When was the last time one of your customers actually sold your products or services for you? I mean really sold, in the sense that they were so jazzed about what you had done for them that they just had to convince someone else to give you a try? It would be fantastic if it happened naturally, of course, but it’s also possible to use a little creative thinking and invite your customers to become evangelists for you. Your “sales force” expands exponentially, at little or no cost to you.

I recently ran into an older post by John Moore on his Brand Autopsy blog about Fiskars, the scissors makers, and their very interesting Fisk-A-Teers. It seems that Fiskars has embraced customer evangelism to the point of sponsoring a Fisk-A-Teers blog, where four customers-turned-Fisk-A-Teers actively and passionately post about their experiences using Fiskars products. Fantastic idea! And of course, a great way to showcase new products.

I’ve always admired the way Jones Soda invites customers to become involved in product marketing with their long-running label campaign. You know, “even you can be a star” with your photo on a bottle of Jones Soda! And what’s more, because they encourage voting, customers who have submitted photos invite their friends to come to the site to vote — more website traffic, sent by customers. And if your photo is chosen as a label, you’ll become even more evangelistic, won’t you? Very groovy.

Heinz Ketchup is now doing something similar with their Heinz “Top This TV Challenge.” Heinz is encouraging customers to submit ideas for the next great Heinz Ketchup commercial, and the five videos with the most votes will be aired on national TV. The contest ends August 6, 2007, and the top winner will also pocket $57,000. You can “eat up” several hours at the Heinz Challenge site, watching very creative customer evangelists try to outdo each other in promoting Heinz Ketchup.

Then there’s the fascinating Dunkin’ Donuts Talk by Scott Lewis, a Dunkin’ Donuts fan and business consultant who started the site to show up a friend who teased him about his love of the company and its products. Dunkin’ Donuts Talk now receives over 1500 unique visitors per day, tapping into a cult-like following who discuss all things related to donuts, coffee, and goings-on within the company — all outside of the company. Dunkin’ Brands listens in and has become involved in terms of correcting information found in comments on the site and supplying Lewis with Dunkin’ product images, since he gets quite a few inquiries about Dunkin’ Donuts t-shirts and hats — but they don’t sponsor or direct the site.

Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba have some excellent information about customer evangelism on their Church of the Customer blog and books about how to create customer evangelists of your own. For any organization, say McConnell and Huba, a blog is part of a long-term customer evangelism strategy. They cite the following reasons:

• Their personal nature helps humanize you and your organization.

• They function as an instant-feedback mechanism.

• They compel you to Napsterize more of your knowledge more often, making it easier for customers and prospects to find you.

• They facilitate the spread of buzz.

• They allow you to have more simultaneous conversations.

• They help position you as a knowledgeable expert in your industry.

Wow, kind of gets the creative juices flowing, seeing what can be done to get customers involved, doesn’t it? Think about the customers who love your company the most, and how you could engage them in an interesting way to spread the word about why they like to work with you, or why your product is so wonderful. Can you supply them with your product, like Fiskars, and a public way to talk about it? Can you get them involved in your marketing, like Jones Soda and Heinz? Do you have your blog up and running so your customers can start becoming evangelists right away, with a method for giving feedback?

[tags]Customer evangelism, John Moore, Brand Autopsy, Fiskars, Fisk-A-Teers, Heinz Ketchup Top This TV Challenge, Jones Soda, Dunkin’ Donuts Talk, Scott Lewis, Ben McConnell, Jackie Huba, Church of the Customer[/tags]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Marketing Strategy, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.