Last night I had dinner at Xanh (pronounced “sun”), a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant in Mountain View, CA, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

So of course this morning I advocated Xanh to my colleagues at Zuberance. I made sure to recommend Xanh to Elizabeth Shaw, a marketing manager here at Zuberance, because she is a foodie and so I knew she would be receptive to my recommendation. In fact, I told Elizabeth I would take her for lunch at Xanh next week.

This story shows why Advocates are your best salespeople and a highly efficient marketing channel.

First, Advocates recommend to friends and colleagues who they know are receptive to a recommendation. (I didn’t tell my colleague Carter Hostelley because I know he’s a steak lover and not a fan of Asian food. I picked Elizabeth because I know she’s a food enthusiast.)

Second, Advocates are credible, trusted, and influential. (Elizabeth knows me and she knows I’m a foodie also, so a message from me is going to be very influential.) Numerous studies have shown that Word of Mouth recommendations from friends and peers are up to 5X more influential than advertising and other forms of paid media.

Third, and finally, Advocates do more than recommend brands and products. They’ll even bring new customers to you. (Notice how I offered to take Elizabeth to Xanh for lunch. Our research shows that this behavior is not unique among Advocates. Advocates like Shelley S., a Lexus customer, actually brings her friends to the local Lexus dealer so they can take test drives of new Lexus cars.)

Imagine how successful Xanh could be if they could identify and mobilize Xanh Advocates like me. And the best news is that, unlike paid media or a paid salesforce, I’d be willing to keep advocating Xanh without them giving me as much as a free bowl of steamed rice. That’s the kind of advertising money truly cannot buy!

If you work for an agency, chances are you’ve had a client come to you asking for a Word of Mouth and Social Media strategy and solution.  Almost half the calls we get here, at Zuberance, are from people just like you.

Agencies are our best partners.  They want to deliver the best solution for their clients and they look to us for it.  As social media and WOM have matured, marketers understand the power of Advocates more than ever.  And in times like these, ROI is king.  With a platform like Zuberance’s, marketers are able to track ROI in real-time and report from the bottom-up.

Forrester estimates that $716 million will be spent on the social media marketing this year, growing to $3.1 billion in 2014.  As Word of Mouth and Social Media gain more share in the marketing mix, agencies will continue to turn to niche solution providers to meet client needs.  The Word of Mouth Marketing Association is a tremendous resource to learn more about these providers and much, much more.

“What brands are you highly likely to recommend?”

That’s the question Rob Fuggetta, our CEO, asked all his employees this week.  The result?  An average list of 10 brands from each employee and a good glimpse into the interests of our co-workers.  For instance, I never knew that Grayson raves about his Blackberry to his colleagues or that Cara tells all her friends about the deals she finds at Forever 21.

So what did this exercise teach us? While GfK Roper cites that each person on average advocates 3-5 brands, Zuberance employees recommended an average of 10.  Our team is passionate about Word of Mouth and helping brands to identify, track and mobilize people just like Cara and Grayson.

Companies that ask their audience the Ultimate Question can begin to harness Word of Mouth to drive sales now.   Do you know who is recommending your brands and products?