Back to the customer journey blog series
It was a year ago when I published the last post in this customer journey blog series. YIKES! A lot has happened in our world and in my own life over the past twelve months. I’ve worked with new clients, taught new classes and discovered new award-winning and ground-breaking marketing campaigns. Speaking of marketing, this is a quiet, thoughtful time of year for me. I am on break from teaching, so I have the opportunity to think deeply about my field of study as I sit back and breathe deeply.
Right now, I am listening to marketing podcasts, but mainly embracing summer with my family. So far, we’ve spent a lot of time on the beach, paddled our kayaks, and ridden our bikes around a bunch of towns here on the North Shore of Boston where we live. We’re gathering with our extended family to celebrate graduations and birthdays and spending time on and in the water and hearing live music with friends. I love being surrounded by my people! Their perspectives are so valuable to me. My people have a deep impact on my thinking and decision making. Do you feel the same? We mustn’t forget that our “target audience” in marketing is made up of human beings like you and me. And they have human support systems who become key advisors in their buying decisions.
Advocacy’s role in the customer journey
In my experience, focusing on the voice of your customer is vital to your success as a marketer. Thinking about their journey with your organization puts their voice into context. I continue to hold to the same simplified customer journey stages inspired by Hubspot. My version includes Awareness, Consideration, Decision and Advocacy stages.
In awareness, with a welcoming tone, we’re telling our target audience that we understand their problem, sharing who we are and how we can help them. For a deep dive into awareness campaigns, have a look at my awareness post. In the next stage, consideration, marketers invite target audience members to engage more closely with their organizations and take a step closer. When target audience members reach the decision stage, we invite them to act. Here’s my post that covers that vital stage in the journey where the target audience member actually BECOMES a customer. And this post is about the final, crucial stage in the customer journey – advocacy.
Advocacy can be performed by prospects or customers at any stage in their relationship with your organization. If those people are inspired and have the tools, they’ll spread the positive word about your organization and this can enhance all stages of the customer journey. Positive word of mouth (or WOM, as it is sometimes abbreviated) can increase awareness, improve consideration and drive decision-making. You see, your target audience members are always more attuned to what people like them are saying about your organization. This is why WOM is gold!
An award-winning advocacy campaign from Dove
Marketing thought leaders like Mark Schaefer tell us that we can’t rely upon advertising to reach our target audience, and WOM is a vital channel for us to embrace in our marketing. But sometimes, when a brand commits to supporting people and backing that support up with donations, an ad that shares this message can ignite WOM. WOM may come in the shape of social media mentions or through traditional outlets in the form of earned media. This is what happened in Dove’s 2022 award-winning #CourageIsBeautiful campaign.
In the #CourageIsBeautiful campaign, Dove curated user generated selfies of health care workers with severe mask marks on their faces and brought us an emotional tribute to front line workers during the COVID pandemic. The emotional response from audience members of the ad drove hundreds of thousands of hashtag mentions and billions in earned impressions, including earned media coverage from outlets like CNN, The Today Show and Glamour magazine.
A client’s advocacy campaign
I recently completed a media-based advocacy project for a client and we are looking forward to seeing our results once the project launches to the public. The project celebrates everyday people, organizations and their stories. All stories include the work of the target audience of my client. So – can your organization give your target audience not only the tools (like a hashtag, an emotional video) but the passion to advocate for you? Have you recently completed an awesome advocacy campaign? I’d love to hear about it!
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Have a wonderful summer!
Hester
Hester Tinti-Kane is the founder and CEO of Marketing Strategy Leader. She’s an award-winning, strategic marketing leader with deep experience in digital communications strategy.