Business Influencer Marketing x Nearbound x Customer Retention.

We're so intrigued about this, so we'd love this article to be super organic & evolve as we get thoughts from marketing, sales &customer success leaders, employee & advocacy providers + of course evangelists.

Get in contact with Mark if you want to contribute and your thoughts included here.

Acquisition.

There's a hell of a lot of 'noise' (and hopefully good signal) - around the notion of "getting more" - with all kinds of brand advocacy (our area of expertise - business influencer marketing) & surrounding buyers with trust i.e dialing up Nearbound GTM, making room for this via dialing down ever saturated and expensive inbound/outbound techniques.

Retention.

How about "losing less"?

Those in SaaS - you can no longer rest easy after securing the initial purchase.

Yes, you have exceptional customer service, onboarding surveys, customer feedback programs, special incentives and overall you are incredibly proactive to minimise churn.

However, there will always be a time when the customer feels like they haven't got to where they want to go, despite your best efforts.

Could brand advocacy & nearbound be used as a force for good in persuading a dissatisfied customer not to leap to your competitor?

Your customer, even if onboarded, monthly subs in your till, may still not have got to their promised land. If they see competitors helping their customers do exactly that, then it's easy to understand the outcome.

The number of influencers or partners you have is irrelevant if you cannot effectively address your customers' issues and assist them in reaching their desired destination. Even if your product marketing is exceptional, your customers' success now relies on more than just your product. It is interconnected with numerous other technology companies and the partners they engage with.

From a partner angle, you can attract top talent and consultants to help your customer get the desired outcome from your product (what is now essentially a service). This isn't diminishing your "power" i.e outsourcing either. Getting integrations right is also the best way to bolster your customer health and company success. That's starting to get outside of our realm and we're not sure how an external business influencer could make a difference here.

Yes, your company can demonstrate value. There might be a degree of skepticism or tuning out from the disillusioned customer, if additional employee advocacy effort, on top of existing traditional CSM time/energy, is channeled here, even dare we say a little jealousy from seeing other customers have got to where they want to go.

You are too close to things at your company. The customer might be too close to the problem. Objectivity requires distance.

Maybe the customer needs to hear it from someone else who isn't so connected to the business, but is empathetic, concise, respected, confident, believable - plus they provide insight, objectivity and courage. They have a powerful combination of deep expertise grounded in a very broad context.

How about business influencers with shorter-term, lighter-touch engagements?

At the risk of being completely radical - 1 on 1 campaigns. where the influencer speaks directly with the customer? After all you want to nail down the chance of the customer getting the message. Other routes you'll hope they see this insight in their feed, it could be missed.

At Flooencer, running these empathetic retention-based business influencer marketing campaigns could be effective, in persuading a customer to think twice about jacking it all in.

This activity isn't instead of CSM based partner marketing, it's just an additional layer of redundancy.

An external business influencer can be a valuable asset in preventing customer churn.

Here's how:

Credibility and Trust:

Influencers who resonate with your target audience bring a layer of external validation to your product or service. Their positive experiences can build trust and encourage hesitant customers to stay on board.

Increased Brand Awareness:

Influencer campaigns can reach new audiences and remind existing customers about your brand. This can re-engage customers who might have otherwise forgotten about you.

Improved Customer Perception:

Influencers can showcase the value proposition of your product or service in a fresh and engaging way. This can help address any negative perceptions a customer might have and remind them of the benefits they're receiving, reducing "buyer's remorse".

Community Building:

Influencers can foster a sense of community around your brand. This can increase customer engagement and make them feel more invested in your success, reducing the likelihood of churn.

Imagine content along the lines of:

"Hey, I also use SaaS product X, overcame Y, and I got to Z - where I wanted to go"

It's proof of the promised land visited with many dragons slayed along the way.

Note is it not a longer term training/coaching engagement. A few empathetic posts along the lines of "I also struggled with X but hold on in there...." may do the trick. You might find suitable candidates with a ton of sway and credibility within certain communities.

The ideal role to possibly manage this is a "Nearbound" Customer Success Manager working closely with Marketing and/or the acquisition-focused Partner manager.

The primary goal of a nearbound CSM should not be to increase the number of employees in their department and focus solely on internal service provision.

Instead, their main focus should be on fostering relationships with influencers, customers, colleagues and partners offering customers a wealth of empathy & expertise, even if that entails seeking assistance from external sources beyond the confines of their organisation.

What do you think? Get involved in the debate.