A big shift in marketing is coming – here’s how you can navigate it

Tuesday was a major day for Mention Me as we hosted Advocacy Engineered, the world’s leading event for marketers ready to activate the transformational power of their brand fans.

With speakers including inventor of the NPS, Fred Reichheld (pictured with me above), founder of NotOnTheHighStreet Holly Tucker, former CEO of Amazon UK Brian McBride, CEO of GiffGaff Ash Schofield and other big names, the day was packed full of industry-leading insights into how the 250 senior marketers in attendance can revolutionise their marketing to drive exponential business growth.

Pictured above: The 250+ senior marketers at Advocacy Engineered

Revealing The Customer Advocacy Gap

Shaking up the world of marketing has never been so crucial. From over-dependance on Google, Facebook and Amazon, to huge increases in customer acquisition costs (CAC) and the unpredictability of these returns, the challenges facing marketers are at an all-time high. 

It’s something we’ve dug into ourselves. Last month, we worked with market research company OnePoll to survey 2,000 consumers and 500 senior marketers on everything from the most trusted advertising channels, to what drives repeat purchases and brand recommendations. 

Our findings revealed a stark gap between what consumers want, and what marketers think they want.

A gap we’ve coined The Customer Advocacy Gap. You can read our full findings in our new flagship report here, launched during the event.

For now, I’ll share the key headline with you: 96% of senior marketers are overlooking the advertising channel most trusted by consumers.

That’s right. Despite referral emerging as the most trusted marketing channel – voted into top spot by 40% of consumers – just 4% of senior marketers are investing most in it. 

Essentially, consumers trust referral 10x more than marketers are investing in it.

And that wasn’t the only gap we found. 96% of senior marketers believe referral is an important marketing channel. 

So if consumers trust referral more than any other advertising, and marketers know it’s effective, why aren’t more brands investing bigger budgets into it?

Pictured above: Mention Me's Head of Brand Sophia King launches The Customer Advocacy Gap report

How brands can win in the times ahead

I believe there are a number of reasons marketers continue to overlook their own customers as their most powerful marketing channel: a short-term focus and dependence on the status quo being the most salient ones.

But continuing to rely on the wildly fluctuating returns of paid social and search is a doomed strategy. 

To survive the times ahead, brands must shift their focus from short-term tactics to an advocacy-first approach.

By genuinely putting your customers first, you'll create a brand that customers love and rave about to their friends. They’ll spend more with you and cost less to acquire.  

Getting this right is the holy grail of ecommerce and online businesses.

That’s why our vision is to make all brands think advocacy-first. 

It’s something a number of our clients are already doing. Through working with 500+ brands, we’ve seen first-hand the loyal relationships that build with your customers and the significant revenue it drives. But there is still so much to do.

For those yet to adopt this mindset, there’s a huge opportunity ahead. Together, we can better understand where your business is today, to get referral going and to identify where the opportunities are to increase customer love and advocacy – and ultimately win in your space.

Pictured above: Mention Me's CPO Roy Robinson presents our latest product innovation

Driving a shift to advocacy-first thinking

If you attended Advocacy Engineered, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. If you couldn’t make it, we’ll be sharing plenty of follow-up content, so keep your eyes peeled for that. 

For now, all that’s left to say is a big thank you to the Mention Me team. 

Tuesday saw us host an incredible group of advocacy experts and marketing leaders. We revealed our biggest product development yet – ground-breaking technology based on machine-learning –  and how it’ll empower brands to harness the exponential power of their fans (our CPO Roy pictured presenting this above). And we launched our new flagship report, The Customer Advocacy Gap.

It was a proud day – and there’s still so much more to come.