More and more companies are implementing strategies and systems to leverage influencers to become marketing and brand allies, with great success. Whether it is through content marketing, social media or word of mouth, oftentimes employees are the best brand advocates. This article will focus on:
1. Why employees are a good sales and marketing channel
2. What employees can do to drive sales and marketing productivity
3. The benefits of activating and automating employees to become brand advocates
4. Why now?
1) There are many reasons why employees have the potential to be a powerful sales and marketing channel for your brand. First, in today’s connected world, employees can often use their strong voices to reach their social networks on behalf of the brand. Typically, employees are very knowledgeable about the brand’s products and services and many of them are passionate about the company. They can influence their peers and drive the brand’s message.
Buyers look to trusted sources before making purchases. Employees will reach out to their social networks to spread a brand’s message, especially if they are encouraged and enabled to do so.
2) Employees do many things that are important for the brand. They can:
- Refer their friends.
- Recruit new hires and great talent
- Amplify marketing messages
- Forward content about new products and promotions
- Write testimonials
They can even do these things at scale.
3) The benefits are impressive. Leads are the lifeblood of all companies, and by enabling and encouraging employees to refer their friends, brands can:
- Build brand awareness and a positive reputation
- Generate the highest quality leads – leads that drive new customer acquisition
- Elevate higher levels of employee enthusiasm and loyalty to the company
- Save money and lower risks when compared to traditional advertising and marketing initiatives.
4) Why now? Although employee advocacy isn’t a new concept, it used to be an operational nightmare to create and manage these programs. Today’s technology has made it easy for administrators to set up, support and manage advocacy programs. Technology makes it easy to:
- Enroll employees into the program
- Provide employees the tools to easily reach out to their networks
- Track and manage the workflows and controls so brands can measure results
- Automate the process of brands thanking and nurturing employees for their contributions so they continue to advocate on behalf of the brand
This is not a future pipedream. Mobilizing employees, customers and 3rd party influencers to leverage their trusted relationships is happening everywhere because it is smart business: they are the sales and marketing channels of the future.
This guest post was written by Dick Beedon, CEO of Amplifinity.
Reprinted by permission.