Why Should Brands Embrace Advocate Marketing?

According to a Nielsen study in 2021, “88% of people most trust recommendations from people they know.” This statistic alone underscores the immense potential of word-of-mouth marketing. The people often found at the heart of these influential recommendations are brand advocates. These can be customers, influencers, employees, partners, and others with a genuine affinity for your brand. There are many compelling reasons why advocate marketing has emerged as an indispensable tool for businesses, helping them enhance their brand visibility, foster customer loyalty, and drive sales growth.

Advocate marketing encourages satisfied customers and other advocates to share their appreciation for a brand and its products and motivate others to purchase them. Advocate marketing helps brands generate conversations about their products through consumers’ and advocates’ social media posts, reviews, and direct communication with other future consumers. 

The benefits of advocate marketing

Brands should embrace advocate marketing for several reasons. Advocate marketing is important for brands because it can attract new customers at a lower cost. Thanks to the user-generated content (UGC) created by social media users organically promoting products, advocate marketing can help brands gain new customers at a 20-50% lower cost than traditional advertising.

Advocate marketing also enhances brand credibility. People trust personal recommendations more than traditional advertising, making brand advocates incredibly valuable. It also effectively amplifies brand visibility. Advocates willingly share their positive experiences with their networks, organically expanding a brand’s reach.

Advocate marketing also fosters customer loyalty. Customers engaged enough to advocate for a brand will likely remain loyal, enhancing customer retention. Plus, thanks to programs like those on Zuberance’s platform, customers can ask questions, provide feedback and get support, making them more likely to remain satisfied with brands. The rewards that Zuberance Advocacy Hub members can earn also help keep them happy and engaged, enhancing loyalty.

Advocate marketing programs can also provide valuable customer insights. Brand advocates can offer constructive feedback and unique perspectives that can help improve products or services.

Unlike loyalty marketing, where the primary goal is driving repeat sales, advocate marketing aims to drive advocacy, or positive word-of-mouth, user-generated content and referral sales. Another key difference is that loyalty programs motivate customers through discounts, while advocate marketing can encourage action via gift cards, freebies, discounts and more.