USNews.com has probably the best article I’ve seen to date on how to put a customer evangelism practice to work inside Corporate America.
The article quotes Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba – the architects – and they explain so eloquently why this is the future of marketing.
If you have more fans than detractors, start putting your thinking cap on. Find, listen, engage and empower your influencers. However, above all, when working with a customer sales force (dare we call it sales 2.0?) make sure there’s value in it for them.
murdok Added Article Excerpt:
Bypassing ads. With corporate evangelism, the goal is to find and identify those customers who are already crazy about your product or service–who are actively talking it up in blogs or Web forums, for instance–and turning them with loads of personal attention into “customer evangelists” who then spread the word to others, who then–well, you get the idea. A more secular term for these superfans is “influentials,” the people the rest of us seek out and trust for advice about what cars, computers, and clothing to buy.
So evangelism is a way of actively creating word-of-mouth advertising or marketing, turning your passionate, influential customers into a volunteer sales force.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
