fifi ama ˝ˇ˘ ˝ europe 2019 global industry survey 2019 · 2019-09-04 · integration of all...

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global industry survey 2019





amaeurope 2019

ama europe 2019


Not just evolution, growing pains tooIt’s been two years since the last survey, and while we’re

seeing new trends it’s more evolution than revolution.

Progress is stretching some programs to their limits;

fresh demands and increasing scope are causing

discomfort for some.

Programs increasing in importanceFor the fourth straight survey, programs are appearing to

increase in importance, and budgets are generally rising.

While these increases are not stellar, customer reference/

advocacy programs seem to often out-perform other

disciplines for share of the marketing pie.

The unstoppable shift to advocacyThe push for ‘advocacy’ (roughly defined as a sustainable,

formal value exchange with advocates) continues;

tiering of customers has increased, as has Account

Based Marketing (ABM).

In this context, programs that simply ask the question

‘what can we get these customers to do for us?’ are

living in the past.

The move to the on-demand subscription economy

is changing the model for more than the sales force.

Customers demand a relationship with brands. It’s not

about points, web badges or money, it’s a new mindset

of human engagement.

Channel crossingsOne of the major trends is for programs to cross the

channel divide, having to now provide value to internal

teams (brand, BU, etc.), partners and customers.

It’s the same motion as the move to advocacy, and

some programs are feeling out of their comfort zones.

Increasing program importance, the move to advocacy, and expanding channel support are making some programs uncomfortable, for others it’s a coming-of-age opportunity

executive summary





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executive summary

Coming-of-ageIntegration of all customer programs continues.

Silos and empires are crumbling. Community rather

than control is leading.

Programs are coming-of-age from a measurement

perspective too; business metrics as well as

volume metrics.

BoM BaU BooMThe Bill of Materials (BoM) has become business as

usual for the best stories across many programs.

Responses show the number of channels now being

used to promote each story is increasing. Yet increasing

program importance and channel support is taking its toll.

Everyone wants something different from a story.

Brand teams are becoming more vocal about their needs,

BUs (and sales) still want to sell products, and partners

want to produce top billing.

Boom! Aren’t these all customer stories?!?

Thus the rise of perspectives in storytelling, same story

from different angles; increasing relevance for potential

customers while keeping everyone (relatively) happy, is key.

2019Overall this is a happy story to tell. Any discomfort is

driven by the increasing program and customer storytelling

importance, and the move to sustainable advocacy

relationships. Growing pains (and we all need to grow).

Gain exec sponsorship, have healthy sales org and

customer engagement, tell relevant stories, to the right

audiences, through the right channels, and measure it

along the way and you’re onto a winner.





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video storiesFor the first time more

programs are creating video

stories (92%) than PDF stories

(85%). Visual storytelling

shows no sign of slowing.

sales education79% of program owners agree

continuous education of sales

(its largest users) is the biggest

opportunity for program

growth (and measurement).

content sharingEach customer story is

now shared via an average

of 8 channels; the BoM

has arrived with a bang.

channel support74% of programs are now

tasked with supporting channel

as well as direct sales, up from

66%. Uncomfortable for some

programs; meeting partner

needs effectively is a new skill.

multiple perspectivesWith every story in the spotlight

and working harder than ever,

programs are more mindful

of the needs of their wider

audience (brand, BUs, sales,

marketing, customers, partners).

five key takeaways

1. 2. 3. 5.4.





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The Advocate Marketing Academy 2019 Global

Industry Survey aims to better understand the

current state of advocacy marketing, specifically

customer reference and advocacy programs.

It also aims to identify new trends and key

challenges, as well as best practices.

survey methodology and participants

85responses

from reference/advocacy pros

68discrete

programs

48global brands

40%of respondents at Director or above

60%of respondents

have a global remit





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■ Amazon

■ Anaplan

■ Aruba

■ Centrify

■ Ceridian

■ CheckPoint

■ Citrix

■ CloudBees

■ CommVault

■ Corehr

■ Dassault

■ Datel

■ Dell

■ Ensono

■ Finastra

■ FireEye

■ Gladstone

■ Hewlett Packard Enterprise

■ Hexagon

■ Honeywell

■ HP

■ IBM

■ Intel

■ ITSMA

■ Kaspersky Lab

■ Micro Focus

■ Microsoft

■ Nutanix

■ Oracle

■ Orange

■ Palo Alto Networks

■ Qlik

■ QuickBase

■ Red Hat

■ TMF-Group

■ TriZetto

■ Veeam

■ VMware

■ Vodafone

■ WellSky

participating organizations include:





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scope




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• Results largely in line with the previous two surveys;

an enterprise and public-sector focus

• The largest change is with programs now supporting

mid-market; this has virtually doubled in the

last seven years, while the makeup of programs

responding to the survey remains roughly the same

which customer segments does your program support?

enterprise

mid-market

public sector

small office home office

consumer

other

0 20 40 60 80 100

98%

78%

77%

19%

17%

6%





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• A key trend for 2019; three-quarters of programs are now

tasked with supporting channel as well as direct sales,

up from two-thirds in 2017

• This shift is uncomfortable for some programs; meeting

partner needs effectively is a new skill

• For programs that only ask one question ‘what will people

do for us’, having to consider partners is perhaps part

of the journey to advocacy; sustainable value exchange

with customers

does your program support channel partners and/or resellers as well as direct?

yes

no

74%

26%





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• Very similar responses to the 2017 survey

• It’s still a case of marketing and corporate marketing

owning reference and advocacy programs

• We know two things:

1. sales are the largest users of references

2. tracking deals assisted with references

is key for long-term program success

and measurement

• Thus it’s interesting that the sales orgs still have so

little skin in the game. Sales engagement is a massive

program opportunity

where does your program sit within your organization?

marketing organization

corporate marketing

other

sales organization

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

72%

19%

15%

2%





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• The number of programs that are not branded and

customer-facing has reduced down to an all-time

survey low of 15%

• This makes sense; customers want to have a direct

relationship with brands, whether purchasing direct

or via the channel

do you have a branded, external, customer reference/advocacy program?

yes

no

working on it

72%

15%

13%





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• This used to be a 50/50 answer but now 2/3rds of

programs now tier customers

• It’s no surprise; we’re seeing the impact of the increase

of advocacy programs and ABM strategies

do you tier your reference customers, or are they treated equally?

tiered

treated equally

66%

34%

integration




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• Overall, integration with other programs is

increasing across-the-board. This is great to see.

• The biggest change is with ABM/top-account

programs, up to 60% from 31% in 2016

• Now only 9% of programs are reporting zero

integration, down from 12% in 2017

with which other programs does your program integrate?

customer/product adv. boards

account based programs

nps/csat surveys

exec sponsorship program

advocacy program

user groups

customer loyalty programs

none

other

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

64%

60%

55%

47%

38%

36%

23%

9%

8%





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• Massive change here, borne out by evidence

across the industry

• 79% of programs cite continuous education

as the most effective way to recruit reference

customers, up from 20% in 2017

• Executive support is a close second, showing

that a top-down approach is always effective

• The remainder of responses are largely in line

with previous surveys

top two methods for engaging sales and mktg to provide reference customers

continual education

senior exec support

adding references to KPIs

financial incentives

other

points programs

penalizing sales people who do not provide references

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

79%

77%

23%

11%

6%

4%

2%





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• With 66% of responses saying ‘no’ and ‘no and I don’t

think any organization should’ we have an almost

identical industry response and opinion to 2017

• 30% of programs are incentivizing sales, or plan to

do you incentivize your sales teams to participate in reference activities?

no

yes

no I don’t think any org should

other

we plan to

51%

15%

3% 5%

26%





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• Financial incentives dominate the rewarding

method to engage sales participation (72%)

if so; which methods do you use?

financial incentives

other non-financial incentives

points that can be redeemed for rewards

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

72%

28%

22%





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• Almost three in four respondents (73.8%) said that

they do not incentivize customers to participate in

reference activities

• Over a quarter (26%) of respondents currently

incentivize customers or are planning to do so

in the future

do you incentivise your customers to participate in reference activities?

no

no and i don’t think any organization should

yes

we plan to

52%

22%

19%

7%





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• Non-financial incentives make up the majority

of all customer incentive activities

if so; which methods do you use?

points redeemed for rewards

unanticipated rewards, not incentives

other non-financial incentives

we give financial incentives

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

58%

33%

25%

8%

resources




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• There are wild variations in team size,

from one person, to over 50 team members

• The average number of FTEs (full-time-equivalent

staff) for programs (excluding agency) is five

• We tried to correlate team size with organization

size. Clearly larger orgs have larger teams but

there is insufficient data to establish a rule of

x team for each $B in org size

average five full-time headcounts per program





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• 58% of responders engage specialist agencies to

support their program. This equates to 80% of all orgs

using external support

• PR and generalist agencies are at similar levels to 2017,

as are the percentage of companies not using any

external support (28%)

do you use specialist customer reference/ advocacy agencies?

yes

no

no, generic mktg agencies

other

no, we use PR agencies

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

58%

28%

8%

5%

4%





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• We’re seeing no change from 2017; it comes as

no surprise to see writing as the top area in which

agencies support programs

• Every respondent using external consultancies said

that they use the agency for writing

• Equally, programs are using agencies for support

with video production and editing. Around eight

in ten programs use agencies for video creation

in which areas do your agencies assist your program?

writing

video shooting

video editing

design

fulfilling reference requests

strategy

recruiting reference customers

awards submissions

supporting top-account advocacy

0 20 40 60 80 100

100%

81%

74%

52%

50%

26%

21%

14%

15%





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• The question to which everyone wants the answer,

yet this is the question 20% of responders refused

to answer! (or simply did not know)

• The average individual program budget is $400k,

with the most common around $200k

• There are several program budgets of over $2m,

especially when individual program budgets within

one brand are added together

• Again, we tried to correlate budget with organization

size. Clearly larger orgs have larger budgets but there

is insufficient data to establish a rule $x budget for each

$B in org size

$400kaverage program budget

annual level of program investment, excluding people?





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• 2018 program budgets showed some growth,

yet around half of them remained flat

• This is almost the same result as in 2017, comparing

budgets with 2015, so net growth, if anything as

been slow

• That said, many marketing budgets have been slashed

in the last few years, perhaps making customer

reference and advocacy programs successful outliers

compared to 2017, was your program budget up, flat or down?

flat

up

down

51%

38%

11%





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• There seems to be a little more optimism for program

budget growth in 2019, though the underlying numbers

are fairly similar

• The number of programs reporting budget reductions

has almost halved

outlook – 2019 program budgets

flat

up

down

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

55%

40%

6%





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• The vast majority of respondents (83%) say that

reference/advocacy programs are perceived as

being more important within their organizations -

almost exactly the same result as in 2017

• The industry is feeling continued ‘love’ and hearing

how important the programs are; not necessarily

being translated to budget and kudos

compared to two years ago, how is your program perceived internally?

much more important

a little more important

about the same

a little less important

much less important

55%

13%

4% 0%

28%

customer stories




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• It’s a close-run thing but for the first time more

programs are creating video than PDF stories

• Social has increase from 43% to 66%

(remember, most respondents are B2B)

• Also growing is the percentage of ROI stories

• Audio is slowly emergent, we believe this will

see a further increase in next-year’s survey

in which formats do you create customer stories?

video

pdf

ppt/keynote slides

social media images

collections of stories by industry/solution

website pages

infographic

roi case studies

whitepapers

interactive pdfs/snapshots

audio

estories (phone/tablet)

other

0 20 40 60 80 100

92%

85%

72%

62%

66%

60%

42%

34%

25%

23%

22%

21%

4%





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• After a shock fall in the 2017 survey, it’s good to

see mobile optimization is back and holding steady

• The feeling across the industry seems to focus

more on phone than tablet optimization

are you optimizing your customer stories for mobile devices?

yes

no

not yet, but are planning to

other

there is no need to

0 10 20 30 40 50

49%

30%

17%

4%

2%





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• The process is not over when a customer story

is signed off, far from it

• Double the number of programs now consider

sharing the stories they create

• Not a single responder said there was no need

to optimize

are you optimizing your written or video customer stories for social sharing?

yes

not yet, but are planning to

no

there is no need to

0 20 40 60 80 100

91%

6%

4%

0%





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• Similar split to 2017 with the biggest increase

being in the use of subtitles/closed captions

• This has more than doubled since 2017;

good to see accessibility being taken seriously

(though still work to do)

• Slight increase in the use of vimeo

for video stories, which methods do you use?

short video edits for twitter

subtitle closed captions

short video edits for facebook

short video edits for vimeo

short video edits for instagram

split into multiple episodes

other

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

60%

53%

45%

30%

25%

23%

13%





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• As expected, corporate website is universal

• High scoring for LinkedIn and blogs aligns

with the heavy enterprise focus of the

majority of programs

• Instagram use has doubled since 2017

• The rise of the Bill of Materials (BoM)

is no surprise, with so many channels

being utilized to promote each story

which channels do you use to promote your customer stories?

corporate website

linkedin

blogs

twitter

events

demand-gen campaigns

email

facebook

newsletters

brand campaigns

exec briefing centers

media placement

instagram

reference-mgt-app created collections (spotlights etc.)0 20 40 60 80 100

98%

87%

81%

79%

77%

72%

64%

58%

59%

57%

47%

36%

29%

28%

measurement




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• Alongside the usual ‘number of things’ it’s encouraging

that 53% of responders are measuring $opportunities

influenced with references. Still work to do!

All programs should be able to measure this

• Great to see programs measuring the percentage

of referenceable customers; the tie in with

Net Promoter and other Customer Satisfaction

(CSAT) programs will be helping to drive this

• Even more impressive is the measurement of sales

acceleration and win rate, creeping into the survey

for the first time

which of the following does your program measure?

# of customer stories

# of reference customers

$ of opportunities influenced

% of referenceable customers

story media coverage

age of customer stories

$ influence value of specific reference customers

average bom size (# of assets per story)

sales cycle acceleration

win rate

other

0 20 40 60 80 100

81%

77%

53%

38%

36%

32%

25%

20%

19%

15%

8%

the future




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• Organizations are still prioritizing the movement

to advocacy; increased from 23% in 2017

• Program integration, ABM and customer communities

all score highly and support this move

• Visual content (video, infographics, animation, etc.)

has also increased from 26% to 62%

• Program automation has grown too, while

gamification has stagnated as a focus at 8%

outlook – top four focus areas for 2019

advocate (not just reference) program

more visual content (video, infographic, animation)

abm (account-based marketing)

integration with other programs

customer communities

global standards and processes

bom (multiple story formats)

perspectives (stories from different angles for different audiences)

program automation

mobile content optimisation/delivery

gamification

other

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

64%

62%

47%

42%

40%

32%

29%

28%

25%

19%

8%

6%





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Responders thoughts on impact to our industry• A fifth of responders either skipped this question

or admitted they have nothing to say on this topic

• 15% said it’s too early to have an opinion

Negative• Worries about AI replacing teams, tools,

and even reference customers

Positive• Relevance for sales and customers,

timeliness, automation of specific tasks

outlook – artificial intelligence





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We’re a specialist global team known for expertise, creativity and delivery; building the strategies your business needs to unlock the innate trust we all share in authentic, relevant and human stories.

We support our clients with anything customer-advocacy-shaped; from the creation of a few customer stories to multi-language full production videos, fully-outsourced complex global program, and everything in-between.

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fifi ama ˝ˇ˘ ˝ europe 2019 global industry survey 2019 · 2019-09-04 · integration of all...

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