1. Smart Partner Advocacy

2. Foundational Marketing Topics
Buyer personas & best clients
The buyer’s journey
Competitive differentiators
Value propositions and elevator pitches
How to tell your story
Content marketing
Advocacy
Build your marketing plan

3. Advocacy: Make your clients the heroes of your marketing

4. Advocacy is the cherry on top
Advocacy is the cherry on top. It is the fruition of the engagement and satisfying experience you provide to your clients.

5. Advocacy as a strategy Advocacy is a stimulus
Create a culture of excellence
Advocates can help in many ways
Case studies and client success stories
Speaking at community and industry events
Press releases and publicity
Participate in advisory boards or events

6. References & testimonials
A customer who is willing to talk with a prospect about you, your solution, and their experience with you
Testimonial:
A short written statement attesting to the quality of your service or product, and their experience with you
Acme Partners helped us…

7. Testimonial example
“Acme Marketing helped us take an already functioning marketing program and add structure, focus and discipline to its raw edges.
We have been executing the plan they helped us develop and are now seeing our business grow.”
– Kevin Abel, CEO, Abel Solutions

8. How to get references and testimonials
Simply ask
What to do if client time is an objection?
What to do with an inexperienced client?
Overcoming legal objections

9. Case studies What is a case study? How many do I need?
Description of the client company
Challenges they faced
Your solution
Results and business impact
How many do I need?
You can’t have enough

10. Case study best practices
Ask for a case study as part of your contract
Should be a natural part of your project
Ask at the start of a project
Be prepared to ask several clients
Show examples
Be prepared for a longer process than expected

11. Speaking opportunities
Why are speaking opportunities important?
Positive Exposure
Thought Leadership
Credibility
Venues
Live audience
Community events
Webinars using tools such as Skype for Business, WebEx, Go-to-Meeting

12. Free publicity opportunities
What is “the press”?
On-line and physical media
Newspapers, magazines, blogs, articles
The press looks for positive stories
Innovative new products
Unusual and brilliant solutions
Client success stories
Community & charitable activities

13. Review Advocacy focuses on the client’s success
Great experiences should lead to them advocating
There are many ways for them to participate
These are very powerful tools to use with prospects
Identify and ask clients to participate