Our manifesto for building customer advocates in B2B. Four steps to build customers into passionate brand advocates.

1. BUILDING CUSTOMER
ADVOCACY IN B2B
1
The Thought Leadership Partners customer advocacy
Manifesto

2. 2
Getting started:
The four pillars of
customer advocacy
1 2 3 4

3. 3
THERE’S FOUR PILLARS
TO TURNING YOUR
CUSTOMERS INTO
PASSIONATE
ADVOCATES

4. 4
ONE:
RADICAL TRANSPARENCY TO
BUILD A REAL HUMAN
RELATIONSHIP WHERE THEY
ARE INVESTED IN THE
SUCCESS OF YOUR BUSINESS

5. 5
TWO:
CASE STUDIES THAT MAKE
YOUR CLIENTS LOOK LIKE
SUPERSTARS

6. 6
THREE:
SAYING THANKYOU, JUST
BECAUSE

7. 7
FOUR:
BRINGING YOUR CLIENTS
INSIDE THE CONTENT
CREATION PROCESS
AND PRESENTING THEM AS
RECOGNISED INDUSTRY
LEADERS

8. 8
Pillar one:
Radical transparency
(it’s radical because it’s so uncommon from
corporates)
1 2 3 4

9. 9
YOU’RE LOOKING TO
DEVELOP A REAL HUMAN
RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR
CLIENTS
YOU CAN ONLY DO THAT IF
YOU’RE HONEST

10. 10
YOU HAVE TO BE
TRANSPARENT ABOUT
THE GREAT, THE GOOD
(AND THE UGLY)

11. 11
IF YOU’RE NOT TRUTHFUL
ABOUT THE BAD, PEOPLE
WILL NEVER BELIEVE THE
GOOD

12. 12
YOU WANT YOUR CUSTOMERS
HEAVILY EMOTIONALLY
INVESTED IN MAKING YOUR
BUSINESS A HOME GROWN,
GLOBAL SUCCESS STORY

13. 13
BUILDING A TRANSPARENT RELATIONSHIP
• You want your customers to be heavily
emotionally invested in making your business
a global success story
• You can only get emotional investment if you
build a real human connection
• To build a deeply human connection you
have to tell the truth.You’ve got to be
transparent about your successes (and your
failures)
• Sometimes you will fuck up.Your clients know
this.They will forgive you as long as you’re
honest

14. 14
Pillar two:
Case studies that make
your clients look like
superstars
1 2 3 4

15. 15
“I’M REALLY LOOKING
FORWARD TO READING
THIS CASE STUDY ABOUT
YOUR PRODUCT”
- NOBODY, EVER

16. 16
CASE STUDIES AREN’T ABOUT
YOU, OR YOUR PRODUCT.
THEY’RE ABOUT MAKING THE
CLIENT LOOK LIKE SUPERSTARS.
YOU BENEFIT SOLELY BY
ASSOCIATION.

17. 17
FUNDAMENTALLY, YOUR CASE STUDIES
ARE ABOUT YOUR CLIENTS’ BUSINESS
(NOT YOUR PRODUCT).
YOU ARE BUILDING THE CLIENT’S BRAND
(AND YOU WIN BY ASSOCIATION).

18. 18
Pillar three:
Saying thankyou, just
because
1 2 3 4

19. 19
BY SHOWING YOUR
CUSTOMERS MORE
APPRECIATION, THEY’LL
SHOW YOU MORE IN RETURN

20. 20
“THANKS,
JUST BECAUSE”
- YOUR BUSINESS

21. 21
OUR CUSTOMERS ARE JUST A BUNCH OF
PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO FEEL SPECIAL AS
MUCH AS EVERYONE ELSE
YOU DO THAT BY JUST SAYING THANKS.
YOU DO IT UNPROMPTED AND WITHOUT
A CATCH

22. 22
SAYING THANKS TO CUSTOMERS MEANINGFULLY
AND REGULARLY
Ways to say thankyou (just because):
• Send a handwritten note from the client
manager and CEO once per year with a
small but meaningful gift. Not at Christmas
– this is a “just because”.
• Monthly email update about the product
and the company (designed to make sure
they’re on the journey with us).
• Remember your client’s birthdays. Send a
handwritten note
• Take note and celebrate each client’s
anniversary date (the day on which they
first started using your product).

23. 23
Pillar four:
Bringing clients inside the
content creation process
1 2 3 4

24. 24
CLIENTS WILL CREATE
YOUR MOST VALUABLE
CONTENT
BECAUSE IT’S VIEWED
AS BRAND IMPARTIAL

25. 25
YOUR CONTENT MUST
CONSTANTLY HIGHLIGHT THE
SUCCESS OF YOUR CLIENTS
WITHOUT ANY BENEFIT TO YOUR BRAND (OTHER
THAN ASSOCIATION)

26. 26
YOU WANT THEM TO SHARE
YOUR CONTENT AND
INCREASE YOUR REACH
SO YOU NEED TO START BY
DOING THE SAME FOR THEM

27. 27
WE’RE TARGETING BOTH EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT
ENDORSEMENT
You want both explicit and implicit
endorsement from clients:
Explicit endorsement:
• Case studies, participation in marketing
activities
• Use of logos and testimonials on your
website
Implicit endorsement:
• Actively engaged and 2-way
rebroadcasting on social media
• Word of mouth conversation about the
extra-ordinary things you do for them
• Content generation

28. 28
GETTING STARTED WITH CLIENT CONTENT
• Start your customers on a journey to content
development for us by asking them to review
your content
• Involve them in case studies
• Actively promote them and their thought
leadership on social media
• Over time, you will show them the benefits
of publishing content on your platform
• At that stage it makes sense to formally
invite them to co-produce content – first for
a test piece and then an ongoing
commitment

29. 29
START BY RANKING
YOUR CLIENT BASE IN
ORDER OF BRAND
ADVOCACY
(AND FILLING OUT THE FOLLOWING
SUMMARY SHEET)

30. 30
CLIENT FOCUSED SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTION
• It’s important to track individual clients
social media accounts – not just the
corporate account
• Monitor, follow and like their posts, tweets,
photos, comments, blogs. If you want them
to share your content, you must start by
sharing and liking theirs

31. CLIENT FOCUSED SOCIAL MEDIA:
© 2014 Thought Leadership Partners. This Thought Leadership Framework is proprietary to Thought Leadership Partners and may not be reused or shared without
explicit written permission.
Client1:
Client name:
Active corporate Twitter:
Active corporate LinkedIn:
Active corporate Facebook:
Active corporateYoutube:
Active corporate blog:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Client2:
Client name:
Active corporate Twitter:
Active corporate LinkedIn:
Active corporate Facebook:
Active corporateYoutube:
Active corporate blog:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Client3:
Client name:
Active corporate Twitter:
Active corporate LinkedIn:
Active corporate Facebook:
Active corporateYoutube:
Active corporate blog:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:
Contact name:
Active on Twitter:
Active on LinkedIn:
Blog presence:

32. Contact Details
THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN PREPARED BYTHOUGHT LEADERSHIP PARTNERS (“TLP”) FORTHE
EXCLUSIVE USE OFTHE PARTYTO WHOMTLP DELIVERSTHIS PRESENTATION (THE “COMPANY”).
THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN PREPARED ON A CONFIDENTIAL BASIS SOLELY FORTHE USE AND
BENEFIT OFTHE COMPANY. DISTRIBUTION OFTHIS PRESENTATIONTO ANY PERSON OTHERTHAN
THE COMPANY ANDTHOSE PERSONS RETAINEDTO ADVISETHE COMPANY,WHO AGREETO
MAINTAINTHE CONFIDENTIALITY OFTHIS MATERIAL AND BE BOUND BYTHE LIMITATIONS
OUTLINED HEREIN, IS UNAUTHORIZED.THIS MATERIAL MUST NOT BE COPIED, REPRODUCED,
DISTRIBUTED OR PASSEDTO OTHERS AT ANYTIME, IN WHOLE OR IN PART,WITHOUTTHE PRIOR
WRITTEN CONSENT OFTLP.
© 2014TLP.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.TLP SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITSTHE REDISTRIBUTION OFTHIS
MATERIAL.
Thought Leadership Partners
Level 10/50 Market Street
Melbourne 3000
+61 3 9111 5659
www.thoughtleadershippartners.com
C O N F I D E N T I A L 32