can better “Connecting with the right audiences,
much they can leverage their Advocates’ innate interest in sharing
extend the reach and magnify the at the right time, with the right
information about the brand. They want to get some confirmation that
strength of their communications.
targeting Advocates would achieve wider message distribution, on which message in the right place...”
social and digital channels, and plan accordingly.
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12. The Big Picture: Advocates end up in the primary target segment—not that every individual
Integrating Advocates into in that target segment will be an Advocate, but that most Advocates will be
Overall Marketing Strategy members of the target segment. If a brand is going to invest resources in
As we’ve intimated a few times along the marketing to that target group, better to be reaching Advocates than not
way in this chapter, some of the insights reaching them.
gathered about Advocates can be applied We recommend to marketers that they take a profit-directed approach to
to the customer base at large. Insights into market segmentation and include a variety of financial and non-financial
the drivers of affinity, for instance, can inform loyalty efforts. With something measures of economic value to the brand, advocacy being one of them. In
like 90% of consumers participating in one or more loyalty or rewards most instances, we have found Brand Advocates are primarily in the segment
programs, understanding what actions and messages might more quickly that holds the highest profit potential for the brand. There have been some
and productively convert regular customers into loyalists, and loyalists into clients, however, where the concentration has been more dispersed.
advocates will enhance performance and profitability.
A sports team we worked with, by way of example, discovered a healthy
Clearing up some of the mystery about why Advocates love a brand so much number of Advocates in a somewhat less economically attractive segment of
can also help to refine and focus positioning strategy. If elements of the the team’s fan base. We had identified a segment with the highest potential
current positioning and brand story have been acting as drivers of affinity, a profitability to the team and recommended that it primarily target this
marketer might consider ways to build from those or find new or better ways group with marketing efforts. Because the segment that a good number
to deliver against them to set a new course for positioning, rather than start of the team’s Brand Advocates belonged to didn’t have the same level of
completely from scratch. disposable income to spend on games, park services, team paraphernalia,
Avis, the leading car rental company in the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty etc., as a whole it did not hold the same ROI potential for marketing
Engagement Index 13 years running, recently dumped its long-standing investments as the recommended target group.
positioning strategy of dedication to making the customer happy— Though the team chose to focus marketing and fan outreach efforts primarily
embodied in the tagline “we try harder”—for one centered around, on the recommended overall target group, when it came to marketing
“elevating the role of rental cars in the lives of business travelers.” We to Brand Advocates specifically, it knew it would need a different set of
can’t help but wonder, though, if the sentiment of “we try harder,” efforts programs and tactics to activate Advocates in both the less- and more-
to “enhance the car rental experience,” and corporate messages such income constrained segments.
as “treating people like people” that emanated from Avis’ long-standing
positioning remained an intrinsic part of its Brand Advocates’ feelings of Once marketers have determined that set of 4–10 measures of passion
affection and that dumping it all together was premature. that best predict advocacy behaviors through a larger-scale research effort,
they can use them to identify Advocates in specific media and internal
If advocacy measurement research is done as part of a larger market databases. Marketers might like to know in the database of Facebook fans,
segmentation exercise, as it sometimes is, paying attention to the for example, who are the Brand Advocates to target more diligently with
concentration of Advocates in the different market segments also provides content and messaging developed based on the stated preferences of
valuable messaging and programming guidance. It’d be great to have most Advocates in general.
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13. The IBM CMO study we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter found
that many executives “don’t understand what triggers customers to ‘follow’ Superior knowledge that leads to appropriate
their organizations.” Almost 70% believe that customers interact with them levels of marketing investment and more effective
via social media “to get information, express an opinion and feel connected and efficient programs will help brands move
to their brand—whereas, in reality customers are most interested in ahead of the competition. The marketers who find
receiving tangible value.” Similar to the findings from studies done by other the criteria specific to a brand to filter out the likers
organizations, when asked why they choose to follow a company, consumers from the lovers; identify what actions and types
list as top reasons: of experience-sharing Advocates are doing; get
a better picture of their financial and marketing
• 61% getting discounts value to a brand and why they like it so much; and
• 55% making purchases determine what messages and content will resonate
• 33% to feel connected to the company best will have all the critical pieces of information
With so much emphasis on demonstrating and improving the ROI of they need to guide prioritization, planning, and
social programs, having a better way to segment databases of fans execution of efforts targeted to Brand Advocates.
and followers to target tactics and messages more effectively to the
Advocates who will really do something of value for the brand would
definitely have a positive impact on performance.
Superior Knowledge = Competitive Advantage
Most marketers agree that fostering loyalty among current customers
and motivating advocacy behaviors is primarily an untapped opportunity
to improve profitability. At the same time, few would argue that in many
categories brand loyalty is declining faster than the price of Facebook’s
stock. Nor would many quibble with the notion that many marketers are
unsure what to do about the problem. Drawing one last time from the
IBM CMO study, most CMOs report feeling underprepared to deal with
decreasing brand loyalty.
Perhaps this is one of the driving reasons behind the big rush to find and
engage with Brand Advocates—a group that absolutely loves the brand
and wants to help others experience it presents a major opportunity
to reverse declining loyalty. Sustainable competitive advantage, however,
won’t come from casting a really wide net and qualifying any customer as an
Advocate based on a one- or two-measure definition.
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14. About the Authors
KEVIN CLANCY
For over three decades, Kevin Clancy has worked
with some of the best known and most loved
consumer and B2B brands around the world to launch
transformational marketing strategies. He is the
chairman of Copernicus, a research-driven marketing
consulting company with a singular mission: to
change the way companies think about and practice
marketing. He is also the co-author of seven business
books, most recently Your Gut Is Still Not Smarter
Than Your Head. His work to push the envelope of
marketing research in order to advance the practice
of marketing earned him an induction into the
prestigious Marketing Research Hall of Fame.
Contact: Ami Bowen,
ERIC PAQUETTE (617) 449-4179
With nearly two decades of experience working with ami.bowen@copernicusmarketing.com
marketers to make informed decisions about their
strategies and programs, Eric regularly translates
the information and insights that come from good
marketing research into effective strategies, programs
and tactics, and successful new product and service
offerings. A senior vice president at Copernicus, Eric
leads the firm’s charge into the digital world and its
work in the area of brand advocacy.
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15. Marketing Consulting and Research
COPERNICUSMARKETING.COM
COPERNICUS is a research-driven marketing consulting firm
in the business of transforming companies.
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