Definition:
Advocacy marketing is the set of actions intended to make it easier for customers, employees or other connected people to voluntarily share favorable experiences and recommendations about a brand. Those who provide this support or recommendation are commonly called brand advocates.
In digital marketing, it may appear through reviews, testimonials, posts and conversations. It also includes direct recommendations outside the Internet. A company can listen to, recognize and facilitate these contributions, but it does not completely control what people say or turn every positive interaction into an authentic recommendation.
The term is related to brand advocacy, but is not equivalent to every recommendation activity. Referral marketing uses structured programs to incentivize or record referrals; influencer marketing usually involves a commercial collaboration with a creator. A campaign may combine these approaches, but a paid recommendation should not be presented as a spontaneous opinion.
Table of contents
Advocacy marketing strategies
An advocacy strategy begins with an experience that people consider worth recommending. Providing opportunities for participation may increase the chances that they share that experience, without guaranteeing favorable opinions or eliminating criticism.
These five approaches preserve the useful parts of the original examples while explaining their limits:
- Influencer relationships: collaborating with creators who know the product may expand the reach of an experience. Having followers does not by itself make someone a brand advocate, and a paid collaboration also belongs to influencer marketing.
- Gamification: gamification techniques may encourage participation through challenges, levels or recognition. Points and rewards do not ensure a sincere recommendation and may change the meaning of the behavior being measured.
- Employee advocacy: employees may share knowledge and experiences about the organization from their own perspective. Participation should be distinguished from mandatory corporate messages; working for the company does not guarantee a positive assessment either.
- Useful and shareable content: a guide, story or resource may make it easier for other people to distribute it. Virality and brand advocacy are different phenomena: sharing a piece of content does not demonstrate loyalty or automatically turn the user into an advocate.
- Customer experience and service: answering questions, fulfilling commitments and handling problems appropriately may encourage recommendations. Good service does not require a customer to publish a review or prevent different experiences from occurring.
When compensation, a free product, an employment relationship or another relevant connection exists, the commercial nature of the communication should be identifiable. The European Commission’s Influencer Legal Hub provides guidance on transparency in these communications. The specific obligation depends on the context and applicable law.
A company also needs to decide how to collect comments and respond to criticism. Advocacy marketing does not consist of selecting only positive opinions or asking people to conceal unfavorable experiences. Trust depends on contributions being recognizable and not manipulated.
Benefits of advocacy marketing
Recommendations can provide information and confidence to other people because they come from experiences attributed to customers, employees or members of a community. Their effect depends on the credibility of the person making the recommendation, the context and the actual quality of the offering.
These three possible contributions are not guaranteed results:
- Relationship and loyalty: listening to and recognizing participants may strengthen their connection with the brand. A single recommendation does not demonstrate retention, and loyalty also depends on the product, service and available alternatives.
- Reach and efficiency: reviews, testimonials and mentions may expand distribution beyond owned channels. They are not free advertising in every case: managing communities, providing support or incentivizing an action also requires resources.
- Brand image and social proof: other people’s experiences may contribute to social proof and help evaluate an offering. Accumulating positive opinions does not guarantee favorable perceptions if they appear inauthentic or do not represent comparable experiences.
Evaluation should separate activity from outcome. The number of mentions, reviews or shared pieces of content indicates participation, while referral traffic, conversions, retention and changes in reputation correspond to different objectives. A simultaneous increase in sales does not by itself demonstrate that recommendations caused it.
Reach and sentiment should also be distinguished. A critical conversation may generate extensive distribution, while a small community may produce recommendations that are relevant to a specific audience. Advocacy marketing facilitates relationships and third-party contributions, but cannot guarantee sales, profitability or control over brand image.