Marketing

6 Ways to Leverage and Empower Brand Ambassadors

September 3, 2014

Many successful B2B software companies leverage customer-led events and campaigns to build and grow their brand. Two big ones that immediately come to mind are Salesforce.com and Rackspace. So why then are many startups hesitant to follow suit? One reason is that startup executive teams are typically preoccupied with the fear of asking too much of their customers and driving them away. They allow that fear to distract them from seeing the bigger picture. And that’s a big mistake.
The fact is customer brand promotion is one of the most effective ways to market. And startups, in particular, are well positioned to recruit brand ambassadors, due to the nature of their typical buyers.
Remember, investing in startup technology is a risk in itself. Your buyers each actively decided to take a chance on your solution rather than stick with the status quo or go with a more established brand or product. Not only are they invested in seeing your business succeed — for one thing, it will reflect positively on their decision to adopt your technology — they are also often true believers in your brand. Consequently, they’re already primed to be transformed into brand ambassadors as long as they have positive experiences.

6 Effective Ways to Make Most of Brand Ambassadors

1) Invite Them to Speak at a Conference

Not only can asking a customer to speak on behalf of your company at a conference or having them present at a breakout solidify your relationship, it can also be extremely effective. After all, prospects prefer to hear about a product and it’s benefits through the eyes of other users. The key is making an un-staged interaction between the customer and prospect. A couple of effective ways to do this are:

  • Letting a customer freely speak about their experiences. If you have a customer who has leveraged your purchase to grow within the company, that can be an especially effective angle to highlight. Prospects find it easy to relate to personal stories.
  • Asking a customer to talk about the role that your product played in their broader strategy, and giving them a chance to see under the hood and see/experience your key differentiators.

2) Host a Customer Road Show

This involves setting up mini-conferences across the highest density areas of your market and having one or more customers speak with prospects. The key to success with a road show is finding a way to recruit attendees for these events. Mashery, an alma mater from the OpenView portfolio, leveraged its business development callers to recruit attendees for these types of events and was very effective at getting people to attend. Fair warning: If you fail to adequately recruit prospects for these events, it can lead to the customer ambassador losing interest in participating.

3) Leverage Them as Mid-Sales Process Customer References

Leveraging calls with currently successful customers at key hurdle points can be a very effective means of getting prospects to move through later stages of funnel.

4) Feature Them in Customer Experience Videos on Your Website

Short video interviews can be another great way to get customers to share their experience, and one that’s potentially less expensive to coordinate. You can also easily film customer speeches at events and host them on your website.

5) Tell Their Story in a Case Study

This one is obvious, but it’s also tried and proven. See this post for a quick how-to guide on creating compelling case studies that convert.

6) Create a Customer Corner on Your Website

Dedicate it to content produced by your customers directed to prospects or to connecting and interacting with fellow customers. Remember, prospects love to hear about experiences from your current customers. It helps them get comfortable with taking the risk of working with a startup, and, most importantly, it demonstrates that your company sees your customers as partners, and is engaged in ensuring that they realize the value of your technology.

Bottom Line

Don’t be afraid of asking your best customers to become brand ambassadors. If your company has fulfilled its brand commitment and has provided your best customers a voice, they will typically be willing to promote your brand in one way or another.

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Image by Dan Markeye

Marketing Manager, Pricing Strategy

<strong>Brandon Hickie</strong> is Marketing Manager, Pricing Strategy at <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a>. He previously worked at OpenView as Marketing Insights Manager. Prior to OpenView Brandon was an Associate in the competition practice at Charles River Associates where he focused on merger strategy, merger regulatory review, and antitrust litigation.