We write a lot about brand advocacy and how to create it. One of the best ways to both create advocacy and reap the rewards of it is to invite your customers to become a part of your brand. Customers will feel more ownership if they're able to contribute to your business so they will talk more. That's why we call the highest level of brand advocates the shareholders. And your business benefits from customer input, as Scott Cook of Intuit outlines in his article "The Contribution Revolution: Letting Volunteers Build Your Business." You can find it in the October issue of HBR.
In this article, Scott outlines how the multitude of ways customer participation, conversation and recommendations can contribute value to your business and how it operates. The graph below summarizes.
