There was a time in my life, several years ago, where I was a newbie to the advocate marketing space. I had been using the Influitive AdvocateHub platform at the company I was working for; very much enjoying the creative outlet it provided and feeling appreciative of the quick impact it could have. It allowed me to think outside the box and approach my job with fresh eyes on a daily basis. Many of us who work in this profession do so because it allows us to avoid punching the rubber stamp day-in and day-out, so I appreciated that quality about Influitive then as much as I do now. It’s an ongoing passion for the platform I didn’t realize I had till one fateful morning in Boston…

I bring up the promise of the tantalizing tale of how I became a lifelong Influitive advocate to ask you if you can recall a moment that sticks out between yourself and an organization or brand that you feel loyalty or enthusiasm for? Influitive calls this a “Moment that Matters,” or a surprising action of some kind that brings you delight. This can be done in a number of ways but I have two separate stories I’d like to share. Each highlights the ingenuity of teams that have been built and trained to watch for opportunities to provide these moments that help to cement loyalty and develop advocates amongst their users.

The idea behind these types of moments is really centered in advocacy and recognizing your top advocates. Customer-centric approaches do not end when the contract is signed, nor when the goods are exchanged; they’re ongoing efforts ever-tailored to the individual and what will spark joy in their unique situation. If you can implement an advocacy program to help facilitate interactions like the ones I outline below, you’re going a long way toward continued success. Don’t take my word for it! A 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit, according to Bain & Co.

Going back to my early days in advocacy, back when the world was normal and attending events was possible, I had driven to an Influitive user group in Boston. I had been using its platform for a few months, designing an internal employee-facing program with the goal of strengthening and projecting our company culture, and there’s no better place to learn all the platform’s tips and tricks than a gathering of experts. It was relatively small; the roughly 40 or so individuals who attended were made up of a mix of customers, partners and prospects. When I arrived, there was a customer speaker presenting her accomplishments using the platform; I remember paying attention to her presentation and coming away impressed with the emphasis on overall advocate experience (a category of Influitive’s BAMMIE awards that I would be a finalist for the following year!).

I sat in the front row because, truth be told, I had arrived a bit late and most of the seats were taken. The Influitive rep who was there to present after the customer was the-then administrator of its VIP program. It was partway through his presentation that – speaking of the importance of the advocate experience – he pointed at me (the new guy that stumbled in late) and singled me out as an example of someone who “was doing it exactly the right way.”

Up to this point, I wasn’t completely sure I had chosen the right path in marketing; second-guessing a career can be more accurately described as second nature, especially so when you’re still very much a novice but this unexpected recognition as an experience, looking back, is one I hold dear.

Validation can come in many forms, and we all need it from time to time. With this moment that mattered, Influitive had me hooked, and to a large degree they still do! (Connect with me on LinkedIn if you’re interested in seeing my up-to-date certifications, and I’m proud to say after several years I finally cracked the top 10 advocate in Influitive VIP- that’s me at 108k!)

The second example of unexpected delight for me is courtesy of an on-top social team keeping an eye out for loyalty: the customer-centric experts behind the @PUMA Twitter handle. I’ve always liked Puma – their workout clothes are great, and their sneakers are extremely comfortable and tend to hold up well.

At this time, I was a newbie on Twitter with only a handful of followers. I took a pic of a pair of sneakers that had all but disintegrated, telling the story of how long I’d had them and where’d they’d been worn within the 140 character limit (this was 2015).

To my unexpected delight, Puma responded and singled me out! I was already an advocate for the company but this moment turned me into a lifelong champion of the brand. I tell this story as an example often, when the question of brand loyalty and its roots in customer advocacy comes into play. It’s worth noting that I hadn’t even linked to the main @PUMA handle; its team was just on-top of its game. Never, ever underestimate the value of a good social team. I’ve bought several pairs of shoes, since.

With an approach like those above, loyalty becomes second-nature, and second-guessing your choices may simply come down to the color of the shoes you’re buying.

After reading the above examples, ask yourselves the following: how does your customer advocacy program create unexpected delight and encourage loyalty?