{"id":7305,"date":"2023-08-16T09:02:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T14:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/?p=7305"},"modified":"2025-06-20T13:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T18:16:24","slug":"step-7-of-the-customer-value-journey-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/step-7-of-the-customer-value-journey-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"Step 7 of the Customer Value Journey-Advocate\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been a long road, but we\u2019re almost to the end of our trek with step 7 of the customer value journey-advocate! Through our series of blogs, we\u2019ve introduced you to the first six steps of the journey: Generating awareness<\/a>, driving engagement<\/a>, building subscribers<\/a>, increasing conversions<\/a>, building excitement<\/a>, and helping your customers or prospects ascend<\/a>. In this seventh step, we\u2019ll talk about how to use what you\u2019ve built so far to start developing social proof of your success by asking your customers or clients to become advocates of your business. Join us in step 7 of the customer value journey-advocate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Step 7 of the Customer Value Journey-Advocate <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean for a customer or client to become an advocate of your business<\/a>? It basically means that your client is willing (and excited!) to talk about your products or services to their friends, family members, colleagues, and others who they believe may be able to benefit from working with you. Not only that, but they\u2019re also willing to share their experience and successes with your company on a larger platform. Basically, a client becomes an advocate when they\u2019re willing to put their reputation on the line by promoting what you do. While this is not the end of the journey, it\u2019s certainly one of the most important and meaningful steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Step<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Developing social proof  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When a client or customer is willing to become an advocate of our business, we need to capitalize on it. It\u2019s great when clients tell those close to them all their good experiences with your business, of course, but that only reaches a certain number of people in a limited circle. The real magic happens when you can broadcast their message to a larger crowd\u2014especially those who are looking for a company like yours (your ideal clients) or who are already considering doing business with you (your prospects). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you are able to broadcast your clients\u2019 endorsements, you\u2019re developing social proof<\/a>. Social proof, a term coined by psychologist Robert Cialdini, is what people look for when they don\u2019t know how to respond in a certain situation. To put it another way, it\u2019s what will push your prospects over the edge if they\u2019ve been on the fence about whether or not to do business with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. Five-star reviews  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reviews are still a very strong form of social proof. If you can get your clients or prospects to give you a five-star review, you have achieved a very valuable goal. The more five-star reviews you have, the more likely those Googling your products or services are to choose YOU as their provider. Many of those who are trying to decide between a couple of different providers will also often turn to reviews to make their final decision. In these cases, the difference between a company with two five-star reviews and ten could make all the difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2. Testimonials <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Testimonials are the next step up when it comes to social proof. A write-up that accompanies a 5-star review can be considered a testimonial, as can written narratives clients provide you upon request (or on their own). Video testimonials are even better, though those can be difficult to get unless you have a system of filming testimonials from satisfied clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Step<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How to ask<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a perfect world, all our happy clients would seek out ways to promote us by writing reviews and filming testimonial videos. Unfortunately, that\u2019s not how it works. In most cases, we need to ask, encourage, and incentivize them to do so. Having a system in place is crucial when it comes to this task. Whether you use software or you simply have a protocol for when and how to ask, you need to have a foolproof way to make the ask in a way that is a: consistent and b: effective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how you make the ask, always ensure you\u2019re rewarding clients once they complete the review or testimonial whether that\u2019s through a thank-you gift, a lunch, or just a heartfelt declaration of gratitude.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What to do with it <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once you have social proof, you have to get it in front of the right people. First and foremost, your testimonials should be on your website and social media platforms. You also need to optimize your Google profile so that 5-reviews are prominently featured. You can also include these in your newsletters, blogs, and any other correspondence that goes out to your prospects or ideal customers. Remember to always tag the client giving you a review or testimonial in your social media posts to give them a bit of extra publicity as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We\u2019re getting close to the final step of the Customer Value Journey<\/a>! In the next blog, we\u2019ll talk about the pinnacle of success\u2014Promote! Until then, if you have any questions about the first seven steps of the journey or if you\u2019d like help with any of them, please reach out. Our team would love to help!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s been a long road, but we\u2019re almost to the end of our trek with step 7 of the customer value journey-advocate! Through our series of blogs, we\u2019ve introduced you to the first six steps of the journey: Generating awareness, driving engagement, building subscribers, increasing conversions, building excitement, and helping your customers or prospects ascend. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-value-journey","category-services"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7305"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7322,"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305\/revisions\/7322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixelfiremarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}