iMedia Connection Blog

Are you leveraging your highly-satisfied customers (AKA “Brand Advocates”) to generate product reviews, videos, testimonials, and more? If not, you’re missing a major content marketing opportunity.
Content created by Advocates is highly trusted and influential. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 53% trust content that you create and post on your website.
Here are five ways to turn your Advocates into a powerful content marketing engine:

Identify your Advocates. Ask your customers the “Ultimate Question” for loyalty: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company or product to your friends?” Customers who respond 9 or 10 are Advocates.
Encourage Advocates to rate and review your products. Seventy percent of consumers trust online reviews, Nielsen says. And 67% of consumers don’t buy after reading only one to three negative reviews, according to Lightspeed Research. Make it easy for Advocates to create online reviews by giving them review applications.
Enable Advocates to create stories about their experiences with your company or products. Ask them to tell you about their “Kodak moment.” Stories bring your brand promise to life in a very authentic way. Here’s an example of a story created by an Advocate of Rubio’s Restaurants, a California-based... Read more

Q: Hotel marketers are acutely aware of the power of guest reviews. How damaging to hotels are negative guest reviews on TripAdvisor and other sites?
A. Hotels are collectively losing millions of dollars from negative guest reviews. These reviews are costing hotels business and tarnishing their hard-earned reputations. In a recent study by Lightspeed Research, 67% of consumers said they don’t buy after reading only one to three negative reviews. And a study by Morpace, a market research and consulting firm, said travelers are 3X less likely to stay at hotels with three stars compared to hotels with four stars.
Q. In a recent interview, you called negative reviews a “Silent Assassin.” What did you mean by that?
A. Look, prospective guests don’t call you and say, “I was going to stay at your hotel until I read that review on TripAdvisor about the long strand of black hair in the bed.” People just don’t book at your hotel after reading stuff like this. They just go elsewhere. In addition, people tell each other about negative reviews they’ve read about your property. The other day a colleague said to me: “Don’t stay at the hotel. I read on TripAdvisor that their service sucks.”

Q.... Read more

Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. from Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force by Rob Fuggetta. Copyright (c) 2012 by Zuberance, Inc. This book is available at all bookstores and online booksellers.

Advocates already exist. Your opportunity is to turn them into a powerful marketing force. But how do companies create more Brand Advocates? Here’s what it takes:
1. Provide an “insanely great product.”
This was one of Steve Jobs’ famous statements. Very few people go out of their way to advocate mediocre products or services. Advocacy starts with having a product or service people are eager to recommend.
2. Deliver memorable service.
In an era when so many products and services are similar, service is the great differentiator. Nordstrom, Zappo’s, and Four Seasons hotels are examples of companies that created legions of Advocates by providing extraordinary service.
3. Focus on good profits.
As loyalty guru Fred Reichheld has stated, there’s a difference between good profits and bad profits. Bad profits include earnings from price gouging, cutbacks on customer service, and hidden charges.
4. Do the right thing, even when it costs you money.
It’s easy for companies to do the right thing when it doesn’t cost extra. But when doing the right thing costs companies money, many firms take the low road. For example, if allowing a customer to return a lemon costs you money, do it anyway. It’s much better to do this than create a Detractor. If... Read more