Episode Details

In the world of marketing, customer advocacy has moved in recent years from a piecemeal hit-or-miss effort to a scalable discipline and Ari Hoffman is at the forefront. Vice President of Customer Marketing & Advocacy at Influitive, he shares his powerful framework on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times with Host Chris Schembra. It’s all about building authentic community and loyalty to your brand, product or service not by soliciting the same customer testimony over and over again but by engaging fans as part of a growing, dynamic ecosystem. You’ll learn what makes this marketing approach so powerful, how Ari rolls out programs that generate customer obsession across sectors and why defaulting to ad-based lead generation is not the way to go in times of recession. If you’ve been trying to figure out how to connect with customers in meaningful ways and turn them into spontaneous evangelists for your company, then here’s your starting place. Ari is a thought leader with the set of tools (like his DRIVE methodology) you’ll need on the journey!

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KEY TOPICS:

• Freeze and Squeeze: Ari spells out some of the sales-centric, demand-gen defaults, like emphasis on advertising, that companies mistakenly fall back on in times of recession.
• Customer Obsession: Why companies oriented towards user experience see 2.5 times faster growth and 1.7 times better retention.
• Fearless 50 and Elite 18: How Influitive is inspiring a customer-first approach through awards that exemplify it.
• Moving Messages: Ari highlights the importance of creating ecosystems that engage customers and inspire them to proactively speak up on behalf of your product or service.
• Stepping Stones for Moving Towards Customer Engagement:
  • Start an advocacy “well,” documenting customers who are already in your corner.
  • Identify customers you’ve gone back to for testimony too often – burning them out and generating a stale message.
  • Create a mini-advocacy program that invites customers to connect.
  • Map out a handful of things to ask of your customers, including:
    • Committing to connect with other customers.
    • Writing a review.
    • Providing 30 minutes of product or messaging feedback.
• Incentivize customer advocacy by offering in exchange things like:
  • Early access to your new lines of business or free use for a limited time.
  • Swag bags.
  • Free attendance at dinner gatherings.
  • An honorary jacket.
• Scaling requires an engagement engine to nurture customers and help them see the value-add in advocacy. 
• Giving versus Taking: How customer advocacy programs can turn on generosity and other benefits in the long run.
• Why Customer Obsession is a can’t-lose campaign because it’s all about:
  • Being thankful.
  • Celebrating people who are doing things right.
  • Leveling up the skill sets of others.
  • Inspiring others while creating demand generation for your company.
• Spreading the Love: How to nominate, vote or otherwise tee up gratitude by participating in Influitive’s 

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