The authentic voice of the customer is fast becoming one of the most powerful marketing messages and Franchisors have two bites of that cherry, happy customers and happy franchisees, both of which can be turned into your very own influencers and advocates.
The key to success in advocacy is to start your own advocacy programme and nurture your advocates.
An advocacy programme can be very complex or very simple. At its core it’s a community of advocates that you can ask to help you promote your business and make introductions. To build a programme, first create a list of Franchisees and customers who you would like to participate (you may want to have two separate programmes for this), give your programme a name and invite people to join.
By creating a programme, you are giving a clear intention about what you need giving the programme an identity makes it real for people.
It’s important to remember an advocacy programme is not a one-way street, although it should not be transactional, you can look for ways to create value to your advocates as well as asking them to participate in acts of advocacy. Once you have a community you are able to provide value in terms of discounts, early looks at new products and other perks, and also ask your advocates for help promoting your business.
Most people are familiar with a marketing funnel, an advocacy programme needs an advocacy funnel. An advocacy funnel is a way of nurturing Franchisees and customers to perform acts of advocacy. At the top of the funnel are simple acts of advocacy like providing a testimonial quote to use on a website. You then move down to higher value acts of advocacy like appearing in a testimonial video, written case study, providing a reference call to prospects and speaking at your events.
When you have advocates moving through the funnel and really engaging with your organisation, they will eventually become part of your extended team. You may even want to create an advisory board and call on them for advice on new products and services.
A bit of time spent building a community will enable you to create your own army of advocates and influencers to promote your company to potential customers and franchisees.
