I recently sat down with Kevin Lau, a respected visionary in the world of Customer Marketing & Advocacy who continues to challenge ideas about what these programs could look like, what they can achieve, and what’s next. He’s currently Vice President of Customer Engagement at Freshworks.
For those new to Customer Marketing & Advocacy, and for anyone interested in learning more about Kevin, we’ll start with an introduction and then delve into a discussion about the evolution of customer advocacy in industries beyond B2B technology, as well as opportunities and how to navigate challenges.
A: I came across advocacy a little bit by accident. Right out of college I got into social media marketing before it was seen as a viable way to drive brand traffic and visibility. You could see companies starting to build audiences and it informed my ideas about relationship marketing. Suddenly there were ways to engage people more easily one-to-one or one-to-many.
I started to do more work in communities, including cultivating spaces for groups of people to engage around products or services that they felt passionate about. At first I was looking at getting feedback and measuring sentiment, positive or negative. But it was also clear that there was an opportunity to elevate what some customers were doing.
Along the way, I honed skills at industry leaders like Adobe, Google, and others, as well as tech startups. It shaped my current view of Customer Marketing and what’s possible for companies and for customers.
A: At Freshworks, my team supports all phases of the customer journey, from initial awareness and discovery when prospects research and look for evidence up to sales references and deal closing. But that’s only part of what we do. A lot of our focus is on post-sales, like how do you ensure a customer sees the immediate and long-term value of working with us while also feeling part of a well-informed, supportive community.
There are several strategies, or pillars, that go into making this happen. Some of the main ones are:
A: They might not call it Advocacy but that’s what it is. It could be Activation or Retention or Communities, but it all falls into a bigger umbrella of Customer Marketing & Advocacy. Other industries often come at it more from improving CSAT and NPS.
One thing that can naturally flow from customer satisfaction is advocacy, if Marketing and Sales leaders share a vision of how to make that happen. It’s all about fostering an environment for customer evangelism.
It’s evident in things like Sports and Gaming, where passionate communities regularly come together and are encouraged to do so by companies that donate resources and spaces to make it happen. But it’s also taking shape in Healthcare, Financial Services, Travel, and other industries trying to cultivate communities of like-minded people to get behind their brands and services.
Influencers are already common in many of these industries. But that’s just one element of advocacy. Companies need to find meaningful and fun ways to engage customers and keep them excited. Advocacy and loyalty are synonymous in many ways.
While companies often resort to price cutting or new features to win over customers, we know from the real-world that passion for a brand can often have nothing or little to do with that.
No matter the industry, you need to think about how you create experiences tailored to the needs and interests of your main audience or audiences. It doesn’t always have to be big global events. A lot can be accomplished in small, well-thought-out community engagements. When you can identify advocates and bring them together, you can begin amplifying their voices.
A: It always comes down to considering the human element. You need to be clear on your company’s goals but also consider what’s in it for the advocate. Would you be interested in being an advocate in your own program?
A lot of companies start programs that focus only on why they need Customer Marketing & Advocacy but fail to also build it with their customers in mind. Some questions to consider from a customer’s perspective are:
Like us, our customer advocates are juggling busy careers and family demands. Ultimately, they are doing us a favor and we need to make it worthwhile. It’s not about paying for advocates but giving people avenues to network, build and advance their careers, and showcase their expertise to more people. These all go a long way to making participation mutually beneficial.
You want to create an environment where individuals, whether manager-level or senior executives, can thrive.
A: What’s been really exciting and satisfying to see is just how much people rally behind the human element. It’s not just about a story or information. It’s about people sharing and connecting with each other. You can see this in any industry when advocates share publicly.
It’s also been fascinating to see the impact inside of companies. In addition to sales and marketing, if you can bring your employees in HR, Engineering, Finance, Operations, and other areas closer to your customers, it can transform how they approach their work. They can actually see that they are doing work that has a positive impact on people’s lives. It brings that essential human element to why we do what we do. It can help employees find more meaning in what they do.
A: We need to talk about AI. There’s huge disruption going on, whether we’re looking at content or new ways to engage advocates. All of these things continue to change as we use AI in different ways to identify potential advocates, connect with them, and tell stories.
Interestingly, the move to AI makes Customer Marketing & Advocacy more important than ever. People crave human connections. That’s not something that will go away, no matter how many processes we automate. This is where our work becomes even more vital.
If we can use AI to handle more of the administration and project management part of what we have to do, and spend more time nurturing advocate relationships and activating communities, then the impact of advocacy will increase even further.
We absolutely need to remember that we’re in this with our customers and that our customers aren’t just in this for us. If we remember that, then we’ll all be better off. It’s exciting to see what we can co-create by listening to our customers and building programs that benefit them and us.
Kevin is a customer marketing and advocacy expert with 14+ years of experience in leading and executing customer-led growth initiatives across various industries and markets. He is currently the Global Vice President of Customer Marketing at Freshworks, a leading provider of cloud-based customer and employee engagement software.
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