| Lucie Curtis 
A lot of hard work goes into understanding your customers’ needs, building relationships with them, and providing superior service. With the rise of customer advocacy content, though, it’s possible to take these partnerships even farther. Customers who are willing to go the extra mile and collaborate on content can be powerful allies in your marketing program. Work well together and you’ll send a strong message that your customer relationships go beyond the traditional transaction. Need more convincing? Check out my last post for a list of reasons why customer advocacy content enhances content marketing. If you do have a client who wants to partner with you, it’s important to first identify which content formats are the best fit for your advocate’s story, their level of commitment, and your brand’s needs. So, as Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, we’ve gone through the various ways you and your customer advocates can work together to capture the heart of your audience. The Love Letter: You can’t go wrong with a classic testimonial. The most common way to declare one’s affections is by penning a love letter. Just as a love letter is a tangible testimony of your feelings, a testimonial empowers your clients to openly voice their appreciation for your products and services in a few sentences or short video. People trust the opinions of their peers and like to hear directly from actual users of a service. A testimonial can be a quick and easy way to make a significant impact on potential leads. 
The Sonnet: Count the ways you’re loved with a case study. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” wrote Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the famous Sonnet #43. The measured structure of a sonnet takes the expression of affection to new heights. Similarly, case studies dive into detail about the different ways a customer worked with your company to resolve a business challenge. Case studies can provide tangible proof of your brand’s value in both quantitative and qualitative terms. The Mixtape: Present multiple points-of-view with quotes and surveys. There are no shortage of love songs, so why limit yourself to just one advocate in your content? Mixtapes (or CDs, playlists, etc. depending on when you grew up) can help you share a range of emotions through multiple songs. Likewise, featuring multiple clients' quotes or customer survey results can go a long way in supporting your brand’s goals. A diverse range of perspectives can help you speak to different clients’ needs at once. The Duet: Sing in harmony with thought leadership content. Duet performances are often enhanced by the participants’ synergy and have the potential to deliver a more powerful message than singing solo. As two heads are better than one, consider collaborating on thought leadership content with your advocates. Combine the expertise and resources of a third-party contributor with your own organization’s thought leaders to produce a white paper, research report, or ebook. This sort of co-branded educational content will not just help you put a new spin on the latest industry trends, but also make your customer happy by raising their profile as a credible source of information. For a more personal touch, invite them to participate in an in-person event, video live-stream or webinar. Being able to hear and/or see your expert guests makes it easier for audiences to connect directly with them in a conversation around the best practices and tools you offer. When a brand and its customers partner to create any kind of content, the result is often informative, relatable, and convincing, something that both parties can share across their networks. Download Why Content Marketing's Really a Question of Marketing Your Content for more tips on amplifying advocacy marketing by wedding your content creation and promotion strategies. Lucie Vietti-Curtis is the program manager for channel and advocacy marketing at PR Newswire. As head of the advocacy program, she enjoys collaborating with advocates on creating thought-leadership content. | 
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