What Happens in Vegas Doesn't Really Stay in Vegas Advocacy Drives Customers to and from Venues

Nov. 23, 2010 - PRLog -- The meteoric rise of social media is making “word of mouth” more important than ever before to a business’ success – or failure. Guest reviews on http://www.tripadvisor.com can make or break a restaurant or show. Just being mentioned on http://www.badbedbugs.com is enough to make a hotel manager’s skin crawl. Hospitality businesses everywhere are trying to learn how to monitor and react when bad news travels fast. Fortunately, there are two sides to word of mouth; positive word of mouth can be leveraged by businesses for measurable bottom line impact. This is the power of advocacy.
    Dr. TR Rao, president and CEO of Market Probe, a global research firm with offices in 10 countries around the world, explains: “Thanks to blogs, social media and other recent developments in our society, advocacy is the next and most actionable evolutionary stage in the behavior measurement continuum beyond satisfaction, loyalty and recommendation.”
    Rao says that advocacy occurs when a customer is fiercely loyal to the company so that they not only spend as much as they can with it, but they also communicate to their friends and family via face-to-face contact, phone, email, blogs and social media about the personal value and benefits from their relationship with the company.

“Viva Las Business”: Advocates are five times more likely to buy
    Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce’s new “Viva Las Business: Vegas is Coming Back” campaign is an excellent example of businesses working to leverage advocacy to their collective financial advantage,” Rao says. “Those businesses that recognize their advocates show significant promise of financial benefits by moving customers up on the Advocacy Ladder,” adds Rao.
    The Advocacy Ladder developed by Market Probe measures whether a customer feels alienated, ambivalent, allegiant or is an advocate for a particular business. It is based on four questions asked to customers regarding their favorability, recommendation, future consideration and evidence of word of mouth regarding a particular company.  
    Rao says his company’s recent research on advocacy identified definite monetary advantages for those businesses that make advocacy an enterprise-wide goal of their customer relationship management programs.
    “Those customers who are advocates for a business use more services, shop more often and spend more money. Data shows that advocates are five times more likely to buy. They are more likely to forgive a company if they are disappointed by a recent interaction, and are more likely to stay with a business if it finds itself in trouble. Customers who are advocates are also significantly more likely to pay a premium for brands they support.”
    Because of this, Rao says the ultimate goal of every marketer and every company should be to make every customer an active advocate while simultaneously reducing or eliminating customer indifference and alienation.
    Market Probe will be hosting a free webinar entitled “Marking a Case for Customer Advocacy: Marketplace changes and Demands for Accounting Call for New Thinking” on Wednesday, December 1 from 10-11 a.m. Central Standard Time. The presentation will be lead by Dr. TR Rao, President and CEO of Market Probe.
    The company will also be hosting a free webinar entitled “Advocacy:  A New Frontier for Customer Satisfaction Research on Thursday, December 2 from 10-11 a.m. Central Standard Time. The presentation will be lead by Dr. Michael Lowenstein, CMC, Executive Vice President of Market Probe and Dr. Tom Fusso Senior Vice President of Market Probe.
    Dr. TR Rao, Dr. Michael Lowenstein and Dr. Tom Fusso have published over six books, authored over a dozen white papers and chaired research events globally. Their knowledge and experience in market research and customer advocacy is unparalleled. Market Probe appears among the Honomichl list of Top 50 US Research Firms specializing in stakeholder solutions for customers, employees and brands. With over 25 years of experience in customer satisfaction research, Market Probe can design advocacy programs and offer critical insights to build customer experiences and link advocacy metrics to business growth.
    To register for either of the webinars please visit http://www.marketprobe.com .
  Market Probe, a full-service global research firm, was founded in 1976 and specializes in stakeholder measurement programs focusing on customers, employees and brands. Market Probe’s experienced researchers have pioneered new applications of quantitative research methods and statistical models as well as customized software for reporting results. With offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and China, Market Probe is well positioned to meet the domestic and global research needs of companies throughout the world. For more information visit http://www.marketprobe.com.

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