At GTC we are always stressing the implementation of a solid client advocacy program. Any client of ours that has sat down with us in the past few months to discuss their marketing can attest to this. They’re probably sick of us asking about it too. We have found that our efforts online work the best when we help our clients with what they are doing offline as well.
It started from there. Our amazing business coach instilled the idea of customer advocacy in our company practices and we are passing on our learned knowledge to others. Up until now, we have just been helping our current clients put together a plan for their own customer advocacy program and leaving it for them to execute. After months of hounding these clients about their actions toward this goal (you know who you are) we asked ourselves; why we couldn’t offer our assistance in putting those plans into action?
We already have a lot of the tools in place using our proprietary CLICKS systems which can generate checklists for each of our clients depending on their industry and other variables. This system is going to be the key in us climbing the client advocacy ladder as well.
It’s almost impossible for us to think that a company can handle a successful customer advocacy program with the staff they currently have. Putting together the systems to harness your current happy customers, keeping them happy, and turning them into advocates for your business, can be a great resource in taking your business to another level but having the time to run the systems can be a challenge.
Now, after numerous focus groups and taking a good look at what has made us successful in the past year, we are putting together a new division of our company offering a fully personalized customer advocacy program that is both planned and implemented by us, leveraging your current customer base.
The best form of marketing will always be word of mouth. We are still believers of SEO and web traffic and that it can be a great way to collect new business but we know that some of the better leads come from referrals. The best customers are going to be the repeat customers that you have made raving fans of your business.
Customer advocacy can and should be tied into your web marketing. If you have a press release go out about something exciting that happened within the company, let us tell your customers and tell them where to find it online. It’s things like that that can boost your online presence as well.
In conclusion, the best way to grow your business is to make sure you have a great customer service plan in place and supplement that with customer advocacy to stay in front of those happy customers. Think about what it is that you want for your business and then think about what your potential customers are looking for. We want to help you not only on the web, but from within your company as well.
Stephan Boehringer is the CEO of Get The Clicks, a web marketing company. Stephan has over 20 years of experience in the field of web marketing, and has been a speaker and consultant for many years. Stephan is passionate about web marketing and helping their clients be the best they can be.
Stephan Boehringer graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.
