Customer Advocacy

---
name: customer-advocacy
description: 'Customer advocacy program design - advocate identification, reference orchestration, case study pipeline, community amplification, and influence-to-revenue attribution. Use when: customer advocacy, customer reference program, case study program, advocate identification, customer marketing, peer review acceleration, G2 / Gartner Peer Insights, customer-led growth, reference architecture.'
---

# Customer Advocacy (AMPLIFY Framework)

Design a customer advocacy program that converts happy customers into a predictable supply of references, case studies, peer reviews, and community influence - and ties advocacy activity back to pipeline. AMPLIFY replaces ad-hoc "can you do a quote?" asks with a structured advocate pipeline and an attribution model that earns the program ongoing investment.

## Core Principle

**Advocacy is a *supply chain*, not a favor.** Most advocacy programs starve sales of references because they rely on relationship taps instead of a managed pipeline. AMPLIFY treats advocates like inventory: sourced, qualified, activated, replenished, and attributed.

## The AMPLIFY Framework

| Letter | Stage | The Question |
|--------|-------|--------------|
| **A** | Advocate Identification | Who qualifies, and how is the candidate pool sourced continuously? |
| **M** | Motion Design | Which advocacy motions are in scope (reference, case study, review, speaker, community)? |
| **P** | Program Mechanics | What's the recruitment, onboarding, and reward design? |
| **L** | Library & Inventory | How is the advocate inventory tracked, and what's the SLA for sales requests? |
| **I** | Influence-to-Revenue | How is advocacy activity attributed to pipeline and revenue? |
| **F** | Feedback Loop | How is fatigue managed and the candidate pool replenished? |
| **Y** | Yield Optimization | Which motions and segments produce the highest influence per ask? |

## Advocate Qualification

Not every happy customer qualifies. A useful candidate has:

| Dimension | Signal |
|-----------|--------|
| **Outcome proof** | Quantified business result (revenue, cost, time) |
| **Stakeholder fit** | Named champion willing and authorized to be public |
| **Brand fit** | Customer logo aligns with target ICP segments |
| **Reciprocity readiness** | Willing to participate in ≥ 1 motion per quarter |
| **Health stability** | Health score green; no active risk plays |

## Advocacy Motion Catalog

| Motion | Effort to Customer | Sales Influence | Marketing Influence |
|--------|-------------------|-----------------|---------------------|
| **Sales reference call** | 30 min | Very High | Low |
| **Written case study** | 2-4 hours | High | High |
| **Video testimonial** | 1-2 hours | Medium | Very High |
| **Peer review (G2 / Gartner)** | 15 min | Medium | High |
| **Conference speaker** | High | Medium | Very High |
| **Community AMA / panel** | 1 hour | Low | High |
| **Quote / blurb** | 10 min | Low | Medium |

Design the program so high-effort motions are reserved for top-tier advocates and entry motions (review, quote) onboard new candidates.

## Reward Design

Rewards should be **professional capital first, perks second**.

| Reward Type | Example |
|-------------|---------|
| **Professional capital** | Speaker slots, byline articles, customer-advisory-board seat |
| **Access** | Roadmap influence, early access to features, exec relationships |
| **Recognition** | Awards, MVP designations, named cohorts |
| **Perks** | Swag, gift cards, event invites |

## Library & Inventory Discipline

The advocate library must answer four sales questions in under 2 minutes:

1. *Who can speak to outcome X?*
2. *Who is in industry Y at size Z?*
3. *Who has not been asked in the last N days?*
4. *Who is currently in a risk play and must not be asked?*

## Influence-to-Revenue Attribution

| Attribution Lens | Definition |
|------------------|------------|
| **Reference-influenced deals** | Opportunities that received ≥ 1 reference touch, win-rate uplift vs control |
| **Asset-attributed pipeline** | Pipeline tagged to a case study, video, or review |
| **Advocate-sourced pipeline** | Net-new logos sourced from advocate referrals |
| **Renewal influence** | Renewals with advocacy participation, retention uplift vs control |

## Output

Save to `outputs/customer-advocacy-[motion]-[YYYY-MM-DD].md`

| Artifact | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| **Qualification Rubric** | Criteria + scoring for advocate candidates |
| **Motion Catalog** | Named motions with effort, reward, and segment fit |
| **Recruitment Funnel** | Stages from candidate → advocate → active contributor |
| **Reward System** | Tiered rewards mapped to motion participation |
| **Advocate Library Schema** | Fields, SLA for sales requests, fatigue rules |
| **Attribution Model** | Tagging spec + uplift measurement design |
| **Pipeline Dashboard** | Active advocates by motion / segment, fatigue heatmap, request SLA performance |

## Process

1. **Define qualification** with a written rubric - not vibes
2. **Pick motions** matched to current GTM needs; don't try to run all seven at once
3. **Design the reward system** with professional capital as the lead category
4. **Stand up the library** with disciplined fatigue and request SLAs
5. **Build attribution tagging** before launching motions, not after
6. **Run yield analysis quarterly** and rotate motions / segments

## Tips

1. **Cap asks per advocate per quarter** - fatigue silently destroys advocate programs
2. **Tier rewards** so entry motions are easy to participate in
3. **Never ask an at-risk customer to advocate** - coordinate with CS
4. **Sales SLA on references** is the program's most visible KPI
5. **Case study production is a pipeline**, not a one-off project

## Pairs With

- **customer-success** - Source of qualified candidates and health gating
- **community-catalyst** - Hosts and amplifies advocacy motions
- **enablement-forge** - Produces the case study and reference assets
- **demand-engine** - Distributes advocacy assets across channels