The Marketing Power of Brand Advocates

A rock star collection of mind-blowing stats about your most enthusiastic customers (AKA Brand Advocates.)

Use Your Advocates’ Reviews as Marketing Copy

CDW’s Senior Segment Marketing Manager, Lauren McCadney, on Advocate reviews: You can hire the best copywriter, but they’ll never beat an Advocate when it comes to authenticity. (Clip taken at the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series.)

How JetBlue Built Long Lasting Relationships on Their 10^th Birthday

If you want to make an impact on someone, and create Brand Advocates, do something unexpected and delightful.  For example, what if you were to give away gifts on your birthday? 

That’s exactly what JetBlue did on its 10th anniversary, as Morgan Johnston, Corporate Communication Manager, explains in this clip taken at the New York Brand Advocacy Series.

How Do You Energize Brand Advocates?

At the New York Brand Advocacy Series, attendees and panelists were asked, “How do you energize Word of Mouth?” Here are their answers.

The Adventures of Brand Advocate Man

It’s a bird..it’s a plane..no, it’s BRAND ADVOCATE MAN! Watch the story of how Brand Advocate Man helped a struggling marketer energize her Advocates and become a social marketing Superhero!

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

The recording below is from our recent webinar, “3 Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Three Travel and Hospitality Companies are Increasing Sales and Ratings by Leveraging Their Brand Advocates” featuring social marketing success stories from Rubio’s, Tryp by Wyndham, and Qatar Airways. The speaker was Founder/CEO of Zuberance, Rob Fuggetta (@robfuggetta).

Key Takeaways:

• Brand Advocate definition: Highly-satisfied customers and others who pro-actively recommend brands or products without being paid.
• Brand Advocates are a different breed- They are 2X more active content creators and 4X more likely to share great product experiences.
• On average, 50% of a company’s customers are Brand Advocates.
• Identify your brand’s Advocates by asking The Ultimate Question: On a scale from 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our brand or products to your friends? (9′s and 10′s are Advocates.)
• Advocate marketing has a sales conversion rate of 5% or higher compared to traditional marketing at less than 1%.
• Rubio’s Advocates have created over 3,800 Yelp reviews and shared 60,000 offers with their social networks.
• 41% of Tryp’s Advocates recommended the hotel by creating reviews. The average start rating was 4.7 stars out of 5.
• 43% of Qatar Airway’s Advocates actively recommend the airline. Qatar Airways is seeing an 80% click-through rate on Advocate stories that were shared with their social networks.

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

The recording below is from our recent webinar, “5 Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Five Software Companies are Increasing Sales and Positive Word of Mouth by Mobilizing Their Brand Advocates” featuring social marketing success stories from Intuit, Microsoft, NetApp, Webroot, and Symantec. The speaker was Founder/CEO of Zuberance, Rob Fuggetta (@robfuggetta).

Key Takeaways:

• Brand Advocate definition: Highly-satisfied customers and others who pro-actively recommend brands or products without being paid.
• Brand Advocates are a different breed- They are 2X more active content creators and 4X more likely to share great product experiences.
• On average, 50% of a company’s customers are Brand Advocates.
• Identify your brand’s Advocates by asking The Ultimate Question: On a scale from 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our brand or products to your friends? (9′s and 10′s are Advocates.)
• Advocate marketing has a sales conversion rate of 5% or higher compared to traditional marketing at less than 1%.
• Webroot Advocates have created 5,500 reviews and rated their security software an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
• NetApp is seeing an 80% in-bound click rate from offers shared by their Advocates to their social networks.
• Intuit has identified a brand army of 30,000 Advocates. 11,000 Intuit Advocates. have recommended Intuit through reviews and offer sharing.
• For a particular campaign, 96% of Microsoft SMB’s Advocates shared an offer with their Facebook friends.
• Norton’s sales jumped $25 million and their ratings doubled on Amazon after energizing Norton Advocates.

To learn more about the benefits of energizing Brand Advocates, download our whitepaper, “The ROI of Energizing Brand Advocates.”

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

The recording below is from our recent webinar, “3 Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Three Health and Fitness Companies are Increasing Sales and Positive Word of Mouth by Leveraging Their Brand Advocates” featuring social marketing success stories from 24 Hour Fitness, Club One, and Anytime Fitness. The speaker was Founder/CEO of Zuberance, Rob Fuggetta (@robfuggetta).

Key Takeaways:

• Brand Advocate definition: Highly-satisfied customers and others who pro-actively recommend brands or products without being paid.
• Brand Advocates are a different breed- They are 2X more active content creators and 4X more likely to share great product experiences.
• On average, 50% of a company’s customers are Brand Advocates.
• Identify your brand’s Advocates by asking The Ultimate Question: On a scale from 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our brand or products to your friends? (9′s and 10′s are Advocates.)
• Advocate marketing campaigns yield an 86% click-through rate vs. 5% for traditional marketing.
• Club One has identified 8,800 Advocates who have shared over 16,000 Club One offers with their social networks.
• Anytime Fitness has energized their brand army to share over 1,000 offers driving trials and memberships.
• 24 Hour Fitness has mobilized their 90,000 Advocates to publish over 2,600 reviews to Yelp.

To learn more about how Fitness companies are turning their Brand Advocates into a marketing force, download our whitepaper, “Club One Gets 9X ROI by Energizing Brand Advocates.”

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

Club One, an award-winning health club management company based in San Francisco, is boosting its referral leads and sales by activating its Zuberance-powered Brand Advocates.

In this new 60-second video, Club One Director of Marketing & PR Kari Bedgood shares how Club One is getting more memberships and amplifying positive Word of Mouth.

Check it out:

Some key results from Club One’s advocacy program:

• 61% of members surveyed identified themselves as Club One Advocates.
• 50% of Club One Advocates shared offers (a 14-day pass) with their friends and colleagues via email, Facebook, and Twitter.
• Club One received a 9X ROI from the program based on membership revenues.

Download the Club One Case Study now.

When most people think of brands that have thousands of enthusiastic fans, they typically think of popular “passion” brands like Apple, BMW, or Starbucks. Well, now you can add Safelite AutoGlass to that list.

Safelite AutoGlass® is the nation’s leading provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services.

In only a few months, Safelite has created a thriving army of over 50,000 Safelite Advocates. These Advocates are enthusiastically recommending Safelite via positive reviews and glowing testimonials, driving thousands of referral clicks and dramatically boosting Safelite’s Facebook fan base.

Authentic Advocates

Importantly, Safelite is not paying or providing financial incentives to its Advocates in exchange for their recommendations. Instead, Safelite is making it easy for its enthusiastic customers to recommend the Safelite brand and its services, using Zuberance’s online advocacy system.

“By energizing Safelite AutoGlass Advocates, we’re amplifying positive Word of Mouth, demonstrating our commitment to customer delight and driving sales in a very cost-effective way,” said Jennifer L. Kielmeyer, strategic marketing manager for Safelite.

“Safelite has always known they have highly-satisfied customers who recommend the company. However, Safelite wasn’t leveraging these customers to increase positive awareness and drive sales. Now, powered by Zuberance, Safelite is transforming its Advocates into a sustainable marketing force,” said Rob Fuggetta, Founder and CEO of Zuberance.

(Read full press release here.)

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

3 Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Three Hotels are Increasing Sales and Ratings by Leveraging Their Brand Advocates

Date: Thursday, December 15, 2011

Time: 11:00 AM PST/2:00 PM EST

Join the conversation on Twitter: #zuberance

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW

Hotels and resorts spend billions on marketing and sales promotions trying to lure travelers to their properties and keep them coming back through loyalty reward programs. However, an influential and powerful segment that is often overlooked is Brand Advocates. The value of energizing Brand Advocates goes beyond loyalty. Brand Advocates are highly satisfied customers that pro-actively recommend your properties to their social networks online and offline. Mobilizing Brand Advocates turns your enthusiastic guests into a cost-effective marketing force, boosting ratings and reviews and driving sales.

Register now to attend this free webinar featuring real-world success stories from:

• Motel 6
• Tryp by Wyndham
• Atlantis

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify and energize your best customers (AKA Brand Advocates)
• Boost ratings and increase positive reviews on TripAdvisor and other review sites
• Generate leads and drive sales via social media
• Measure the impact of mobilizing Brand Advocates

All participants will receive a free whitepaper, “How Hotels Can Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.”

Expert Speaker: Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance (@robfuggetta)

Rob Fuggetta, the founder and CEO of Zuberance, has more than 20 years of experience in Word of Mouth marketing, His WOM strategies have created marketing success for Apple, Intuit, Norton, and many others. Fuggetta is a frequent speaker and author of an upcoming book, “Energize! How to Turn Social Media & Word of Mouth into Sales by Energizing Brand Advocates.”

REGISTER NOW

5 Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Five Software Companies are Increasing Sales and positive Word of Mouth by Mobilizing their Brand Advocates

Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Time: 11:00 AM PST/2:00 PM EST

Join the conversation on Twitter: #zuberance

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW

Word of Mouth is the “world’s most powerful sales tool,” according to Nielsen. In fact, many software companies get more than half their business from Word of Mouth. In today’s social-media-connected world, the voice of your customers on blogs, social networks, and third party review sites such as Amazon is more influential than ever. But how do software marketers harness the power of social media and Word of Mouth to drive sales and positive reviews?

Register now to attend this free webinar featuring real-world success stories from:

• Intuit
• Microsoft
• Webroot
• NetApp
• Corel

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify and energize your best customers (AKA Brand Advocates)
• Boost ratings and increase positive reviews on Amazon and other review sites
• Generate leads and drive sales via social media
• Measure the impact of mobilizing Brand Advocates

All participants will receive a free whitepaper, “The ROI of Energizing Brand Advocates.”

Expert Speaker: Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance (@robfuggetta)

Rob Fuggetta, the founder and CEO of Zuberance, has more than 20 years of experience in Word of Mouth marketing, His WOM strategies have created marketing success for Apple, Intuit, Norton, and many others. Fuggetta is a frequent speaker and author of an upcoming book, “Energize! How to Turn Social Media & Word of Mouth into Sales by Energizing Brand Advocates.”

REGISTER NOW

3 Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Three Health and Fitness Companies are Increasing Sales and Positive Word of Mouth by Leveraging Their Brand Advocates

Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Time: 11:00 AM PST/2:00 PM EST

Join the conversation on Twitter: #zuberance

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW

Word of Mouth is the “world’s most powerful sales tool,” according to Nielsen. In fact, most health and fitness companies get more than half their business from Word of Mouth referrals. In today’s social-media-connected world, the voice of your members on blogs, social networks, and third party review sites such as Yelp is more influential than ever. But how do health and fitness marketers harness the power of social media and Word of Mouth to drive sales and positive reviews?

Register now to attend this free webinar featuring real-world success stories from:

• 24 Hour Fitness
• Club One
• Anytime Fitness

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify and energize your best customers (AKA Brand Advocates)
• Boost ratings and increase positive reviews on Yelp and other review sites
• Generate referral leads and drive sales via social media
• Measure the impact of mobilizing Brand Advocates

All participants will receive a free whitepaper, “Club One Gets 9X ROI by Energizing Brand Advocates.”

Expert Speaker: Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance (@robfuggetta)

Rob Fuggetta, the founder and CEO of Zuberance, has more than 20 years of experience in Word of Mouth marketing, His WOM strategies have created marketing success for Apple, Intuit, Norton, and many others. Fuggetta is a frequent speaker and author of an upcoming book, “Energize! How to Turn Social Media & Word of Mouth into Sales by Energizing Brand Advocates.”

REGISTER NOW