14. Results
• >14,300 challenges completed
• >1,200 active advocates
• >100 referrals
• 392 testimonials
• 119 net new online reviews
• >$400k in pipeline last QTR
• Average acts of Advocacy: 11.1
• NPS score 72
• User generated stories 75% cheaper
• ’Case studies’ now take on avg. 10 days
• 50% read new ‘Upshot’ content vs. 5% standard case study
17. Lesson 1: Be Brave
• How many times have you had an amazing
idea and wondered how you would get people
on board, to make change happen?
• When you see something needs to change,
don’t wait for someone else to make the
move. Be brave, take risks and get
comfortable with uncomfortable.
• Remember: bravery is not lack of fear, it’s the
ability to move forward in spite of fear.
18. Lesson 2: Be Bold
•How do you get
people on board
with your idea?
•Shock people with
the facts.
19. Lesson 3: Take Risks
•Do something different
to get customers to pay
attention
20. Lesson 4: Get Exec Sponsorship
• Help your execs & internal stakeholders
understand the power of advocacy
• Spend time understanding the different
goals of marketing, sales & engineering
leadership
• Demonstrate how customer advocacy
can help with goals
• Find opportunities to get in front of
senior leadership
21. Lesson 5: Learn Every Day
•Dedicate time to learning
from everyone around you
•Spend time networking
with your peers
•Continue to research and
develop new concepts
22. Lesson 6: Don’t Try and Boil The Ocean
•Start small and scale when
the time is right
•Focus on creating a better
experience for customers
23. Lesson 7: Find Your Own Army of Advocates
• Share your vision at every
opportunity and don’t assume
people ‘get it’
• Partner with people that do ‘get
it’ and see the benefits
• Nurture those internal
‘advocates’ as an extension of
the team
• If you can prove the success, the
budget and resource will come
24. ‘Our Gateway to…campaign research’
Objectives
• Investigate the business pain points that SMBs currently have to
guide a campaign targeting Midsize businesses
How?
• Release ‘The Office 'themed campaign on The Gateway
• Encouraged advocates to share their thoughts with a series of fun
challenges
The outcome?
• Validated and illustrated midsize campaigns five key challenges for
midsize businesses
• Captured images and pen-portrait quotes from advocates
• Content for the midsize campaign will be optimized using the
results
• Great customer quotes that were used for social posts
“The Gateway has given us access to fully approved advocacy. It has
also given us validation of the challenges midsize business face. I
highly recommend using The Gateway to add depth and validity to
your own content projects.”
- Mike Buckley, SME Midsize, UK Marketing.
25. Future Goals
1. Scale program globally & curate
an integrated Cisco strategy
2. Extend event recruitment
strategy
3. Scale user generated content
program
4. Mobilize advocate community to
extend the reach of our
marketing and sales org
26. 3 Key TakeAways
1. Let go of: Control, fear,
conformity & status quo
2. Be prepared to make
mistakes & learn from
them
3. Find great partners and
keep them with you