BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL

ADVOCACY PROGRAM

Led-By Community + Talks and Pros Series + 4 June 2025

Hi there. I’m Brian. 👋

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I help brands engage their customers to increase satisfaction, lower costs, and generate more revenue through the power of community.

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Learn more at brianoblinger.com

25 YEARS OF SUCCESS WITH TOP BRANDS

I’ve spent over two decades helping enterprise brands leverage the power of community and CX to deliver value throughout their businesses. Wherever you’re going, I can get you there.

B2B COMMUNITY’S ERAS (BRIAN’S VERSION)

4

SUPPORT USE CASE FOUNDATION

“We have an advocacy program.”

— Brands that actually have a reference program

DEFINING “ADVOCACY PROGRAM”

A customer marketing program designed to cultivate, inspire, motivate, activate, recognize, and reward passionate and vocal supporters.

Successful programs are often exclusive in nature, focused on quality over quantity, and built around advocating for customers and their needs internally, in addition to outward-facing acts of advocacy.

Benefits to the business include brand awareness, credibility, content generation, product innovation, loyalty, and retention.

RELATED, BUT DIFFERENT

Members of customer programs often have differing motivations, behaviors, and expectations of what’s in it for them.

Some people may fit into all, some, or one, or none of these programs depending on their contributions.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that people that are vocal are advocates. What they’re vocal about really matters.

ADVOCATES DON’T WORK FOR US. WE WORK FOR THEM.

PUTTING ADVOCATES’ SUCCESS FIRST

Recommendation: Develop and measure a range of metrics that help us understand how we’re delivering on our promises to add value to Advocates

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# Media Requests

# Awards Received

# Careers Impacted

# On-Stage Features

# Success Stories Published

# Product Ideas Implemented

# CX Improvements Implemented

# Conference Speaking Engagements

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

0

20

40

60

80

100

ADVOCATE SUCCESS

Promoter

Detractor

Intrinsic

Extrinsic

Kate

NETWORKING

& MENTORS

Jaclyn

Greg

Chloe

Saxon

Piper

Laurie

Rick

Mook

Chloe

Saxon

Laurie

Rick

⬆️ Promoter, 🏅 Extrinsic

Availability: High

Activities: Conference Speaking, User Group Host, Media Requests

⬆️ Promoter, 💛 Intrinsic

Availability: Medium

Activities: Success Story, Knowledge Articles, Forum Solutions

⚖️ Neutral, 💛 Intrinsic

Availability: Low

Activities: Product Feedback, Internal Enablement, Speak At Roundtable

⚖️ Neutral, 🏅 Extrinsic

Availability: Medium

Activities: CX Feedback, Product Feedback, Forum Solutions

DISCOVERY, ELIGIBILITY, & MEMBERSHIP

Quality Over Quantity�Intentionally smaller, with a long-term outlook, geared toward more value, and sustainability

Avoid Devaluation and Politics�Don’t allow appointments based on sales events, personal relationships, or quid pro quo

Superusers vs. Advocates�Understand the difference between statistically significant and people that want to help us

Invite-Only�Create a “red velvet rope” experience that is coveted and artificially limited through cohorts

Merit-Based Criteria�Create an objective candidate scoring model that adds legitimacy and order to the process

Re-Qualification�Successful programs limit membership like airline frequent flyer programs to ensure quality

IDENTIFICATION

SELECTION

COMMON “ACTS OF ADVOCACY”

Content:

+ Success Story

+ Guest Blog Post

+ Knowledge Articles

+ Video Series

+ Contest Entry

+ Podcast Guest

+ Forum Solutions

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Events:

+ Hosts A User Group

+ Speak At User Group

+ Speak At Conference

+ Present At Booth

+ Speak On Webinar

+ Speak At Roundtable

+ On-Stage Feature

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Influence:

+ Analyst Call

+ Reference Call

+ Media Request

+ Promotional Feature

+ Internal Enablement

+ Product Feedback

+ CX Feedback

EXAMPLE: SUCCESS STORIES

• Made our customers the heroes!�
• Advocate reward & discovery device�
• Written by customers, for customers�
• Format: Problem > Solution > Impact�
• Rich with screenshots and workflow files that anyone can download�
• Connected to annual awards program

Alteryx | community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Success-Stories/tkb-p/use-cases

PROTECT YOUR ADVOCATES!

Challenge: Organizations tend to burn out Advocates with too many requests. They become targets for Sales teams, who are happy to use an them without any limitation. As the stewards of the program, we should not allow this

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Recommendation: Build a managed usage model, place clear and immovable limitations on how often we ask for things, and protect Advocates’ time fiercely

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Sample Usage Limitation Model:�((# Content Pieces * 3 Points) + (# Influence Activities * 2 Points)�+ (# Event Participation * 4 Points)) <= 6 Points in Last 90 Days

INFORM & INSPIRE

Freshworks | freshworks.com/champions-program/

Salesforce | trailhead.salesforce.com/mvp/

RECOGNIZE & REWARD

Microsoft | mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/mvp

Tableau | tableau.com/community/community-leaders/visionaries

SUMMARY: FROM REFERENCES TO ADVOCACY

• Rebalance the program charter to prioritize value for Advocates�
• Develop a persona-based approach to understanding and catering to diverse Advocate motivations�
• Expand the program to include multiple tracks for different Advocate types�
• Prioritize quality over quantity in Advocate identification and selection�
• Implement an invite-only selection process with merit-based criteria�
• Expand the list of activities and benefits for Advocates�
• Establish managed usage and clear limitations to protect Advocates' time�
• Refresh program promotion and communications to celebrate Advocates�
• Develop a measurement program inclusive of both Advocate and organizational success

ASK ME ANYTHING

Get these slides at brianoblinger.com/slides