Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force. Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.
Red Door is a strategic partner dedicated to helping businesses continuously evolve by offering a broad array of services that connect clients seamlessly with customers across all touch points.
Watch the recordingby clicking the orange “Play” button in the player below.
Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill’s (@RubiosTweets) mission is to “create raving fans.” Rubio’s has built an army of nearly 100,000 raving Rubio’s fans that it is leveraging to boost online ratings on Yelp, and to sell more tacos and burritos.
Key Takeaways:
Make it easy for your Advocates to recommend your brand
Don’t pay or provide incentives
Advocacy is an ongoing program
Get an advocacy system
Get help from advocacy experts
Fun Facts:
67% of diners will not visit after reading only 1-3 bad reviews
50% or more of your business is from Word of Mouth
92% of consumers trust Advocates, 25% of consumers are Advocates
Rubio’s created a thriving Advocate Army of 64,000 Advocates, and growing
Average star rating on Yelp is 4.7 out of 5 stars
Rubio’s Advocates have shared 69,000 offers, reaching 10.4M prospects
Rubio’s Brand Advocacy program saves money, reducing reliance on paid media and couponing
Karin Silk, VP of Marketing at Rubio’s Restaurants, Inc., is a proven marketing leader with expertise in building brands, creating andimplementing strategic growth plans, and innovation/new product development. Karin has 15 years ofexperience in traditional CPG brand marketing, restaurant marketing, and general management consulting.
Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book,“Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.”Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.
Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill’s (@RubiosTweets) mission is to “create raving fans.” Rubio’s has built an army of nearly 100,000 raving Rubio’s fans that it is leveraging to boost online ratings on Yelp, and to sell more tacos and burritos.
You’ll learn how to:
Create a thriving army of your raving fans (AKA “Brand Advocates”)
Mobilize Advocates to boost online ratings plus drive sales
Track and measure results from social/brand advocacy programs
How to reward Advocates without paying them
Karin Silk, VP of Marketing at Rubio’s Restaurants, Inc., is a proven marketing leader with expertise in building brands, creating andimplementing strategic growth plans, and innovation/new product development. Karin has 15 years ofexperience in traditional CPG brand marketing, restaurant marketing, and general management consulting.
Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.”Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.
Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:00 AM PST/ 2:00 PM EST
Hosted by Zuberance with Guest Speaker, Karin Silk #BrandAdvocates@Zuberance
Watch the recordingby clicking the orange “Play” button in the player below.
You have a secret content marketing weapon: Brand Advocates. As your most loyal, engaged, and enthusiastic customers, they’ll gladly create positive reviews, glowing testimonials, and more. Unlike your high paid agency or in-house copywriter, you don’t have to pay them thousands or hundreds of thousands or dollars to create compelling content. Simply make it easy for Advocates and they will happily create fantastic and authentic content.
Key Takeaways:
The top three content marketing challenges are creating original content, having time to create content, and creating high quality content. By turning Advocates into content creators, marketers can overcome all three of these obstacles.
Brand Advocates are highly satisfied customers who recommend a brand or product without pay or incentives. They recommend because they’ve had good experiences with a product or service and they want to help others.
Advocates will create various types of content including reviews, testimonials (stories), answers to prospects’ questions, positive tweets and posts, plus multimedia content such as pictures and videos.
Compared to brand content, Advocate content is more trusted and credible, more influential, and less expensive.
Advocate content sells products by boosting conversion rates, increasing time on websites and average order size, and influencing purchase decisions of prospective customers.
A critical part of a content marketing strategy that involves Brand Advocates is to leverage the content they create smartly. Brands should post Advocate-generated content on their websites, put it in the consumer purchase path, on social channels, on third party review sites, and more.
Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.”Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.
Watch the recordingby clicking the orange “Play” button in the player below.
Marketing author Bill Lee triggered a firestorm of controversy when he declared recently in a provocative Harvard Business Review blog post that traditional marketing – including advertising, public relations, branding and corporate communications – is dead.
What do you think? Is it time to sound the death knell for traditional marketing? Is traditional marketing still alive and well? Are paid, owned, and earned media merging?
Traditional marketing- including advertising, public relations, branding, and corporate communications- is dead. Many people in traditional marketing roles and organizations may not realize they’re operating within a dead paradigm. But they are. The evidence is clear.
The way that marketing is perceived by customers has dramatically changed. Buyers aren’t paying attention. They’re increasingly doing research on their own through online resources and social media before ever engaging with your brand.
According to a Corporate Executive Board study, 57% B2B customers buying decisions are complete before they engage with the supplier. By then, they don’t need to consult with any sales people. Instead they want to know what their peers and other customers think of the company.
CEO’s have lost all patience with CMO’s. 73% say CMO’s lack credibility and ability to generate sufficient business growth. 72% are tired of being asked for money without explaining how it all will generate increased business. 77% have had it with all the talk about brand equity that can’t be linked to actual firm equity or any other recognized financial metric.
The traditional marketing approach to marketing and sales doesn’t make sense especially in today’s connected world. Employees, consultants, partners, etc don’t come from the buyer’s world and they don’t share the buyer’s interest. This is not a promising arrangement to persuade people. Social media makes it easy for prospects to connect with buyers.
Stop trying to persuade buyers. Get skilled at getting your customers to persuade and influence your buyers using four pillars of new marketing:
Marketing (which encompasses everything from product, price, place, promotion) is not only alive and well, it’s core to a business’ success. In short, marketing isn’t dead. Marketing is everything.
Everything is with, not instead of. While some things might become antiquated or less powerful, they’re still very relevant.
Some brands in the pharmaceutical or finance industry, for example, have to live in the domain of creating a level of persuasion because they’re regulated by law or have products that have incremental difference to their competitors.
Advertising is not dying. In fact, it’s not on life support, it’s not sick, and it probably doesn’t have the sniffles.
Just because you trust your peers more than advertising, doesn’t mean you can’t see an ad. I don’t need peer reviews to decide to switch toilet paper. Some brands need to put the message into the general zeitgeist of the world that their product now has variance on it- it’s now on sale or has a new feature.
Brand advocacy programs are absolutely critical. However, the challenge we face is that if they’re successful, it takes a lot of work. It’s the difference between dropping a bomb and doing hand to hand combat door to door. Brands must be prepared for the success that will come with engaging Advocates.
If you want to inform a large audience about your brand, advertising is still very much alive (as is marketing, thank you very much). Saying that marketing is dead is like saying that product development is dead and that branding is dead. It may get a lot of clicks, but there’s no substance or truth behind it.
Bill is the President of Customer Reference Forum and Executive Director of The Summit on Customer Engagement. For the last nine years, his conferences have drawn leading customer engagement and advocacy practitioners from top global firms as well as dynamic smaller firms. In addition to its widely respected conferences, Bill and his team at Lee Consulting Group provide workshops, consulting, research and other educational and community building services to help clients reinvent customer relationships and achieve dramatic growth. Bill is the author The Hidden Wealth of Customers (Harvard Business Review Press, June 2012), which has been featured in Forbes Online, Fast Company Online, Marketing Magnified (CMO Council), CRM Magazine and other publications.
Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image – an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency (although he prefers the title, Media Hacker) and author of Six Pixels of Separation (Business Plus, 2009). He has been called a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert and community leader. He is also a Blogger, Podcaster, passionate entrepreneur and speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on digital marketing and new media. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. Most recently, Mitch was named one of iMedia’s 25 Internet Marketing Leaders and Innovators in the world. His next book, CTRL ALT DEL will be published in May 2013.
Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force. Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.
Webinar Recording: Influencers or Brand Advocates: Who Carries the Real Clout?
Companies today are investing in Influencer outreach strategies in hopes that a known name can deliver their message to a vast audience. 40,000 blog subscribers may look tempting, but many brands are sitting right on top of an untapped digital gold mine: their own Brand Advocates. These highly satisfied customers are eager and willing to share their positive brand experiences, defend companies from negative Word of Mouth, and deliver new customers. As marketers are developing both influencer outreach and brand advocacy strategies, it’s important to understand the characteristics, motivations, and objectives behind engaging these two segments.
Key Takeaways:
Don’t confuse reach with influence. True influence drives action.
The motivations for influencers and Advocates are different. Influencers typically need some sort of perk, discount, or free trial to endorse a product. Advocates recommend because they’ve had great experiences and want to help others.
Jay Baer is a hype-free content strategist, speaker, and author. He founded the social and content accelerator firm Convince & Convert in 2008. It is the fifth marketing services firm he’s started or managed. Jay is a renowned and popular social media keynote speaker, delivering as many as 100 insightful, memorable, interesting and hilarious presentations each year to groups as large as 5,000. He’s also co-author of The NOW Revolution, 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social (Wiley, 2011) a leading book on social business, and an Amazon category best-seller.
Michael Brito currently works for Edelman Digital as a Senior Vice President of Social Business. He is responsible for helping his clients socialize their organization and at the same time operationalize their social media initiatives internally. He is the author of Smart Business, Social Business: A Playbook For Social Media In The Organization.
Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force” (John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012) Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.
Below is the recording from our latest social media webinar, “Top 10 Things Advocates Will Do For Your Brand” co-hosted by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.
1. Give you referral leads and help you sell products and services, serving as a virtual salesforce.
Anytime Fitness Advocates have shared 16,167 offers on Facebook, Twitter, and via email. Anytime Fitness is seeing a 20% conversion rate from Advocate offer shares (5X higher than average).
2. Write highly positive reviews of your products or services, boosting your online ratings.
Anytime Fitness Advocates have written over 7,250 glowing reviews and stories which are displayed on Anytime’s Facebook page. Advocates have also published their reviews on Yelp which has increased positive reviews by 30% in the past five months.
3. Create glowing testimonials about their experiences with your company or products.
Outright Advocates have written 1,463 stories, some of which are showcased on Outright’s website. Of the Advocates who shared their story, 53% chose to share on Facebook.
2,440 Advocates for the VoIP provider, Ooma, have opted in to answer prospects’ questions. Each question is getting an average of 2.3 answers. Ooma is seeing a 50% click-through-rate among prospects who get questions answered by Advocates.
5. Share your content and offers with their social networks, driving referral leads, clicks, and sales.
Outright Advocates love to share educational content such as a video about their Tax Resource Center. 43% of people in Advocates’ networks clicked through to watch the video.
6. Help you launch new products.
Outright energized their Advocates to help launch their new iPhone app. Advocate sharing drove the app to the Top 25 in the app store.
7. Create better ads than your high-priced ad agency and more compelling copy than your most skilled wordsmith.
One Anytime Fitness Advocate described the club as “the Cheers of fitness clubs.” Another Advocate wrote, “This club provides the keys to your future success…guaranteed!”
8. Defend your cherished company and brand reputation from detractors.
Auto-windshield repair company, Safelite, boosted ratings on SuperPages.com from 2.35 to 4 stars by energizing their Advocates to write reviews. Advocates gave Safelite an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars!
9. Alert you to competitive threats and market opportunities.
Outright Advocates alert the company when people post incorrect information about their software on the web.
10. Give you profitable ideas and produce feedback.
Outright created a Facebook group exclusively for their Advocates to provide feedback such as input on a new tagline.
You may spend millions of dollars on elaborate marketing campaigns. But there is nothing more powerful than a trusted recommendation from a Brand Advocate. In fact, Brand Advocate recommendations are the #1 influencer of purchase decisions in nearly every product category from smartphones to software, cars to computers, financial services to fitness memberships. Advocates’ love for you is no summer romance or brand fling. When you create and engage an Advocate, you’ve identified a renewable marketing asset you can leverage for years.
What You’ll Learn:
How to identify and energize your best customers (AKA Brand Advocates)
10 creative ways to leverage the enthusiasm of your best customers to drive positive Word of Mouth and sales
How to measure the impact of brand advocacy program
Andy heads social media for Anytime Fitness, the world’s largest fitness franchise. He’s particularly interested in how social transforms consumer experiences and expectations. In previous roles, he produced award-winning work at a Minneapolis agency, and spent a year teaching and traveling in Argentina. Andy is currently training for his 8th marathon and tweets at @agiefer.
Laura Messerschmitt, VP of Marketing, Outright, a Go Daddy company (@ljmesser)
Laura has over 10 years of experience working with small businesses at Deloitte Consulting, the Export-Import Bank, Intuit, and Outright. Her first job was in a small business (an after school tutoring program for young kids) and she’s still serving small businesses today at Outright, the online accounting solution for sole proprietors. Laura led Outright threw a tremendous growth period over the last year using advocacy and social marketing to drive acquisition. This culminated in the acquisition of Outright by Go Daddy in July 2012.
Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.”Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.
10 attendees will receive a copy of Rob’s new book, Brand Advocates
The nature of social media is that it’s driven by the behavior of consumers, whose decisions are in turn influenced by other people online. There’s never been much question that some web users have a stronger or broader influence on people’s decisions than others – the challenge for marketers has been to identify these web influencers, and in some cases attempt to influence them in a positive direction as it concerns their business. But how to measure influence, which only works if consumers allow themselves to be swayed?
Measurement tools have come into being to assign rankings to the influence of an individual, and most social platforms display metrics that purport to describe reach – but does a number of friends or followers aptly illustrate trust, admiration, respect, shared values and the other factors that really make up influence? A large follower number or high influencer score may not indicate meaningful influence over decisions in people’s personal or business lives. Or do they?
Join us to discuss the true meaning of web influence and how to measure it:
What do social technology platforms really measure?
Can one be influential without trying to be?
Is there a direct correlation between influence and marketing success?
How do consumers and marketers decide that someone is influential?
Karin Silk, VP of Marketing at Rubio’s Restaurants, Inc., is a proven marketing leader with expertise in building brands, creating andimplementing strategic growth plans, and innovation/new product development. Karin has 15 years ofexperience in traditional CPG brand marketing, restaurant marketing, and general management consulting.
Jay Baer (
Michael Brito (
Rob Fuggetta (
