The term strategic is tossed around all the time. We all want to be strategic. Tactical sounds so pedestrian, right? Some in customer marketing might view the customer reference management component as tactical. Respectfully, I vehemently disagree.
How does one become strategic and behave strategically in the context of customer reference management? It begins with how you view your program, which lets co-workers and executives know how they should view your program.
On the surface, what are the primary objectives of customer reference management?
These objectives are not just about supporting Sales. Far from it. The advocate database is a corporate asset that—built, used and maintained properly—improves any activity with the infusion of customer advocate experiences and insights (customer videos and quotes in campaigns, live presentations at conferences, sales calls, earnings calls, investor calls, etc.).
The reality is that most customer marketing managers must be both strategic and tactical simply because there are many teams of one out there. If that’s your situation, then think of the following as “hats” you wear, and not different people.
To act strategically you have to both understand your company’s growth goals and translate your program’s goals and tactical execution to align with those strategic goals.
How do you translate all of this to customer reference programs? Following is a list of key program aspects, and two program versions: one without strategic alignment (and therefore perceived value), the other with strategic alignment.
At a recent customer marketing conference, attendees were surveyed and asked about their career ambitions. Well over half had C-Suite positions in mind. To get there it’s important to start thinking like an executive in your customer marketing role, and developing that executive muscle now. It’s a form of training: think of it like you’re marathon training only for your career rather than a race. Once your strategic potential is recognized, doors will open and you’ll be on your way. But stay purely in the tactical space and you’ll simply be a best-kept secret.
As this infographic illustrates, a mature advocacy program is responsible for continuously identifying advocates, maintaining accurate advocacy data, protecting customer relationships, and aligning with top company goals to accelerate growth.
The infographic contains six key components. Here's a description of each for you to translate into your own talking points.
Every advocate starts as a customer.
The journey begins when account teams, customer success managers, support teams, and services organizations create positive experiences that build trust and confidence.
As customers achieve success, some become enthusiastic supporters of the company, its products, and its people. These customers are identified as potential advocates and introduced to the advocacy team.
The advocacy team interviews these individuals, learns about their experiences, captures important details about their interests and expertise, and creates a searchable advocate profile.
The result is a discoverable advocate: someone who can be found, matched, and engaged when the business needs credible customer voices.
Without this process, valuable customer relationships remain hidden inside co-workers’ heads or team spreadsheets, unavailable to the broader organization.
Great advocates are rarely discovered by the advocacy team alone. It’s really just too much to ask of any one part of the organization. Every customer touchpoint plays a part in cultivating and retaining advocates.
Customer success managers see customer enthusiasm firsthand. Account teams hear success stories during business reviews. Support teams witness customer loyalty. Product teams interact with passionate users who influence future direction.
A successful advocacy program creates a systematic way for all customer-facing teams to identify and nominate potential advocates, as well as a means for customers to self-identify..
Think of it as building a talent pipeline.
The broader the participation across the organization, the stronger and more diverse the advocate community becomes.
This collective effort ensures the advocacy database reflects the full spectrum of customer success stories across industries, products, geographies, and use cases.
The advocacy team serves as the steward of the organization's advocacy data.
Their responsibilities fall into three primary areas.
First, they recruit continuously. Advocates change jobs, priorities shift, and customer enthusiasm naturally evolves over time. Maintaining a healthy advocacy community requires constant replenishment.
Second, they keep information current. Customer stories, product deployments, business outcomes, and willingness to participate all change. Outdated advocacy data quickly becomes unreliable.
Third, they measure and report value. Advocacy programs must demonstrate their contribution to business outcomes such as customer acquisition, retention, and expansion.
Beyond maintaining records, the advocacy team actively shapes the composition of the database to align with company growth objectives. This is essential if the program is to be seen by executives as a strategic lever vs. a low-level function an intern can run.
If the company’s strategic direction includes expanding into healthcare, launching a new product, selling through a new channel, entering Asia, or targeting a specific buyer persona, the advocacy team ensures the advocate population evolves accordingly.
In many ways, they function as portfolio managers for one of the company's most valuable assets: customer credibility.
Most organizations initially think of advocacy as a sales resource.
Sales certainly benefits from customer references, but advocacy creates value far beyond the sales organization.
The common thread is credibility.
Advocates provide something no marketing budget can purchase directly: authentic proof from real customers.
Most mature advocacy programs include additional components that extend value for both advocates and the business.
These activities are connected mechanisms that strengthen relationships, increase engagement, and create additional opportunities for customers to contribute.
Together, they help transform advocacy from a transactional activity into an ongoing customer experience.
The ultimate purpose of customer advocacy is not activity.
It is business impact.
In Summary
Advocates are valuable assets. The advocacy team's job is to make sure those assets are available when needed, protected from burnout, and aligned with the organization's most important priorities.
When done well, customer advocacy transforms customer success into measurable business value. It is an enterprise capability built on trusted relationships, reliable data, and authentic customer voices.
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