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Dave Balter knows a thing or two about brand advocacy, and his experience may turn some of your assumptions about brand relationships on their head.<\/p>\nDave Balter knows a thing or two about brand advocacy, and his experience may turn some of your assumptions about brand relationships on their head.<\/p>\n
Balter is the founder of BzzAgent<\/a>, a Boston-based agency that specializes in generating word-of-mouth awareness for products and brands. Over the past eight years, the company has recruited more than half a million brand ambassadors it calls \u201cagents\u201d and applied them to campaigns for more than 500 clients.<\/p>\n BzzAgent\u2019s success challenges two items of conventional wisdom about marketing:<\/p>\n BzzAgent doesn’t pay any of its brand agents. \u201cAs soon as you put cash in somebody\u2019s hands, it changes their opinion,\u201d Balter says. \u201cWhat we say instead is that we\u2019ll let you try products and what you say about them is up to you.\u201d Just being involved in the campaign is a motivator. \u201cBzzAgent is a natural magnet for people who like to influence.\u201d<\/p>\n BzzAgent recruits people from all walks of life with the simple promise of a special relationship with the brands they endorse. No one is coerced or enticed into becoming an agent or working on a campaign; if they don\u2019t want to be involved, they shouldn\u2019t participate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tell people that we see them as a thought leader for a product. We send them the product, send a BzzGuide [brochure] \u00a0to help them feel special and then they talk to other people as they want. We don\u2019t tell them to what to say,\u201d Balter says.<\/p>\n With no more compensation than that, some of BzzAgent\u2019s most actuve participants devote 20 hours per week to evangelizing products. They\u2019re asked to log on to a secure website periodically to tell about their activities. The comments – both pro and con \u2013 are acknowledged by a personal thank-you from a BzzAgent employee and transmitted to the client. <\/span><\/p>\n Both of these factors are powerful motivators for the core of agents, Balter says. \u201cThe idea that you\u2019re so important that the brand is going to actually listen to you means your opinion matters,\u201d he says. The personal acknowledgment shows that there’s a human being taking an interest in what the agent has to say.<\/p>\n Such influence enhances a person’s self-esteeem. Brand advocates also gain status from knowing that they matter and sharing that with their friends.<\/p>\n Balter believes that people do identify with brands and that identification is a badge of honor. \u201cI think people want to ‘friend’ brands more than many of us can imagine,\u201d he says. Being a vocal fan is a badge of honor. \u201cIt gains acknowledgement from their peers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n BzzAgent\u2019s new BzzScapes<\/a> site would tend to validate that opinion. Launched in late May, BzzScapes offers people the chance to build an online shrine to brands they support. Each BzzScape links back to an individual user\u2019s profile, giving that person the distinction of being the first to express brand affinity. <\/span><\/p>\n In a little more than week, nearly 2,800 BzzScapes have been created for organizations ranging from soccer teams to soda pop. Contributors receive no reward other than the recognition that they were the first to establish an outpost. Some unlikely brands have generated impressive activity. The BzzScape for personal-care company Burt’s Bees <\/a>has logged more than 22,000 contributions from nearly 750 users. The reasons aren’t clear. It seems that some brands just inspire that kind of passion from customers.<\/p>\n Click here for an audio interview with Dave Balter <\/a>conducted on May 28, 2009.\u00a0(40:00)<\/p>\n[audio:https:\/\/gillin.com\/Podcasts\/Balter.mp3]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dave Balter knows a thing or two about brand advocacy, and his experience may turn some of your assumptions about brand relationships on their head. Balter is the founder of BzzAgent, a Boston-based agency that specializes in generating word-of-mouth awareness … Continue reading \n
Earnest Advocates<\/h3>\n